Trump Says U.S. and Iran Will Hold Doha Talks Tuesday After Hormuz Attacks

President Donald Trump said a meeting between Iran and the United States will take place in Qatar on Tuesday, writing on Truth Social: "IRAN HAS REQUESTED A MEETING. IT WILL TAKE PLACE TOMORROW IN DOHA!"

“The United States and Iran are set to engage in practical negotiations in Doha, Qatar, aimed at halting military confrontations over the Strait of Hormuz”

Aju Press

The announcement came less than two hours after Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said technical talks over the memorandum of understanding “are not planned” for this week.

Aju Press

White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner will lead the US negotiating team in Doha, with technical talks on the sidelines.

The dispute has been tested by Israel’s continuing attacks in Lebanon and Iran’s assertion of control over the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran fired at ships passing through lanes not designated by Tehran and the US struck Iranian positions near the waterway.

Leavitt said on Monday that “violence will be met with violence” if Iran attacks commercial ships or US interests, even as she said the US was “holding up our end of the ceasefire.”

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei stressed that “We will not have any negotiation meetings at any level with the American side in the coming days,” while also saying Iran would send a delegation to Doha to follow up on the implementation of the MoU.

An Anadolu Ajansı report said Iran’s Foreign Ministry and negotiating team spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei told reporters that “There will be no negotiation meeting with the American side at any level in the coming days,” and that any US trip to Qatar would have no connection to Iran’s technical mission there.

Al Jazeera

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced that Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will participate in a meeting in Doha with representatives of the Islamic Republic on Tuesday, and said technical talks will be held concurrently.

Trump reiterated the Doha timeline in a Truth Social post, while IranWire described Iran state-affiliated reporting as labeling the meeting claims untrue and quoting Kazem Gharibabadi saying “The convening of the working groups’ technical meetings has not been scheduled for this week.”

NBC News reported that Kazem Gharibabadi denied any talks had been scheduled after attacks across the Persian Gulf challenged negotiations to end the war, even as Trump said the meeting would happen Tuesday in Doha, Qatar.

The talks are framed around a 14-point Memorandum of Understanding that calls for a full ceasefire in Lebanon and includes provisions on Tehran’s nuclear programme, with the first sentence calling for “ensuring the territorial integrity and sovereignty” of the country.

The MoU also sets terms for the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran rejected routes through the strait outside of its control and fired at ships passing through lanes not designated by Tehran, while the US struck Iranian positions near the waterway and Iran responded with missile and drone attacks against American bases in Bahrain and Kuwait.

In the midst of the diplomatic back-and-forth, the Guardian reported that Trump claimed Iran had agreed to hold talks in Doha after clashes threatened the collapse of a ceasefire meant to keep the strait open and pave the way for peace talks.

The Guardian also quoted Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei saying, “Over the coming days, we will not have any negotiation meetings with the US side at any level.”

PBS reported that the interim deal gives each side 60 days to hammer out broader agreements, while the same report said the U.S. and Iran agreed to open the Strait of Hormuz and that so far, U.S. officials say no frozen Iranian assets have been released.