DOHA/DUBAI: Senior U.S. officials who arrived in Doha will not have a high-level meeting with Iran, a Qatari official said on June 30. This has raised doubts about how much progress is being made toward ending the war in Iran and fully reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
Instead, technical-level talks will take place this week on issues such as regional security. These discussions could later move up to senior-level meetings, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari said during a media briefing.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Doha on June 30 after both sides exchanged fire over the weekend. These clashes tested the interim agreement reached on June 17 between the United States and Iran.
The 14-point agreement gave both sides 60 days to negotiate a permanent ceasefire in the conflict. The war began on February 28 with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran. The deal also aims to settle difficult issues, including the future of Iran’s nuclear program.
The conflict has disrupted global trade in oil and other goods, exposed Middle East countries to Iranian drone and missile attacks, and caused thousands of deaths, mostly in Iran and Lebanon.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said that talks with the mediator Qatar about implementing the interim deal, including the release of frozen Iranian funds, are likely to take place in Doha on July 1.
He also said, “No meeting at any level with the American side has been scheduled for the coming days.”
Earlier, on June 29, the White House said that Kushner and Witkoff would hold “high-level meetings,” while technical discussions would continue simultaneously.
The exact timing of the technical talks is still unclear.
Ansari explained that there are different tracks of discussion: one on nuclear issues, one on economic and government matters, and another on security and regional safety.
Even with uncertainty around diplomatic efforts, oil prices have dropped as tensions eased after the weekend. Prices are now heading for their biggest quarterly fall since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
However, weaker economies may still face risks from rising food and fuel prices, even if energy markets become more stable, the U.N. trade and development agency said on June 30.
