US President Donald Trump said progress had been made yesterday in indirect talks with Iran in Qatar, as the sides aimed to push forward their negotiations on ending the Middle East war and quell tensions following exchanges of fire.
The head of the Iranian delegation, Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi, later announced the talks’ conclusion, France 24 reported.
He reported that the participants had agreed ‘a communication channel would be established by tomorrow’ to report and record violations of the parties’ initial memorandum of understanding.
Iran had insisted there would be no direct negotiations in Doha on the deal to end the war, which broke out with US-Israeli strikes on Iran in late February.
“As far as things are going, the denuclearisation of Iran is moving along well,” Trump told reporters as he prepared to board his new Air Force One.
“We hit them very hard... but we’re getting along very well.”
The memorandum of understanding, mediated by Qatar and Pakistan, culminated in a summit last month in Lucerne, Switzerland.
It includes a 60-day ceasefire pausing the war, the reopening of the blockaded Strait of Hormuz, and a timeframe for a final deal to permanently end the conflict and reach an agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme.
The Qatar discussions, being held at a lower level and focused on the details of the MoU, were to ‘build on the progress made at the Lake Lucerne Summit’, a diplomat said.
Tehran denied an earlier claim by Trump that there would be direct talks in Doha, with foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei saying the country’s delegation had ‘no plans for negotiations with the American side at any level over the coming days’.
In addition to the new communications channel, Gharibabadi said the discussions touched on the fate of frozen Iranian assets, which Tehran has demanded be released as part of the settlement.
“During the meetings with Qatari officials, including the Central Bank, a number of issues related to the expenditure of part of the initial $6 billion were reviewed,” he said.
US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff were not taking part in the technical talks, the diplomat added.
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