Key facts
- Top U.S. envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff were expected in Doha for meetings with Iran.
- Iran's Foreign Ministry denied any scheduled talks with the U.S. delegation.
- The diplomacy follows weekend exchanges of fire that tested a June 17 interim accord.
- The conflict disrupted global trade and led to thousands of deaths.
- Iran has sought to control the Strait of Hormuz, charging fees for passage.
- The U.S. accused Iran of missile strikes on commercial ships, with Iran launching drones at U.S. sites in response.
Top U.S. envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff were expected to arrive in Qatar on Tuesday for high-level meetings with Iran, but uncertainty over the timing and content of any diplomatic talks raised questions about efforts to achieve a lasting halt to the Iran war and fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
The diplomacy follows exchanges of fire over the weekend that tested the June 17 interim accord between the United States and Iran. The 14-point pact allowed 60 days for the two sides to negotiate a permanent truce in the conflict that began with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28, and to resolve issues including the future of Iran's nuclear program.
The conflict disrupted global trade in oil and other goods, exposed Gulf states to Iranian drone and missile fire, and killed thousands of people, mainly in Iran and Lebanon. The White House stated that Kushner and Witkoff were expected to land in Doha for "high-level meetings," with technical meetings to continue on the sidelines.
However, Iran is sending a technical delegation to Qatar this week, with Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei stating it had "no relation" to the Americans' visit and no talks were scheduled between the two sides. A senior Iranian official indicated any meeting would be limited to discussions on managing the Strait of Hormuz and reducing tension.
Oil prices slipped further on Tuesday on the de-escalation since the weekend, set for their biggest quarterly loss since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. After the war began four months ago, maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, which previously carried about a fifth of the global trade in oil and liquefied natural gas, came to a virtual standstill. Iran has since sought to exert control over the strait, saying it plans to charge fees to ships and obstruct vessels straying outside defined paths.
Since Thursday, the U.S. has accused Iran of hitting at least two commercial ships with missiles or drones, and bombed Iranian military facilities in response. Iran in turn launched missiles and drones at U.S. military sites in Kuwait and Bahrain on Sunday, with both sides accusing each other of breaking the ceasefire. The war pushed up global inflation and has put Trump under political pressure domestically before midterm elections in November.
On Monday, the White House said Trump had authorized a temporary suspension of some duties on imports of phosphate fertilizer from Morocco, as U.S. farmers grapple with shortages and shipments of fertilizer through the Strait of Hormuz are expected to return to pre-conflict levels only gradually. Trump told reporters that the meeting in Doha "is going to be perhaps important, perhaps not."
In Iran, two members of the Revolutionary Guards were killed in what the elite force described as a "terrorist" shooting in a western province. The interim deal between the U.S. and Iran also provides for an end to the conflict between Israel and Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon. However, Lebanon's powerful parliament speaker Nabih Berri cast doubt on a separate, U.S.-brokered framework deal between Lebanon and Israel to halt that war, with analysts saying the deal risks entrenching a stalemate.