Iran and the United States concluded a round of indirect talks in Doha on Wednesday with no indication they had made headway toward a lasting peace, focusing instead on issues both sides had said were resolved when an interim agreement was announced two weeks earlier.
Negotiators for the two countries spent two days in the Qatari capital discussing maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and the unfreezing of Iranian funds, two critical issues under the initial agreement, according to sources familiar with the discussions.
The next round of talks will take place after funeral processions for Iran's late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is due to be buried on 9 July, Qatar's Foreign Ministry said.
A ministry spokesperson said on X that the Doha discussions had produced positive progress on issues related to the memorandum that halted the war in June, building on the outcomes of an earlier summit in Switzerland.
Nuclear programme not on the agenda
In Washington, US President Donald Trump said the two sides were making progress on possible limits to Iran's nuclear programme, which he had cited as the main reason for launching the war alongside Israel in February. He told reporters that "the denuclearization of Iran is moving along well."
Sources said, however, that the nuclear programme did not come up in the Doha talks, which were technical in nature. US Vice President JD Vance said the issue would be addressed later, telling reporters the administration remained concerned about it and would begin discussing it in due course.
American and Iranian negotiators held separate meetings with Qatari and Pakistani mediators, Qatar's foreign ministry said. Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, and senior US envoy Steve Witkoff, who had been dispatched to the region for what the White House described as high-level talks, did not attend the sessions, according to a source who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The leader of Iran's delegation, Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi, confirmed the talks had concluded. Neither side said whether they had managed to bridge any of their remaining differences.
Who controls the strait
The initial agreement calls for Iran and the United States to allow shipping to resume through the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway that handled a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas trade before the war. Although traffic has partially resumed, the status of the strategic passage remains unclear, and the two countries exchanged strikes last weekend following an Iranian attack on a cargo ship.
Two senior Iranian sources said Tehran is determined to win international recognition of its control over the strait, even by force if necessary, and has repeatedly said it will begin assessing tolls on shipping from mid-August, once the toll-free period specified in the initial agreement expires.
Trump played down the possibility of a return to all-out war with Iran, saying the two sides had "come a long way." Oil prices fell to their lowest level in four months following his remarks, with analysts cutting their price forecasts for the first time since the war began.
Iranian state media said on Wednesday that a foreign container ship had run aground in shallow waters outside the shipping route designated by Iranian authorities.
Vandana Hari, founder of oil market analysis provider Vanda Insights, said Hormuz continues to reopen, but that the process remains "patchy, unpredictable, and not fully transparent."
Several European countries have offered to help clear mines from the strait, though German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said he did not expect his country to take part, citing Iran's unwillingness to cooperate with other nations.
Source: Reuters
