The United States, Iran, Qatar and Pakistan reported progress in indirect negotiations in Doha aimed at advancing discussions on a broader agreement tied to the memorandum of understanding signed in Islamabad, with both Washington and Doha expressing optimism about the latest round of talks.
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Majed al-Ansari, said mediators from Qatar and Pakistan held separate meetings in Doha with US and Iranian negotiating teams and made headway on issues related to the memorandum of understanding.
“Negotiators from Qatar and Pakistan concluded separate meetings in Doha with negotiating teams from the US and Iran, achieving positive progress on issues related to the memorandum of understanding signed in Islamabad,” al-Ansari said. He added that “the parties agreed to continue discussions in the near future after setting a date as soon as possible, following the conclusion of Ali Khamenei’s funeral ceremonies.”
President Donald Trump also welcomed the outcome of the meetings.
“They’ve had very good meetings, and we’ll see,” President Trump told reporters before boarding the new, Qatari-gifted Air Force One. “The denuclearization of Iran is moving along well.”
Iran is holding funeral ceremonies for Ali Khamenei, the previous supreme leader who was killed in an airstrike on February 28. The ceremonies are scheduled to begin on Saturday, July 4, and conclude with an official burial in his birthplace, Mashhad, on July 9.
Iranian officials are seeking international recognition of their authority over the Strait of Hormuz and the right to charge transit fees, the Times of Israel reported. The Trump administration has repeatedly maintained that passage through the strategic waterway should remain free.
Axios reported that US. negotiators sought to persuade their Iranian counterparts that financial incentives tied to a nuclear agreement would ultimately yield greater benefits than imposing tolls on ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz.
A source familiar with the discussions said Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, and special envoy Steve Witkoff were in Doha but did not participate in the technical negotiations. Instead, they met separately with Qatar’s prime minister, while the chief negotiators and subject-matter experts conducted the formal sessions.
The talks followed the signing of the US-Iran memorandum of understanding two weeks earlier, which established a 60-day deadline for negotiating a comprehensive agreement on Iran’s nuclear program. Negotiations on that final agreement have not yet begun, with disagreements over the Strait of Hormuz and Israel’s conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon remaining major obstacles.
