US envoys in Doha for mediator-led Iran talks as direct meetings are ruled out
US special envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner are in Doha for discussions with mediators on the US-Iran negotiations, Qatar's foreign ministry says. Majed al-Ansari said no direct meetings between US and Iranian officials are scheduled in the coming days, underlining that the talks in the Qatari capital are being handled indirectly. The latest visit comes as diplomacy continues around a fragile stand-down after a recent exchange of strikes.
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The talks follow a four-day period of attacks that began after a dispute over reopening the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway through which about 20% of global oil and gas shipments pass. According to the supplied material, the US and Iran agreed to stop attacking each other and send delegations to Qatar after the violence. The memorandum of understanding brokered by Pakistan and Qatar less than two weeks ago called for military operations to halt on all fronts, including Lebanon, and for the strait to be reopened immediately.
The agreement also gave the sides at least 60 days to reach a final deal covering Iran's nuclear programme, US sanctions and a permanent truce. Pakistani and Qatari mediators said encouraging progress had been made at the first round of talks in Switzerland a week ago, where US Vice-President JD Vance and Iran's parliamentary speaker Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf were present. They also said a communication line had been established to help commercial vessels pass safely through the strait, but that did not prevent the later strikes.
The renewed diplomacy matters because the maritime route is central to global energy flows and because the ceasefire arrangement appears to depend on both security and economic concessions. The supplied report says the recent fighting began when Iran attacked a cargo ship on Thursday after efforts to open Oman's territorial waters to traffic on the southern side of the strait. Iran had warned vessels that the only route was through its own waters on the northern side, showing how shipping access has become part of the wider dispute.
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The Doha talks also sit within a broader effort to keep the stand-down from collapsing while technical issues are still unresolved. A US official said on Sunday night that both sides would stand down for now and that vessels could move freely in and around the strait, while technical talks would continue on all areas of the memorandum. Iran's deputy foreign minister and lead technical negotiator, Kazem Gharibabadi, later denied part of that account, indicating that differences remain over how the arrangement should be interpreted and implemented.
What remains unclear is whether the mediator-led discussions in Doha will narrow those gaps or produce any immediate change in shipping arrangements, sanctions issues or the wider ceasefire terms. It is also not known whether the indirect channel will lead to any direct contact between the two sides in the coming days. The next developments are likely to depend on whether the stand-down can hold long enough for the 60-day negotiation period to continue.
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