After the latest military escalation in the Strait of Hormuz, there will - at least for now - be no new talks between the United States and Iran despite US President Donald Trump saying there would be and a trip by Trump negotiators to Qatar.
"IRAN HAS REQUESTED A MEETING. IT WILL TAKE PLACE TOMORROW IN DOHA," Trump wrote on Monday on his Truth Social platform, without providing further details on the purpose of the talks.
Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and US special envoy Steve Witkoff are in Doha on Tuesday for talks, a spokesman for Qatar's Foreign Ministry said. But only meetings with mediators are planned, as senior Iranian representatives are currently not expected in the Qatari capital.
On the Iranian side, Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi told the Iranian news agency ISNA that a round of talks would take place "as soon as the prerequisites have been created and agreement has been reached on the date and venue."
Technical sessions of the working groups are not planned this week, Gharibabadi said, but consultations via mediators would continue. If the talks are likely to take place soon, US media reported that the focus would not be Iran's nuclear programme, as initially expected, but once again the dispute over the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for global trade in oil, gas and fertilizer.
