Top U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met with Qatari mediators in Doha on Tuesday on talks with Iran, but both Qatar and Tehran said there would be no direct or high-level meetings between U.S. and Iranian officials, contradicting U.S. President Donald Trump’s claim a day earlier that the two sides would meet.The visit by Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner comes days after military exchanges in and around the Persian Gulf complicated efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a vital global shipping route.Earlier, Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majid Ansari said the U.S. delegation would not meet directly with Iranian officials in Doha.“The envoy will not hold direct negotiations with Iranian diplomats while in Qatar’s capital Doha,” Ansari said, adding that mediators would act as intermediaries and that the discussions “will not include any senior officials.”Iran also sent a delegation to Doha this week. However, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei ruled out any direct contact with Washington.“Basically, we have no plans to meet at any level with the U.S. side in the coming days,” Baghai told a news conference, adding that the Doha meeting would be held exclusively with Qatari officials to implement parts of the existing memorandum of understanding, including the release of Iran’s frozen assets. Qatar also confirmed that mediators would pass messages between the parties rather than facilitate face-to-face talks. Such indirect negotiations have occurred between Iran and the United States in the past.“The implementation of the terms of the memorandum of understanding, including the release of Iran’s frozen assets with Qatar, will be discussed tomorrow in Doha,” Baghaei said.Under the interim deal reached earlier this month, Iran agreed to dilute its stockpile of enriched uranium, while the United States eased oil sanctions, supported free navigation in the Strait of Hormuz and set a 60-day timetable for negotiating a broader deal.Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Monday that Qatar plans to release $6 billion in assets frozen by Iran. A U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the negotiations confirmed the amount and said the funds would be used to buy U.S. food for the Iranian people.However, Ansari said the funds have not yet been transferred.He told a separate news conference that the release would occur “depending on the progress of negotiations,” suggesting any transfer would still depend on diplomatic progress.
