Iran says Qatar talks to cover US deal and frozen assets

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - DOHA — Iran-Qatar talks on Wednesday will cover the implementation of Tehran’s agreement with the United States, as well as its frozen assets, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Tuesday.

According to Baghaei, the Iranian technical negotiators will focus strictly on consultations with Qatari officials on points of the framework deal, the release of Iran’s frozen assets and the lifting of sanctions on Iranian oil exports at the forefront of the talks.

“What will probably take place in Doha tomorrow is a discussion with the Qatari side on the implementation of some provisions of the memorandum of understanding, including the provision concerning the release of Iran’s restricted assets.” Baghaei said.

He added that Iran’s negotiating team had no plan to meet with the American delegation in the coming days.

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said Tuesday that US envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law ‌Jared Kushner have arrived in Doha to meet Qatari mediators, but stressed there will not be a meeting with Iranian officials.

Witkoff and Kushner "are here in Doha to meet with the mediators with Qatari officials, and the talks will be around all regional issues which are of concern, including negotiations with Iran,” al-Ansari said during a weekly media briefing, stressing “they are not here for direct negotiations with the Iranians.”

"The talks will be around all regional issues... including, of course, negotiations with Iran, but also including Lebanon," he added.

Iran on Monday separately announced it will send delegations to Qatar this week, although Tehran insisted it has not agreed to meet with the US “at any level” after attacks across the Gulf over the weekend challenged the ongoing talks.

Regarding the Strait of Hormuz, Al-Ansari said Doha is coordinating with Oman on safe passage of ships through the waterway.

He said $6 billion of Iran’s frozen funds have not been transferred to Tehran, but that this would happen “according to the advancement of negotiations.”

Trump said the Islamic Republic had requested a meeting with US counterparts and that they planned to convene in Doha on Tuesday, later clarifying that “the meeting is going to be perhaps important, perhaps not. We will find out.”

Any US-Iran talks in Qatar would be expected to be conducted at a technical level. It is unclear whether the two sides could still be compelled to meet for talks on Tuesday or in the coming days, and whether the negotiations will be face-to-face or conducted indirectly through Qatari and Pakistani mediators in Doha.

The urgency of the talks is further dictated by the situation in the Strait of Hormuz, with Iran digging in on its position that it will control the waterway from now on based on its own interpretation of the framework deal.