US and Iran enter technical talks to secure peace deal, Hormuz shipping

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - DOHA — Iran and the United States held technical talks in Doha on Wednesday as they seek to ‌agree on the flow of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and secure a lasting ceasefire, a source with direct knowledge of the talks and an Iranian official said.

US President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and envoy Steve Witkoff met Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani to lay groundwork for the ​negotiations, but would not be attending the discussions themselves, the source with direct knowledge of the talks said.

The talks are based on ​a 14-point interim accord signed last month that was meant to halt the war that began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran ⁠in February and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, whilst setting up 60 days of negotiations for a permanent peace deal.

However, the US and Iran ​have sparred publicly over the meaning of the interim pact, leading to tit-for-tat military strikes over the past week.

Iran is determined to win international recognition ​of its control over the strait and its ability to levy fees on ships entering or leaving the Gulf even if it has to do so by force, two senior Iranian sources said on Wednesday.

Traffic has partially resumed through the strait, which handled one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas trade before the war.

The talks in Doha are structured as sessions between chief negotiators and specialists, the source with knowledge of the talks said. They began on ​Tuesday night and were continuing on Wednesday, said the Iranian official.

Iran has stated publicly that its priorities include agreeing on management of the strait and the release ‌of $6 billion ⁠in Iranian frozen assets, and the Iranian official said the current round of discussions would focus on those two issues.

The stated priority of the US is to ensure the free flow of traffic through the strait, the source with knowledge of the talks said.

Meanwhile, Trump weighed a return to all-out war with Iran, holding multiple conversations in recent days with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine on more strikes, but has decided to stick with diplomatic talks for now, according to US officials familiar with the discussion.

The conversations have centered on whether the US should abandon negotiations and resume full-scale attacks on Iran, the officials said, a move some of them describe as “finishing the job.” While not making a final decision, Trump has told aides he believes another round of full-scale attacks could derail diplomacy and hurt Washington’s chances of ultimately dismantling Iran’s nuclear program.

Iran's state media said on Wednesday a foreign container ship had run aground in the Strait of Hormuz after entering shallow waters outside the shipping route designated by Iranian authorities.

"Hormuz continues to reopen but ​it's patchy, unpredictable, and not fully ​transparent," said Vandana Hari, founder of ⁠oil market analysis provider Vanda Insights.

The war triggered Iranian attacks on Gulf states hosting US military bases and killed thousands of people, mainly in Iran and Lebanon, as well as pushing up oil and fuel prices.

Trump faces political pressure to contain the economic fallout from the war before midterm elections in November ​that will determine control ⁠of the US Congress.

Oil prices, which dipped sharply in the second quarter of the year, fell more than 1% on Wednesday.

The interim deal between the US and Iran also provides for an end to a parallel conflict between ⁠Israel and ​Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The US has backed a separate track of talks between ​Israel and Lebanon's government, which produced a framework security deal that Hezbollah has dismissed and analysts warn could entrench Israel's occupation of Lebanon's south.

There had been intensive diplomatic activity on Lebanon between parties including ​the US up to Tuesday evening, the source with knowledge of the talks said.