Indirect Iran-US technical talks underway in Doha, source says

Indirect technical talks between the United States and Iran have been ongoing since Tuesday night in Doha, with Qatar and Pakistan serving as mediators, a senior Iranian official with direct knowledge of the discussions told Reuters on Wednesday.

U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner met with the Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Mohammad bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, on Tuesday in Doha. They discussed "the ongoing talks between the United States and Iran" as well as the situation in Lebanon, according to Qatar’s foreign ministry, and laid the groundwork for Wednesday’s technical sessions which they are not themselves attending.

“Indirect negotiations began on Tuesday night. Iran held meetings with Qatari and Pakistani officials, who in turn met with the U.S. side. The indirect talks continued on Wednesday, focusing on Iran’s frozen assets and the Strait of Hormuz,” the official added.

Washington and Tehran have been engaged since mid-June in negotiations set to last 60 days, a period that can be renewed, with the goal of reaching a final agreement following the signing of a memorandum of understanding on June 17, brokered by Pakistan and Qatar. However, Tehran is currently refusing any direct exchanges.

After initially denying any meeting, Iranian diplomats confirmed Monday that Iran would send a "delegation of experts' to Doha, led by Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi, but ruled out "in the coming days" any negotiations "with the American side, at any level."

40 million barrels

While the signing of the pact between Washington and Tehran has reduced the intensity of the conflict, significant tensions persist, notably regarding Iran’s nuclear program, the unfreezing of Iranian assets, or the management of the strategic Strait of Hormuz, where traffic slowed this weekend after two ship attacks. Iran has repeated for weeks that it wants to impose a right of passage in some form, a demand deemed unacceptable by the United States. Unions and employers in the maritime sector will continue, at least until July 9, to consider the Strait of Hormuz a war zone, they said Wednesday in a joint statement.

In this climate of uncertainty, the price of Brent crude, the global oil market benchmark, remained stable Wednesday, a little above $70 a barrel.

Accusing Tehran of targeting two ships last week, the United States carried out airstrikes on the country Sunday. In response, Iran targeted two of its Gulf neighbors, Kuwait and Bahrain. The situation seems to have since calmed on the military front.

"When a war of this scale comes to an end ... it is inevitable there will be implementation challenges, incidents and differences of opinion," said chief Iranian negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf during an interview aired Tuesday night on state television. According to him, Iran intends to focus the current negotiations on implementing protocol clauses related to ending hostilities in Lebanon and the Strait of Hormuz. Since the U.S. blockade on Iranian ports was lifted following the memorandum of understanding, Iran has exported "more than 40 million barrels of oil," he also said, highlighting that in the previous 50 to 60 days, the country had been "completely unable to export even a single barrel of oil."

'Leave here'

In Lebanon, which Tehran demanded be included in the talks with the United States, Israel has continued its attacks in recent days despite the signing Friday in Washington of a framework agreement between the two countries for "lasting peace." The text makes Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon conditional on the disarmament of Hezbollah, which has said it won't do. The Lebanese government has struggled for a long time to implement this requirement, despite heavy U.S. pressure and threats.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz stated Wednesday that the Israeli army would remain "indefinitely" in Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza.

"We are telling Iran and Hezbollah: leave here, you have no place here anymore. There are two sovereign states that want to live in peace," said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a tour he took on Tuesday to the part of southern Lebanon occupied by Israel.