Dubai, UAE — Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani reaffirmed his country’s role as a mediator in US – Iran negotiations during talks with US envoy Steve Witkoff and presidential adviser Jared Kushner on Tuesday, as Doha said it remained committed to supporting efforts to implement the memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the Middle East war.
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said Kushner and Witkoff are in Doha, but no direct or high-level meetings with Iranian officials are currently scheduled, ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said.
The envoys’ presence follows US President Donald Trump’s announcement on Monday that Iran had requested a meeting in the Qatari capital — a claim Tehran has denied, saying no direct talks with Washington are planned even as consultations with intermediaries continue.
Iran said it will hold indirect talks with mediator Qatar to discuss implementation of its memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the US, including the release of frozen Iranian assets.
Tehran also warned it would respond to any US breach of the agreement, which was signed on June 17 and aimed at ending the war between Iran and the US and Israel.
US Vice President JD Vance dismissed Iran’s public denials of talks as a “Persian negotiating tactic” and a “Persian rhetorical device that I don’t understand,” saying in an interview on The Michael Knowles Show that “really technical talks” building on prior negotiations were scheduled to take place. He said he found Tehran’s position — denying peace talks while acknowledging technical discussions — “fascinating and frustrating.”
Separately, Vance told Fox News the Trump administration was in a “great position” regardless of the outcome of the talks, saying the US remained “in a much stronger position” than Iran even if negotiations fail. He said Iran’s nuclear programme and military had been “destroyed” and reiterated that Trump had warned any Iranian attack on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz would draw a US military response. Vance said Iran would be “permanently transformed” if a lasting settlement is reached, and separately said oil traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has returned to its pre-war level.
Alex Vatanka, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, told Al Jazeera that growing scepticism within Iran’s leadership over delays in implementing the MoU may explain the absence of senior Iranian officials from Doha. He said questions were being raised in Tehran over unmet elements of the agreement — including the release of frozen assets, Iran’s role over the Strait of Hormuz, and Israel’s continued presence in Lebanon — and that some in Tehran view Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf as negotiating with an administration that could renege on its commitments. Vatanka said that with time running out on the MoU roadmap, it was “not a surprise” that senior officials were reluctant to appear publicly in Doha.
Scott Uehlinger, a US national security expert and former CIA officer, told Al Jazeera that Washington is using the scheduled technical talks to manage tensions over the Strait of Hormuz ahead of anticipated future disputes, centred on Iran’s push for a role in controlling the waterway. He said the best outcome Washington could realistically secure, as outlined in the MoU, would be for Qatar and other Gulf states to negotiate with Iran to form a coalition regulating traffic through the strait.
Other developments
Shipping: South Korea’s Oceans Ministry said the HMM-operated bulk carrier Namu, damaged in a May attack in the Strait of Hormuz, will exit the strait in late July once repairs are complete at a port in Dubai. The vessel, carrying 32 crew members, has been stranded in the Gulf since February 28, when the US and Israel launched their war on Iran. Iran has denied targeting the ship, and Seoul says it cannot conclusively determine responsibility or intent. Namu is one of two South Korean vessels still stranded in the strait; some 24 vessels have left so far.
US Congress: Democratic Representative Rashida Tlaib said she would support a bill to block roughly $3.3bn in military aid to Israel, calling for an end to funding what she described as Israel’s actions in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran. She said a majority of Americans and a supermajority of Democrats support ending military aid to Israel. Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Greg Casar and Ilhan Omar have also said they will back the bill, proposed by Republican Representative Thomas Massie, who opposes US interventions abroad including the war on Iran. Massie lost his Kentucky Republican primary in May to a challenger backed by Trump, in what was reported as the most expensive US House primary race in history.
France: Reuters reported that French authorities cancelled a June 20 demonstration by the National Council of Resistance of Iran — a coalition whose primary member is the Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK) — hours before it was due to begin, citing an intelligence assessment of threats from Iranian monarchists loyal to Reza Pahlavi, son of the last shah. The assessment reportedly cited threats to bomb the rally and concluded the two groups were competing to lead Iran’s opposition movement abroad.
UNRWA: UN Secretary-General António Guterres urged member states to close a $100m funding gap for the UN Palestinian refugee agency, telling a General Assembly meeting the agency cannot continue without urgent financial backing. He said UNRWA had implemented reforms following Israeli allegations that some staff were involved in the October 7, 2023 attacks, and rejected what he called efforts to undermine the agency through disinformation and diplomatic pressure. UNRWA, which serves 2.6 million Palestinians across Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria, has denied Israel’s allegations, which Israel has not publicly substantiated with evidence.
