JERUSALEM — The United States and Iran will hold new talks Tuesday in Qatar, President Donald Trump said Monday, after the two sides appeared to step back from a wave of attacks that threatened to derail peace efforts.
“IRAN HAS REQUESTED A MEETING. IT WILL TAKE PLACE TOMORROW IN DOHA!” Trump said on Truth Social.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt later said special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner would be flying to Doha for “high-level meetings” held alongside “technical talks.”
There was no immediate reaction from Tehran. Hours earlier, a senior Iranian official denied any technical discussions were scheduled to take place.
Technical teams working on the implementation of the initial agreement between the two sides are scheduled to meet in Doha in the coming days, a source with knowledge of the talks told NBC News.
Communications channels created to de-escalate any incidents are in place and technical talks are set to continue, the source added.
This follows a series of escalating reciprocal strikes over the weekend that threatened to unravel efforts to secure a permanent end to the war.
The clashes were sparked by efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz without Iranian oversight, which drew angry warnings and attacks from Tehran as it fights to maintain its grip on the crucial waterway.
Days of public dispute over the terms of the deal — both around the future of the key trade route and the unfreezing of billions in Iranian assets — escalated into new military attacks after Iran attacked ships transiting the strait.
Bahrain and Kuwait came under Iranian attacks early Sunday, hours after the U.S. military said it had hit multiple targets across Iran in response to “continued aggression” against commercial shipping.
Tehran threatened a “complete halt” to negotiations if Washington continued its attacks.
Trump warned Saturday on Truth Social that “there may come a point when we are no longer able to be reasonable, and will be forced to militarily complete the job that we very successfully started.”
The clash centers on control over the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran says it retains under the Memorandum of Understanding signed with the U.S.
The establishment of a new United Nations-backed route near Oman for inbound and outbound traffic led to an uptick in ships making it through the strait last week.
Iran views that route as unacceptable and hit back against the test to its control over the waterway.
After the clashes over the weekend, multiple reports cited U.S. officials as saying that Washington and Tehran had agreed to pause strikes and continue talks on reaching a final deal to end the war.
But in the latest bout of public uncertainty, a senior Iranian official suggested this may not be the case.
Kazem Gharibabadi, a senior negotiator and deputy foreign minister, denied any talks had been scheduled, in comments published by IRNA.
“Although consultations with Qatar, including on following up on the implementation of the other side’s commitments, are continuing as usual, reports by some media about technical talks by the working groups being held in Doha are not confirmed,” he said.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, meanwhile, praised the interim agreement and said that it would see $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets released by Qatar.
He called the deal “a great victory for the Iranian people,” in comments published Monday by the state-run IRNA news agency.
Keir Simmons reported from Jerusalem and Alexander Smith from London.
