Iran and the U.S. announced yesterday, Monday, talks between their delegations in Qatar, which are expected to begin later today, following the exchange of blows over the past few days.
However, Tehran referred to technical-level contacts, not direct negotiationswith the opposing side, while Washington spoke of “high-level meetings”.
According to a U.S. official who spoke to Agence France-Presse, the two sides decided to halt the exchange of strikes that had been taking place despite the signing of an agreement in principle between them—the “memorandum of understanding”— in mid-June, with the aim of ending the war in the Middle East.
And U.S. President Donald Trump announced via Truth Social—in all capital letters—that “Iran has requested a meeting” and “it will take place tomorrow (i.e., today, Tuesday) in Doha!”
Shortly afterward, White House spokesperson Caroline Levitt told Fox News that the president’s envoys, Steve Whitcomb and Jared Kushner , are traveling to the emirate to “participate in high-level meetings” later this week.
A diplomatic source familiar with the matter confirmed to AFP that a meeting of “technical teams will take place in the coming days,” adding that there are now “operational communication channels to de-escalate incidents.”
Tensions over the Strait of Hormuz
After initially denying that any meeting would take place, Iranian diplomats later confirmed on Monday that they are sending a “delegation of experts” to Doha this week. However, “in the coming days, we will not negotiate with the American side at any level,” insisted the spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry Esmail Baghaei.
Tensions are centered on control of the strategically important Strait of Hormuz, where traffic returned to a crawl over the weekend, following two attacks on ships.
In total, 29 ships carrying raw materials crossed the strait on Saturday and another 12 on Sunday, according to data from the ship-tracking company Kpler; numbers much lower than those of previous days.
Tehran has been reiterating for weeks, despite Washington’s opposition, that the strait will not return to its pre-war state, when passage through it was free. And it is threatening ships that attempt to bypass the designated route.
Service fees
Iran and Oman say they will exercise their sovereign rights regarding passage through the strait and are preparing to impose fees for the service provided.
However, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), adopted in 1982, but which Tehran has not ratified, guarantees the right of “transit” through straits that serve international shipping, such as the Strait of Hormuz, which connects the Gulf to the rest of the world.
The strait, which the Islamic Republic de facto closed when the war broke out on February 28, following the U.S. and Israeli attack against it, a move that destabilized the global hydrocarbon trade and sent oil prices soaring, reopened just last week.
However, Tehran allows only one route to be used, along its coastline.
On the other hand, Oman remains noncommittal and has announced the opening of an alternative temporary route, which the sultanate presented as an initiative coordinated with the UN to evacuate crews and ships that had been stranded in the Gulf for months.
Haitham bin Tariq, the Sultan of Oman, and French President Emmanuel Macron spoke out yesterday in favor of “free navigation, without conditions or restrictions,” and agreed to conduct “joint mine-clearing operations.” Iranian diplomats reacted by calling on Paris not to “further complicate” the situation.
