The prospects of high-level talks between the United States and Iran are once again clouded especially in Doha.
On Monday, President Donald Trump has announced that the US-Iran talks will take place in Doha, Qatar on Tuesday, hinting at the possibility of putting the fragile peace back on track.
On Truth Social Post, Trump posted, “IRAN HAS REQUESTED A MEETING. IT WILL TAKE PLACE TOMORROW IN DOHA!”
Later, Trump’s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, revealed that Witkof and Kushner would attend the Doha talks.
“Special Envoy Witkoff and Jared Kushner will be flying to Doha for high-level meetings this week, as we continue to discuss the memorandum of understanding.”
In a recent development, the Qatari foreign ministry’s spokesperson has issued a statement, stating the US envoy comprising Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner would be in Qatar to meet mediators.
It means that the US envoy will not directly meet with Iranian officials to pursue the talks, but they would only meet mediators to discuss the US-Iran negotiations, as reported by Reuters.
“To the best of my knowledge, there are no direct meetings scheduled between the two parties in the coming days,” foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari told reporters in Doha.
“To my knowledge, there is no high-level meeting between the two sides.”
The remarks go against the White House official’s statements, claiming that a high-level meeting is set to occur between the conflicting parties’ officials in Doha this week.
Majed Al Ansari also explained that Qatar has not yet transferred $6 billion frozen assets to Tehran and the Gulf country is coordinating with Oman regarding the safe passage of vessels in Strait of Hormuz.
Qatar continues to act as a key intermediary to facilitate the implementation of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding signed on June 17, 2026.
Iran has also maintained a stance of denying that high-level negotiations are taking place. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei asserted that there are no negotiation meetings planned “at any level” for the coming days.
