DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Two American diplomatic representatives touched down in Qatar on Tuesday to meet with mediators about moving forward with an initial agreement to end the war with Iran, according to an official familiar with the discussions.
The trip involves Steve Witkoff, U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, and Jared Kushner, his son-in-law. Their arrival comes on the heels of a tense weekend in the Persian Gulf, where both sides exchanged strikes as efforts continued to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping.
According to Majed al-Ansari, a spokesman for Qatar’s Foreign Ministry, the American envoys will not be sitting down directly with Iranian diplomats while in Doha, Qatar’s capital. Instead, Qatari mediators are acting as intermediaries, and no high-level officials from Iran are expected to participate.
“We’re not expecting any high-level Iranian officials at the moment, but as I said, the technical meetings are ongoing … and they haven’t stopped since then,” al-Ansari told reporters during a weekly press briefing.
Iran was also dispatching its own delegation to Qatar this week. However, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei stated Tuesday that Tehran had no plans to meet directly with American officials at any level in the near future.
“What will take place in Doha tomorrow is a discussion with the Qatari side about implementing parts of the memorandum of understanding, including the release of Iran’s blocked assets,” Baghaei told journalists at a separate briefing.
Despite both sides denying direct contact, the arrangement still allows for messages to be relayed through Qatari intermediaries.
Earlier this month, the U.S. and Iran reached an interim agreement requiring Tehran to dilute its stockpile of enriched uranium. The deal also lifts U.S.-backed oil sanctions, calls for open passage through the Strait of Hormuz, and gives both nations 60 days to work toward a broader, more comprehensive agreement.
Before the conflict began on February 28, roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil supply passed through the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian attacks and threats in the region brought cargo ships and tankers to a halt, triggering a global energy crisis.
The strait, which runs through waters claimed by both Iran and Oman, has long been recognized internationally as an open waterway.
Last week, both sides exchanged military strikes as efforts were underway to open Oman’s portion of the strait to two-way ship traffic. Those clashes raised fears that the broader peace negotiations could fall apart.
Iran attacked ships in the strait on two separate occasions — one of which was a tanker carrying Qatari crude oil — prompting retaliatory U.S. airstrikes. Iran also launched drone and missile attacks against Bahrain and Kuwait on Sunday.
This type of indirect diplomacy between the U.S. and Iran is not new, though two earlier rounds of negotiations broke down before erupting into the 12-day war Israel launched against Iran in 2025, and again during the most recent conflict.
