Iranian and American technical teams are expected to meet in Doha within days, a source told Reuters on Monday, to work out how to carry out their interim peace deal. The meeting would follow a weekend of tit-for-tat strikes that put the fragile accord at risk.
Mediators have set up communication channels to defuse any incidents, said the source, who has knowledge of the discussions. Iran’s side told a different story. A senior Iranian official was reported as saying the technical meetings were not confirmed, and Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi told Tasnim news agency that working group sessions were not scheduled for this week and the talks in Qatar were unconfirmed. Consultations with Qatar on following up the other side’s commitments were going on as usual, he said.
What the memorandum says
The United States and Iran signed a 14-point Memorandum of Understanding on June 17 to end four months of conflict. Both sides agreed to stop fighting and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, where a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas normally passes. When the waterway closed, oil climbed above $100 a barrel. Global inflation jumped again, and US President Donald Trump found himself answering for higher pump prices a few months ahead of midterm elections.
The accord opens a 60-day window for deeper talks on harder questions such as Iran’s nuclear program. Both governments describe what was agreed differently.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Monday that $6 billion of the $12 billion in Iranian assets frozen in Qatar would be released and returned to Iran, according to Iranian state media. He said sanctions on Iran’s oil and petrochemical sectors had been lifted, and called the deal “a great victory for the Iranian people.”
A US official told Reuters on Sunday that both sides had agreed to stand down. “Technical talks are slated to continue on all areas of the MoU. Both sides will stand down for now and vessels can move freely,” the official said.
A week of strikes
The fighting began Thursday, when an Iranian projectile hit a cargo vessel in the Strait of Hormuz. Each side accused the other of breaking the interim ceasefire.
Early on Sunday, shortly after Trump posted his latest threat, Iran fired missiles and drones at US military sites in Kuwait and Bahrain. “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,” Trump wrote on social media. “If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!”
About an hour later, Kuwait’s army said its air defenses were responding and Bahrain reported sirens. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said their navy and air forces had carried out the strikes, and warned that American bases would “experience hell in the coming days.” Kuwait said it intercepted two ballistic missiles, with no damage or casualties. Sirens sounded again in Bahrain hours afterward, where authorities said an Iranian attack damaged a residential building. Bahrain asked the UN Security Council to hold an urgent session to hold Iran accountable.
Oil, and Lebanon
Brent crude held at around $72 a barrel on Monday on news that diplomacy had resumed. Analysts at ING said “this complacency is odd” given the risks the oil market still faces.
Lebanon is the second front. Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a key ally of Hezbollah, attacked the US-brokered agreement between Lebanon and Israel, warning on Monday that it could lead to attempts to divide the Lebanese and would not be implemented. Israel’s response to Hezbollah’s early strikes has caused mass displacement and more than 4,000 deaths in Lebanon. Tehran says ending that conflict and pulling Israeli troops out of the south are integral to any deal with the US to end the wider war, which began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28.
Israel said on Sunday it had hit Hezbollah and destroyed underground infrastructure, after another strike on Saturday that came right after its latest ceasefire deal with Lebanon on Friday.
Sources
- Iran, US to conduct peace talks in Qatar, aim to reopen Strait of Hormuz | The Jerusalem Post
- Iran, US to work on negotiating peace deal in Doha after de-escalating weekend strikes – Islamabad Post
