Next meeting will take place after the funeral processions for Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
Vessels in the Strait of Hormuz near the beach of Bandar Abbas, Iran, June 30, 2026. Photo: REUTERS
Iran and the United States concluded a round of indirect talks on Wednesday with no sign that they had made headway toward lasting peace, focusing instead on issues they said had been resolved when an interim agreement was announced two weeks ago.
Sources familiar with the discussions said negotiators for the two countries spent two days in Doha discussing maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz and unfreezing Iran’s funds, two critical issues under the initial agreement.
The next meeting will take place after the funeral processions for Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is due to be buried on July 9, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said.
The Doha discussions produced “positive progress” on issues related to the memorandum that halted the war in June and were “building on the outcomes” of a summit in Switzerland, the ministry spokesperson said in a post on X.
In Washington, US President Donald Trump said the two sides were making progress on possible limits to Iran’s nuclear program — the main reason he launched the war along with Israel in February. “The denuclearisation of Iran is moving along well,” he told reporters. “They’ve had very good meetings, and we’ll see.”
Read: US will be in ‘great position’ even if Iran talks fail: Vance
But the sources said the nuclear program did not come up in the talks, which were technical.
US Vice President JD Vance said that the matter would be addressed later. “Obviously, we’re worried about the nuclear issue; we’re going to start talking about that,” he told reporters.
American and Iranian negotiators held separate meetings with Qatari and Pakistani mediators, Qatar’s foreign ministry said.
Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and top US envoy Steve Witkoff, dispatched to the region for what the White House had billed as “high-level” talks, did not attend the sessions, according to a source who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The leader of Iran’s delegation, Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi, said the talks concluded. Neither side said whether they had managed to bridge any of their differences.
Iran tells UN that Israeli threat to kill its supreme leader is ‘state terrorism’
Amir-Saeid Iravani, Iran’s ambassador to the UN, protested to the global body over Israel’s latest threat to assassinate the country’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, according to Al Jazeera.
In a letter to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the Security Council and the General Assembly, Iravani described the threat by Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz as “part of a deliberate and systematic policy of state terrorism” targeting Iranian government officials.
He tied it to the “Israeli regime’s illegal acts of aggression against Iran, including the assassination of the late Iranian leader, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, and other senior political and military officials, carried out with the participation, coordination, and support of the United States”.
Iravani added that the UN Security Council has allowed Israel to act with impunity and warned that Tehran would respond to any hostile actions.
“Unfortunately, the failure of the Security Council to fulfill its responsibilities under the UN Charter has reinforced the climate of impunity and has made the Israeli regime more brazen in normalising state terrorism, which sets a very dangerous precedent and poses a serious threat to international peace and security.”
Iranian official slams US-led regional security dialogue
Gharibabadi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, has dismissed a US-led regional security dialogue held in Bahrain, where participants from 12 nations discussed the Strait of Hormuz, as per Al Jazeera.
“Hormuz is defined under Iran’s command, not CENTCOM,” he wrote, adding that “a military summit in Bahrain cannot establish legal order and security for the Persian Gulf”.
“The region’s security will be ensured through the end of interventions and the US withdrawal from the area, respect for countries’ sovereignty, and acceptance of new geopolitical realities – not under the military umbrella of America,” he said.
His comments came after the US announced that senior military officials from 12 countries – including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Lebanon and Syria – had met in Bahrain and affirmed their “commitment to the free flow of commerce” through the strait.
Iran would have fully complied if Supreme Leader had ordered not to negotiate
President Masoud Pezeshkian said the government had adhered to the instructions of the Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, stressing that had he instructed the government not to engage in negotiations, no talks would have taken place, according to Iranian state news agency IRNA.
He made these statements at a meeting with senior officials of the Islamic Development Coordination Council.
Referring to the government’s decision on negotiations, he said the Leader had stated that the process should proceed if three-quarters of the members of the Supreme National Security Council supported it.
According to Pezeshkian, during the council meeting, 12 of its 13 members not only voted in favour but also strongly supported the proposal after extensive discussion.
Who controls the Strait?
The initial deal calls for Iran and the United States to allow shipping to resume through the Strait of Hormuz, which handled one-fifth of global oil and liquid natural gas trade before the war. Though traffic has partially resumed, the status of the strategic waterway remains unclear and the two countries exchanged strikes last weekend following an Iranian attack on a cargo ship.
Iran is determined to win international recognition of its control over the strait even if it has to do so by force, two senior Iranian sources said, and has repeatedly said it will assess tolls on shipping starting in mid-August, after a toll-free period specified by the initial agreement expires.
Read more: US, Iran hold talks in Qatar
Trump’s comments on Wednesday played down the possibility of a return to all-out war with Iran. “I think they’ve come a long way,” he said.
Oil prices fell to their lowest level in four months following Trump’s remarks, and analysts cut their price forecasts for the first time since the war began.
Iran’s state media said on Wednesday that a foreign container ship had run aground in shallow waters outside the shipping route designated by Iranian authorities.
“Hormuz continues to reopen but it’s patchy, unpredictable, and not fully transparent,” said Vandana Hari, founder of oil market analysis provider Vanda Insights.
Several European countries have offered to help clear mines from the Strait, but Germany’s defense minister Boris Pistorius said he did not expect his country to participate, citing Iran’s unwillingness to cooperate with other countries.
