Trump claims Iran has agreed to hold peace talks in Doha after recent clashes | US-Israel war on Iran
Donald Trump claimed that Iran agreed to hold talks in Doha after the United States and Tehran exchanged fire in the Strait of Hormuz this weekend, threatening the collapse of the ceasefire that aims to keep the strait open and pave the way for peace talks.
In a short post on Truth Social, the US president claimed the meetings would take place in Qatar’s capital, while US media reported that the two sides agreed to halt the attacks following tit-for-tat attacks that have once again cut off shipping in the key waterway.
Trump wrote: “IRAN HAS REQUESTED A MEETING. TO BE HELD IN DOHA TOMORROW! President DJT.”
However, on Monday night, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said that the US officials’ trip to Doha had nothing to do with the Iranian delegation’s visit to the city, adding: “We have not yet entered the negotiation phase of a final agreement… We will not hold negotiation meetings at any level with the US side in the coming days.”
Trump’s announcement comes after Iran targeted a cargo ship in the strait in a drone attack on Saturday, prompting US Central Command (Centcom) to launch retaliatory strikes against Iran’s “military surveillance infrastructure, communications systems, air defense facilities, drone storage facilities, and minelayer capabilities.”
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) later said on Sunday that it had launched a joint missile and drone operation targeting eight US military sites in Kuwait and Bahrain.
As the deal collapsed, the White House stepped in to seek a way out of renewed hostilities, while details of who would retain control of the strait and whether Iran could charge a fee for passage in the future remained unclear.
Agence France-Presse reported that commercial ships have almost stopped using Oman’s southern corridor after civilian ships were hit on Thursday and Saturday. Iran has warned ships transiting the waterway that they must obtain approval from Tehran. Ships continued to pass through the Iranian-approved northern corridor.
Omani foreign minister Badr al-Busaidi said on Monday that Oman was in talks with Iran about charging service fees for passage through the strait, including security measures and navigation assistance, but would not explicitly charge fees for use of the waterway.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News that the US delegation to Doha will include Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner.
US vice president JD Vance said last week that new high-level contacts with the Iranian government would prevent a new outbreak of violence in the region. A U.S. official told Axios that ahead of the talks, the United States “decided to cease all kinetic activity,” meaning attacks against Iran.
Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian also told state media on Monday that Qatar would release $6 billion (£4.52 billion) of Iran’s approximately $12 billion in frozen assets. The interim agreement signed between the USA and Iran stipulated that the release of frozen Iranian assets would be linked to the implementation of a new nuclear agreement. Frozen Iranian assets have not been released, US officials said.
Lebanese president Joseph Aoun said his country will deploy troops along its entire southern border as part of the framework agreement signed with Israel on Friday. This agreement requires the disarmament of Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militia group in Lebanon, before Israel withdraws its troops from southern Lebanon.
Israeli defense minister Israel Katz said Hezbollah would not withdraw “even a millimeter” from Southern Lebanon, where its army occupies a large area, until it is disarmed. Israel will withdraw from the two regions as a “pilot program” to be replaced by Lebanese forces.
But otherwise, he said, “People shouldn’t hold their breath wondering where the next place Israel will withdraw from in Lebanon will be, because that won’t happen until Hezbollah is disarmed.”
Katz also claimed to have support from US Centcom chief Admiral Brad Cooper. [Israel Defense Forces] It will not withdraw from the three security zones in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza.”
Senior Hezbollah official Mahmoud Qmati said on Monday that the agreement was already “really dead” but that Hezbollah would mainly rely on Iran to represent its interests during upcoming negotiations with the United States.
Hezbollah will “keep our weapons,” he said in an interview with the New Arab website. “We will continue to rely on the line of Islamabad and Switzerland and on the pressure of Iran, which has the power to pressure the Americans and thus pressure the Israelis to withdraw from our territory.”
