After days of U.S. and Iranian strikes tested the fragile ceasefire agreement they signed this month and raised questions about the state of talks to reach a broader peace, President Donald Trump early Monday said the two sides would meet the following day in Qatar, at Iran’s request.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News that special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner would be traveling to Doha this week to discuss the memorandum of understanding the two sides signed this month.
“As far as we’re concerned, we’re holding up our end of the ceasefire. Violence will be met with violence,” Leavitt said.
Iran has not publicly confirmed the meeting. Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said in a social media post published by state-aligned media that no technical meetings are set for this week.
Witkoff and Kushner are set to travel to Qatar for meetings with regional partners at the same time as the talks, according to a person familiar with the planning who spoke on the condition of anonymity to brief the media. The two sides had already been discussing technical issues, this person said, and various U.S. officials with expertise in different parts of the talks would be on the ground in Qatar and joining discussions virtually.
Before Trump’s announcement, talks had been widely expected to begin in Doha this week. “This entire conflict has been reduced to a war over weaponized narratives with weekend spikes of armed escalation. This however doesn’t mean that the negotiation process is grounded to a halt,” said Andreas Krieg, a Middle East analyst and lecturer at Kings College London, adding that the subject matters were needed to “fill the blanks” in the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding signed earlier this month.
Talks are likely to focus on the Strait of Hormuz and Lebanon at first, Krieg said, with sanctions relief and the unfreezing of assets to follow. “The Iranians are likely kicking the nuclear can down the road,” Krieg added.
A push to end the conflict between Israel and Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah in Lebanon figures prominently in Trump’s initial agreement with Iran.
On Friday, Israel, Lebanon and the United States agreed to a “trilateral framework” declaring their intent to end the fighting in Lebanon, but Hezbollah did not sign on.
In the agreement, Israel and Lebanon affirmed each other’s right to exist in peace and shared objective of a “secure, rebuilt Lebanon, under full Lebanese state sovereignty.”
To implement the agreement, the U.S. is to have a direct role in monitoring actions by both the Lebanese Armed Forces and Israel Defense Forces, including using U.S. troops on the ground in both countries, a U.S. official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to give sensitive context on the U.S. role.
The U.S. has had troops in Lebanon in a monitoring role since the 2024 agreement, and those forces will now be involved in watching both sides for any agreement violations, the official said.
“We’ll call balls and strikes, if you will,” the official said, “so our political leadership can apply whatever pressure needs to be applied on either side to get them to hold up their end.” The head of U.S. Central Command, Adm. Brad Cooper, is not taking a direct role in overseeing either side, but officials with Centcom would report any violations to the Trump administration, which would then engage, the official said.
On Monday afternoon, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Witkoff are set to brief the full House and Senate on the administration’s peace talks with Iran, congressional aides said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to share sensitive details. The briefings will be unclassified and over the phone.
In recent weeks, lawmakers from both parties have complained that the administration has not kept Congress informed on the status of negotiations with Tehran. The House and Senate have passed a resolution intended to block Trump from resuming the war, though the administration has contended the measure doesn’t have the force of law.
On June 17, when Iran and the United States agreed to a provisional deal aimed at reaching a final agreement to end the war permanently, a 60-day “extendable” window to broker that deal began. Now, with some 48 days left, it’s unclear what progress has been made working out the nuances of the final deal — which includes resolving the contentious issue of nuclear enrichment and disposition of stockpiled enriched material, as well as agreeing on a schedule for ending all sanctions on Iran.
Gharibabadi also said that officials from Iran and Oman convened their first meeting of the “joint Hormuz committee” to “exchange views” on the future management of the Strait of Hormuz as spelled out in the memorandum of understanding. Oman’s Foreign Ministry said they discussed ways to “improve coordination” on issues related to the strait.
The sultan of Oman, Haitham bin Tariq, made his first official visit to France to meet with France’s Emmanuel Macron. The French president said the two are working for de-escalation in the Middle East and “decided to collaborate jointly,” along with partners, on demining the Strait of Hormuz.
On Sunday, Iran claimed that it had a right to full control of the Strait of Hormuz, brushing aside Trump’s threats to “complete the job” of the war he launched four months ago if Tehran did not relent on the waterway. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps navy warned vessels on Monday that they could pass through the strait only by using a specific route south of Iran’s Larak Island, state television reported.
MarineTraffic, which provides ship tracking intelligence and analytics, said that the Strait of Hormuz remained open over the weekend, with 108 verified crossings recorded between June 26 and 28. The daily prewar average transits was 130 or more.
Neither side had announced any attacks Monday, after a weekend in which the U.S. military launched airstrikes against Iranian targets, Iran said it launched strikes on U.S. interests in the Middle East and another tanker in the Strait of Hormuz reported damage after being hit by an “unidentified projectile.”
A U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, said on Sunday that “both sides will stand down for now and vessels can move freely.”
Adam Taylor, Tara Copp and Noah Roberson contributed to this report.
The post Trump says U.S. and Iran will meet to negotiate after days of strikes appeared first on Washington Post.
