The Japan Times - Trump says Iran meeting set in Qatar, despite uncertainty

Washington and Tehran both have said they were sending teams to the Gulf state, but issued conflicting statements on most other details, including timing and purpose of the trip.

The nations' preliminary agreement to stop the conflict and reopen the vital Strait of Hormuz has repeatedly come under strain due to clashes, but has also been dogged by the sides' contradictory assertions.

Just after Trump's Truth post on Monday asserting the Doha meeting with Iran, his spokeswoman told Fox News that US envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner "will be flying to Doha for high-level meetings this week".

CNN reported early Tuesday that Witkoff was en route to Qatar.

However, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said Monday that a delegation of the country's own experts would travel to Doha this week, but staunchly denied any sit-down with the Americans.

"We have not yet entered the stage of negotiating a final agreement," he said, noting that "over the coming days, we will not have any negotiation meetings with the US side at any level".

- Hormuz talks -

Iran's exercise of control over the highly strategic strait has sparked repeated flare-ups, the latest of which came early Sunday when US Central Command said it had attacked 10 Iranian military targets over "continued Iranian aggression against commercial shipping".

Tehran said it retaliated with strikes against US bases in Kuwait and Bahrain.

The blockade remains a key sticking point in the negotiations.

Iran and Oman border the strait, through which a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas passed prior to the conflict, and Tehran said Monday they held their first talks since the deal was struck.

"During a trip to Muscat, the first meeting of the Joint Hormuz Committee was held," Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi wrote on X.

The strait comprises Omani and Iranian territorial waters, but under international law the two cannot generally block passage or charge tolls.

Iran warned on Sunday that any attempt by ships to bypass its preferred route through Hormuz would "increase tensions" in the Middle East.

Iran insists ships transiting the strait pass through a corridor near its own shores.

How the memorandum is to be implemented remains unclear, with Tehran especially sensitive about the issue of de-mining.

In a joint statement following a meeting between French President Emmanuel Macron and Omani Sultan Haitham bin Tariq, Paris and Muscat said they would conduct joint de-mining operations.

In response, Gharibabadi insisted that under the agreement only Iran was to conduct de-mining efforts.

"The situation is sensitive and complex. We strongly advise France not to complicate it further with its provocations," Gharibabadi wrote.

- Traffic slowed in strait -

Traffic slowed over the weekend after a vessel was struck while transiting the waterway, with 29 commodity vessels crossing Saturday and 12 transiting Sunday, according to data from maritime tracking firm Kpler.

No vessels used a southern corridor through Omani waters according to data from Kpler, while another tracker, AXSMarine, found that 44 vessels had stopped publicly transmitting their position.

The published text of the US-Iran memorandum of understanding, announced this month, says Iran will define the future administration of the strait in dialogue with Oman and the other Gulf States, but "in line" with international law.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they were taking measures to control traffic in the strait and that vessels violating those measures would be dealt with more firmly than before.

Mohammad Mokhber, adviser to Iran's supreme leader, wrote on X that as long as Iran managed the strait, Washington's "hegemonic dreams in the region will not be realised".

- Israel strikes -

Lebanese state media said Monday an Israeli strike hit the country's south, the stronghold of Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, despite a framework accord signed by the two countries last week aimed at securing a peace deal.

Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war in March with rocket fire at Israel, triggering Israeli airstrikes and a ground invasion.

As part of the Washington-brokered deal, Hezbollah is to be disarmed, with the onus for doing so on the Lebanese army. Israeli leaders have said their troops will continue to occupy the south until then.

The Iran-backed militant group has fiercely opposed the agreement.

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M.Sugiyama--JT