President Donald Trump on Monday announced the U.S. and Iran will meet for peace talks this week, after a weekend of clashes raised questions about the durability of the 60-day peace agreement framework the two countries reached earlier this month.
Trump said Iran requested a meeting, which he revealed will take place in Doha, Qatar, on Tuesday. The development follows claims from Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian earlier Monday that $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets would be released by Qatar in a “great victory for the Iranian people.”
Pezeshkian’s claims, unconfirmed thus far by the U.S., come as the unfreezing of Iran’s sanctioned assets was mentioned in the memorandum of understanding that Washington and Tehran signed on June 17. The interim deal set the clock ticking on 60 days of talks that are aimed at leading to a final peace agreement, which the U.S. hopes will resolve decades-long concerns about Iran’s nuclear program, and formally end the war launched on Feb. 28. The 14-point MOU states that sanctions on Iran will be lifted as part of a final deal, though that relief is linked to nuclear compliance.
Hours before Trump announced the Doha meeting, senior Iranian official Kazem Gharibabadi denied that any discussions were scheduled to take place. Qatar, a country that has emerged as a crucial third-party mediator between the U.S. and Iran, will host the meeting in the Middle East.
If it occurs, Tuesday’s meeting will come after a weekend of strikes between the U.S. and Iran, which threatened to derail negotiations altogether.
The clashes started with an Iranian drone strike on a commercial ship in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday that broke the 60-day ceasefire, prompting retaliatory U.S. attacks on Iranian targets on Friday. Iran responded by attacking another ship on Saturday, targeting U.S. bases in Kuwait and Bahrain, and threatening a “complete halt” to negotiations if Washington continued defensive strikes.”
TRUMP SAYS US MAY ‘BE FORCED TO MILITARILY COMPLETE THE JOB’ IN IRAN AFTER STRIKES
Trump shot back with new retaliatory strikes and said that Iran’s attacks meant “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.”
By Sunday evening, the outbreak of strikes appeared to have been resolved with both countries heading back to resume negotiations. A senior U.S. official said both sides have agreed to “stand down for now.”
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