Iran Denies Trump's Claim of Meeting with US in Qatar
The Iranian government has stressed that there is no scheduled meeting or negotiation, at any level, with the United States in the near future. This assertion contradicts an announcement by US President Donald Trump that a high-level meeting between Washington and Tehran would take place in Doha, Qatar, on Tuesday.
The statement, as reported by the IRNA news agency, was delivered by Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei, who also serves as the spokesman for Tehran’s negotiating team, while speaking to journalists on Monday local time.
Baghaei stated that Iran is currently focused on ensuring the implementation of the provisions of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to end the war, which was signed by both countries two weeks ago. He added that Tehran is also ‘seriously pursuing’ the fulfilment of related demands.
According to Baghaei, the US has issued the necessary licences under Article 10 of the MoU regarding oil sales, and that Iran is monitoring the implementation process. He said an Iranian expert delegation will depart for Doha at the end of the week to follow up on the release of Tehran’s frozen assets, as stipulated in Article 11 of the MoU, noting that the implementation process for that article is also underway.
Baghaei added that Iran has not yet entered the negotiation stage for a final agreement. Under the MoU, he stated, discussions on a comprehensive final agreement ‘can only begin’ if other provisions, including the unfreezing of Iranian assets, are enforced on a sustainable basis.
Regarding reports of a meeting with senior US representatives in Doha during the visit of the Iranian delegation, Baghaei also denied this. He stressed that the visit of Washington’s representatives to Qatar has no connection whatsoever with Tehran’s technical mission there. ‘There will be no negotiating meeting with the American side at any level in the coming days,’ Baghaei asserted.
Trump had announced on social media on Monday that a high-level meeting between the US and Iran would be held in Doha, the capital of Qatar, on Tuesday, claiming that Tehran had requested the meeting. The White House, in a separate statement, said that US Special Envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, and Trump’s adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, would attend the meeting. The White House also noted that the Doha meeting was separate from the technical discussions between the two countries, which are a follow-up to the MoU signed on 17 June. The Doha meeting was planned after the US and Iran exchanged attacks over the weekend regarding a dispute over the Strait of Hormuz.