Trump says the US and Iran will meet in Qatar after weekend attacks

President Donald Trump said talks with Iran would resume Tuesday in Qatar, despite the two sides trading attacks in the Gulf over the weekend. Iran did not confirm whether it will participate in the next round of meetings to advance an interim peace deal.

The latest exchange of strikes began when Iran attacked a cargo ship on Thursday near Oman, just outside the Strait of Hormuz, setting off attacks by the U.S. in response and counterstrikes by Iran at U.S. military and naval bases in Kuwait and Bahrain, respectively.

Despite the attacks, Trump wrote on social media Monday that Iran had requested a meeting, and said it will take place in Doha, Qatar, on Tuesday.

Qatar and Pakistan mediated the high-level talks between U.S. and Iranian officials in Switzerland two weeks ago, which paved the way for more negotiations on the terms of the deal.

Qatar is also where Iran says it has some $12 billion of its money frozen in bank accounts. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in remarks carried by the local Fars News Agency on Monday that $6 billion of that will be released as part of the interim deal signed with the U.S., in addition to oil sanctions that were temporarily already lifted by Washington.

A cargo ship is pictured off coast of the Khor Fakkan Container Terminal, the only natural deep-sea port in the region and one of the major container ports in Sharjah Emirate, along the Gulf of Oman on June 28.

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AFP via Getty Images

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Iran's deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, however, was quoted by Iranian media on Monday saying that while consultations continue with mediator Qatar, technical talks with the U.S. are not yet planned for this week and will be held only "when the conditions are met." He did not elaborate.

When asked about the current status of Iran-U.S. talks, a senior White House official not authorized to brief the press told NPR on Sunday that technical talks to implement the memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran "are on track for the coming days as planned."

The official did not respond to further questions, but added that "deconfliction channels are up and running after the Lake Lucerne Summit," referring to talks led by Vice President Vance in Switzerland two weeks ago.

At the conclusion of those talks, mediators Pakistan and Qatar said the two countries had agreed to establish a communication line "to avoid incidents" in the Strait of Hormuz, and Iranian officials said a "deconfliction cell" was created to monitor a parallel ceasefire in Lebanon between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah.

Weekend attacks test fragile ceasefire

U.S. Central Command says it struck missile and drone sites along Iran's territory bordering the Strait of Hormuz on Friday and Saturday, in response to Iran's attacks on two cargo ships, including one carrying more than 2 million barrels of crude oil.

Iran's attacks on cargo ships derailed U.N.-backed efforts to evacuate thousands of seafarers through a route near Oman following months of war and closure of the vital waterway. Iran's Revolutionary Guard, which was not involved in clearing the route near Oman, warned Thursday that ships that do not coordinate passage with its naval forces "will be dealt with" as violators.

Iran said on Sunday it launched missiles in counterstrikes at U.S. forces in Bahrain and Kuwait, the two Gulf Arab countries Secretary of State Marco Rubio had visited just days earlier to reassure them of the U.S. commitment to their security and to hear their perspectives on the U.S.-Iran interim deal.

The U.S. and Iran accused one another of violating the ceasefire. President Trump warned Iran on Sunday.

"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," Trump wrote on social media. "If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!"

Iran's claims on Strait of Hormuz

Gharibabadi, Iran's deputy foreign minister, said he visited Oman on Monday to exchange views on the future management of the Strait of Hormuz.

A day earlier, during a visit to Iraq, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi told reporters that commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is supposed to return to pre-war levels within 30 days of the U.S.-Iran preliminary agreement that was signed, but he said the key waterway is under Iran's sole management.

Araghchi added that the responsibility to remove what he described as "obstacles" in the Strait of Hormuz and to ensure it reopens "rests with the Islamic Republic of Iran."

It was not immediately clear if Araghchi was referring to mines the U.S. says Iran laid in the waterway during the war.
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