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Qatar on Tuesday clarified that US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Senior Adviser to US President Donald Trump, Jared Kushner, are currently in Doha to meet mediators and Qatari officials and are not engaged in direct negotiations with Iranian representatives for diplomatic discussions involving regional issues following the recent exchange of fire between the two sides over incidents in the Strait of Hormuz.
Speaking at a weekly media briefing, Qatar's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed Mohammed Al-Ansari said the discussions in Doha are part of broader mediation efforts and involve multiple regional concerns, including Iran-related talks. "The US envoys Mr Steve Witkoff and Mr Jared Kushner are here in Doha to meet with the mediators and Qatari officials, and the talks will be around all regional issues which are of concern, including negotiations with Iran," Al-Ansari said, stressing that "they are not here for direct negotiations with the Iranians." He further clarified that the ongoing process involves technical-level engagement rather than high-level political negotiations after the conclusion of the initial round of talks as part of the 14-point memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the hostilities in West Asia between the US and Iran, with both sides agreeing to establish a High-Level Committee and a roadmap towards a final agreement within 60 days in Sqitanland earlier this month. "The technical teams are the ones coming in and out of Doha and other locations for this. So this reference is probably to the technical team that is involved in the talks with the mediators in pushing a lot of these technical issues forward," he said. "It's not a high-level delegation as I stated earlier; it's the technical side of the negotiations," Al-Ansari said, noting that the teams move between Doha and other locations depending on the progress of discussions. Al-Ansari also said there is currently no plan for a senior-level delegation to visit Doha in connection with the talks. "It is the technical delegation that comes and goes from Doha based on the development of the negotiations, and there is no high-level delegation currently planned to visit Doha," he said. On the issue of Iranian assets, the Qatari official noted that the USD 6 billion in frozen Iranian funds has not yet been transferred to Tehran, adding that any such movement would depend on the progress of negotiations. He said the release of funds would proceed "according to the advancement of negotiations", underscoring that financial arrangements remain linked to ongoing diplomatic developments. (ANI)
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