Are US and Iranian negotiators meeting in Doha? What we know about talks

Published 30 June 2026 · us

Trump says Iran wants to meet in Qatar after attacks, but Tehran says it is sending a delegation only over frozen funds. President Donald Trump

Trump says Iran wants to meet in Qatar after attacks, but Tehran says it is sending a delegation only over frozen funds. President Donald Trump has claimed that American negotiators will hold talks with Iran in the Qatari capital, Doha, on Tuesday after days of tit-for-tat attacks, but Tehran has denied any planned meeting with the United States. Iran, however, said it is sending an expert team to Doha to follow up on the release of frozen Iranian assets, agreed as part of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed this month to halt the four-month US-Israeli war on Iran. The latest exchange of strikes came as the two sides try to exert control over the Strait of Hormuz, a global energy chokepoint that Tehran has used as geostrategic leverage. Both sides have accused each other of violating the MoU, which calls for an end to hostilities on all fronts, including Lebanon, as talks for a final deal have been delayed. So are talks between Iran and the US in Doha actually happening, and if so, what is on the table? What have the Americans said about a meeting in Qatar? Trump announced the meeting on Monday in an all-caps social media post: “IRAN HAS REQUESTED A MEETING. IT WILL TAKE PLACE TOMORROW IN DOHA!” Speaking to reporters, the US president was also characteristically ambivalent, stating that the “meeting in Doha is going to be perhaps important, perhaps not”. He doubled down on his claim that the US is doing very well in the fight to denuclearise Iran. “We’re winning militarily. It’s almost won militarily, I would say. And it’s really very simple. It’s the denuclearisation of Iran. We don’t want them to have a nuclear weapon, and they’re not going to have a nuclear weapon. And they’ve agreed to that,” Trump said. Trump has repeatedly claimed that Tehran won’t be allowed to run its nuclear programme, specifics of which have yet to be thrashed out between the two sides as part of the June 17 MoU. White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt, meanwhile, told US media that Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner will fly to Doha for “high-level meetings this week”.

What have the Iranians said about the meeting? Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has rebuffed any planned meeting with the US but said it will send an expert delegation to Doha to follow up on the release of frozen Iranian funds. Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Tehran’s “current priority is to ensure the implementation” of the memorandum of understanding with Washington. “We will not have any negotiation meetings at any level with the American side in the coming days. And the fact that American representatives are travelling to Qatar has nothing to do with the Iranian delegation’s trip,” he said. Kazem Gharibabadi, a senior negotiator for Iran, had earlier said in comments published by Iranian state media that no talks had been confirmed. What has Qatar said about the talks, Iranian assets? Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesman on Tuesday said that US envoys Kushner and Witkoff have arrived in the country, but will not engage in direct meetings with Iranian officials. The two will meet with mediators and discuss the progress of negotiations, the spokesman said. He said the issue of frozen Iranian funds is directly linked to the progress of negotiations between Tehran and Washington. The foreign ministry spokesman added that the $6bn in frozen assets has not yet been transferred to Tehran. On the Strait of Hormuz, he said a hotline dedicated to de-escalation was used to contain last week’s exchanges of fire between the US and Iran. What do Americans want to discuss at the meeting? Leavitt said a “technical meeting” will be held on the sidelines of the high-level meeting. This technical meeting has been ongoing, discussing the “nuts and bolts” of how to implement the MoU, Al Jazeera’s Mike Hanna said, reporting from Washington, DC. “But for the high-level meeting, the focus is going to be the issue that has plagued the relationship in recent days and led to this uptick in violence, and that is the Strait of Hormuz and who controls it,” Hanna said. What does Iran want to discuss at any meeting in Doha? The Iranian delegation said it will be focused on the unfreezing of Iranian assets, particularly after the Americans announced that there will be a provision for $6bn in Qatar to be released at the initial stage of the MoU.