WASHINGTON - US and Iranian delegations are set to hold separate technical talks with Qatari and Pakistani mediators in Doha on Wednesday, a senior official in the administration of US President Donald Trump confirmed to Rudaw on Tuesday, shortly after Tehran specified the release of frozen Iranian funds as a key demand before moving forward with negotiations on a final agreement with Washington.
Ahead of Wednesday's talks, Trump's Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and advisor and son-in-law Jared Kushner are meeting Tuesday with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani and other mediators in Doha, the official said, adding that the talks aim to continue regional dialogue on the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding signed between the US and Iran in mid-June.
The meetings come a day after the US president said in a post on Truth Social that "IRAN HAS REQUESTED A MEETING. IT WILL TAKE PLACE TOMORROW IN DOHA!"
No direct talks
Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari also confirmed during a Tuesday press briefing that “there is currently no scheduled high-level meeting between the US and Iran, and no direct meeting with Iranian officials is planned in the coming days.”
Ansari further outlined the framework for future technical-level talks between the two sides, confirming that negotiations are divided into distinct tracks - a nuclear track, an economic and state-performance track, and a regional security track - without specifying when they would take place.
Iran also denied any plans for direct engagement with US officials.
Tehran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said Tuesday that "no meeting at any level with the American side is scheduled for the coming days," noting that discussions would instead be held with Qatari officials on implementation of the MoU signed with Washington, "including the release of Iran's frozen assets."
The Islamabad MoU provides for talks aimed at reaching a comprehensive, binding settlement within 60 days of signing, with the possibility of extension by mutual consent.
The preliminary understanding, however, faced a severe test last week, when it briefly collapsed into high-intensity military exchanges across the region before backchannel diplomacy led to an emergency stand-down.
Congress divided
On Capitol Hill, members of Congress offered sharply different assessments of the negotiations' prospects in interviews with Rudaw on Tuesday.
Democratic Representative Sam Liccardo expressed little optimism, arguing that the Trump administration “hasn't articulated a clear objective and we are now left with a lack of any clear strategy for negotiations.”
He added, “I am not hopeful that we are going to reach any kind of binding or lasting agreement in the next 60 days."
Meanwhile, Republican Representative Tim Burchett said he remains skeptical of Tehran but believes diplomacy should continue.
"I don't think Iran could be trusted, but I also don't think we should stop trying to go for a deal," Burchett told Rudaw, predicting that “the bombings will continue.”
Burchett further noted that he believes more meaningful negotiations could become possible if the leadership in Tehran changes.
"I think eventually Iran is going to say that their leadership is failing them... then we can probably go to the table and get some negotiations, and I think then their country will prosper beyond belief," he said.
The backdrop
The Islamabad MoU came months after the US and Israel launched a wide-scale aerial campaign against Iran on February 28, striking thousands of targets across the country over six weeks of hostilities.
In response, Tehran carried out thousands of drone and missile strikes across the Middle East targeting alleged US assets - particularly in Gulf Arab states - and launched retaliatory attacks against Israel.
The mid-June understanding established a cessation of military operations and maritime measures and the restoration of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, among other things.
However, US officials told Rudaw earlier this month that the deal rests on a strict pay-for-performance framework, with economic relief to Tehran strictly conditioned on verifiable Iranian compliance.
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