Donald Trump hails indirect US‑Iran talks in Qatar days after two sides traded strikes

Hours after the US and Iran concluded their first indirect talks in Doha, Qatar, US President Donald Trump on Wednesday (local time) hailed the progress, saying, "They've had very good meetings."

Trump made the statement as the two sides seek to move beyond last week's tit-for-tat strikes and convert their interim ceasefire deal into a lasting peace agreement, Bloomberg reported.

The US president said, "They’ve had very good meetings, and we’ll see. We hit them very hard for three nights, as you know, but we’re getting along very well, so I call it denuclearization, and it’s all taking place." He, however, did not specify what, if any, breakthroughs were achieved.

Trump negotiators visit Iran for indirect talks

Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, and envoy Steve Witkoff visited Qatar's capital on Tuesday to hold technical discussions on the initial 14-point Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which set a 60-day negotiating period between Washington and Tehran. The US negotiating team met with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani to discuss the ongoing negotiations, and the envoys added that Washington is committed to continuing talks, the report added, citing a Qatari statement issued Wednesday.

Reiterating Trump's remarks, Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday said that the technical talks, being conducted by lower-level negotiators, were continuing. Speaking to reporters in Virginia Beach, Virginia, Vance said, "The technical negotiators are sitting down with the Iranians, with the Qataris, and with others in Doha, talking about some of the details here." He added that the discussions included getting traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and that negotiators would “start talking” about nuclear issues, another top priority.

Qatar says “positive progress” made in indirect talks

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry later said that “positive progress” had been made. In a post on X, Majed Al Ansari, Qatar's foreign ministry official spokesperson and adviser to Qatar's prime minister, said the talks were built on the result of the Lake Lucerne Summit in Switzerland. He said the talks would continue after Tehran concluded funeral ceremonies for the country's former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed on the first day of US-Israel strikes on Iran in late February.

Al Ansari said, "Qatar & Pakistan mediators concluded separate meetings with the US & Iranian negotiators in Doha today, with positive progress made on issues related to the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding, building on the outcomes of the Lake Lucerne Summit. The parties agreed to continue discussions over the coming period, with the next meeting to be scheduled at the earliest possible time following the funeral processions of the former Iranian Supreme Leader."

The funeral ceremonies for Khamenei will begin in Iran on 4 July.

US-Iran trade strikes

The indirect talks came days after Washington and Tehran traded strikes last week, putting pressure on the already fragile truce. The strikes followed an alleged Iranian drone attack targeting a commercial vessel near the Strait of Hormuz.

The US Central Command said that an American aircraft hit Iranian missile and drone storage sites as well as coastal radar installations, calling it a “powerful response to yesterday’s attack.”

According to The Wall Street Journal, an unnamed US official said Trump had privately weighed a return to all-out war with Tehran and had held conversations with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Dan Caine regarding military options, but had opted to stick with talks.