US, Iran talks in Doha today

DUBAI: US President Donald Trump’s top envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, will meet Iranian negotiators in Doha on Tuesday as the two warring sides exchanged fire over the weekend, testing the fragile ceasefire.

Trump announced in a Truth Social post on Monday that Iran had requested a meeting, which would take place in Doha on Tuesday, without giving any details. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News that special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner would travel to Doha this week to discuss the memorandum of understanding the two sides signed this month.

“As far as we’re concerned, we’re holding up our end of the ceasefire. Violence will be met with violence,” Leavitt said. She said Iran attacked commercial vessels, and the US responded as directed by the President. Over the weekend, the US military launched airstrikes against Iranian targets in response to attacks by Tehran on ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz, the key waterway for one-fifth of the global crude supplies.

Iran said it launched drone and missile attacks targeting Bahrain and Kuwait on Sunday. A US official told the local media on Sunday that “both sides will stand down for now and vessels can move freely.” Republican Senator John Kennedy said the US was “winning” the war against Iran and compared the regime in Tehran to “an old man who can’t afford a cold.”

Kennedy urged Trump to retaliate with full strength if Iran violates any terms of any agreement. In a series of posts on Truth Social, Trump claimed that crude oil was now sitting at USD 69 per barrel and was “heading down.”

The Trump administration admitted that the war in Iran was causing a spike in gas prices. However, Trump has also argued that the war was necessary to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.