Monday, May 25th saw Iran deploy a negotiating team to Doha—as U.S. strikes hit military targets in the Islamic Republic.
The top-level delegation to Qatar includes foreign minister Abbas Araghchi and aims to build on the current fragile seven-week long ceasefire, by extracting concessions from the Trump administration.
Trump himself has described a peace deal as ‘largely negotiated’—but refuses to be rushed into an unsatisfactory final version. On Truth Social he claimed it will be
a Great Deal for all, or no Deal at all.
A key White House concern before reaching a final settlement is the fate of Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium. In contrast, the involvement of central bank governor Abdolnaser Hemmati in the Iranian negotiating group sent to Qatar has been taken as meaning it will seek the release of frozen financial assets.
Washington views yesterday’s action in the Strait of Hormuz—in which U.S. forces struck at missile launch sites and boats attempting to lay mines—as both defensive and consistent with the ceasefire.
For now at least, negotiations, a formal ceasefire, and military operations can all coexist. On Tuesday, May 26th U.S. secretary of state Marco Rubio, told reporters:
There were some talks going on in Qatar today, so we’ll see if we can make progress. I think it’s a lot of talking back and forth going on about specific language in the initial document.
