Iran says it won’t meet with US envoys, clouding prospects for peace deal

DOHA/DUBAI - Iran said on June 30 it would not meet with top US envoys who flew to the region following an outbreak of hostilities, clouding the prospects for a lasting peace between the two countries.

Iranian officials also said the two sides must still sort out the terms of a ceasefire they signed two weeks ago before they could tackle more difficult topics, such as possible limits to its nuclear programme.

The developments indicated the two sides are far apart on key pillars of the initial framework, which calls for Iran to lift its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for financial incentives, and sets up 60 days of negotiations to work out a permanent peace deal.

US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Doha for what the White House described as “high level” talks, but Iran and host Qatar said they would meet with mediators, rather than the Iranians themselves.

Qatar said Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani was among those to meet with Witkoff and Kushner.

“No meeting at any level with the American side has been scheduled for the coming days,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said.

The two countries were due to commence lower-level technical talks, according to Majed al-Ansari, spokesperson for Qatar’s foreign ministry.

Looking for ways to break the deadlock, Trump has weighed a return to all-out war, holding conversations with Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine on conducting more strikes, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing US sources familiar with the discussion.

Reuters could not immediately confirm the report.

But for now Trump, who has publicly threatened Iran with more attacks, has decided to give diplomacy more time, the report said.

Shipping has partially resumed through the strait, which handled one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas before the war broke out on Feb 28.

But Iranian officials said they had a right to manage traffic along with US ally Oman, which lies on the other side of the strategic waterway, and would impose tolls in mid-August when the 60-day period expires.

“The sovereignty of the Strait of Hormuz lies with Iran and Oman, and traffic in the Strait is subject to arrangements determined by Iran,” Iran’s top negotiator, Mohammed Baqer Qalibaf, said on state TV.

US Vice-President J.D. Vance said Iran would be prevented from charging tolls through the international waterway, telling The Michael Knowles Show,

“This is not going to end in a place where the Iranians are collecting tolls on ships going through the Strait of Hormuz.”

Vance also said in the interview recorded on June 29 but released on June 30 that oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz had returned to pre-war levels, even exceeding that on some days, without citing figures.

Despite the uncertainty, oil prices have fallen since the weekend, when the US bombed Iranian military facilities in response to drone strikes on commercial ships and Iran attacked US military sites in Kuwait and Bahrain.

Vulnerable economies, however, could remain at risk from food and fuel price increases even after energy markets feel relief, the UN trade and development agency said on June 30.

The war pushed up global inflation and has put Trump under political pressure before midterm elections in November that will determine control of the US Congress.

Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent are both urging gasoline retailers to lower prices.

The interim deal between the US and Iran also provides for an end to the conflict between Israel and Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon.

But Lebanon’s powerful Parliament speaker Nabih Berri, an ally of Hezbollah, cast doubt on a separate, US-brokered framework deal between Lebanon and Israel to halt that war.

Analysts said the deal risks entrenching a stalemate by tying Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon to Hezbollah’s disarmament. REUTERS