US envoys arrive in Qatar with state of Iran talks unclear

According to a statement from Qatar‘s Foreign Ministry cited by Reuters, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani affirmed his country’s continued mediation efforts and its support for all tracks of talks stemming from the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the US and Iran.

The premier’s remarks came during a meeting with US envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. They discussed developments in ongoing US-Iran talks.

Earlier, Qatar stated that no high-level meetings or direct talks were planned between US and Iranian representatives.

In an ‌interview ​with state TV, Iran’s top negotiator and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said that current meetings being held by Iran aim to fulfill the commitments of the memorandum of understanding (MoU).

He added that Tehran will not enter into further negotiations until the conditions of the MoU signed ​between Iran and the ​United ‌States are met.

“We are pursuing dialogue, but if the dialogue is not implemented, we are also prepared for war and will respond accordingly,” Qalibaf said.

He also stressed that Iran has sovereignty in the ​Strait of Hormuz along with Oman and it ⁠will ​never compromise ​on its rights over the critical waterway. He added passage ​without ⁠cost in the strait is only ⁠for ​60 days per MoU.

Officials with the administration of US President Donald Trump have insisted that passage through the strait remains toll free. 

Over the weekend, Trump accused Iran violating the tentative terms of the agreement and warned the US may “be forced to militarily complete the job.”

Qalibaf also said that Iran has exported over 40 million barrels of oil since the end of the maritime blockade, adding that the country is now selling oil at a price 20% higher than before.

During a visit with Israeli troops in southern Lebanon, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that his country’s forces would stay in the area as long as Iran-backed Hezbollah remained a “threat.”

“Our insistence is that we will not leave southern Lebanon until the threat is eliminated. And as long as Hezbollah is armed and present here, posing a threat to us — we will remain here,” Netanyahu said according to a statement from his office.

“Since we have achieved — thanks to your operations here — Lebanon’s recognition of Israel and Israel’s recognition of Lebanon, we say to both Iran and Hezbollah: get out of here, you have no business being here,” the Israeli prime minister also said.

During his visit, Netanyahu was joined by Defense Minister Israel Katz and other senior military officials.

Israeli troops entered Lebanon on March 2 after Hezbollah fired upon northern Israel in response to the US and Israel attacking Iran on February 28. Israeli troops are operating in a self-declared “security zone” stretching 10 kilometers (six miles) deep into Lebanese territory along the border.

Netanyahu’s comments came after Lebanon and Israel signed a framework agreement last week under US sponsorship to pave the way for peace and disarm Hezbollah.

According to the agreement, Israeli forces will withdraw from two “pilot zones” in southern Lebanon and allow the Lebanese Armed Forces to take control of the areas.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmail Baghaei, said that Iran does not plan to meet with the American side in the next few days.

“No meeting at any level with the American side has been scheduled for the coming days,” he said.

However, Iran is sending a delegation to Qatar for a meeting on Wednesday.

“What will take place in Doha tomorrow is a discussion with the Qatari side about implementing parts of the memorandum of understanding, including the release of Iran’s blocked assets,” Baghaei told journalists.

US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have already traveled to the Qatari capital, Doha. However, they won’t be having direct negotiations with Iranian diplomats while in Doha, said Majed al-Ansari, a spokesman for Qatar’s Foreign Ministry.

Instead, mediators are working for the time being as go-betweens for the talks, which won’t include any high-level officials, he added.

Israeli police arrested a 20-year-old US citizen suspected of spying for Iranian intelligence. According to Israeli news outlets citing police sources, the man, who lives in the Jerusalem area, photographed and filmed “sensitive locations” in Israel.

He allegedly received hundreds of dollars per assignment. The man is expected to be charged with contacting a foreign agent and endangering Israel‘s national security.

Police stated that he was taken into custody on June 9 in cooperation with Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence service, based on information from international security agencies.

According to the Israeli media, police have requested that the court keep the young man in custody until the end of legal proceedings against him.

US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have traveled to Qatar’s capital Doha and will be meeting mediators in the peace process between the US and Iran, with the fighting in Lebanon also on the agenda, a spokesman for the Qatari Foreign Ministry told reporters.

However, the spokesman denied earlier reports that US delegates will also meet Iranian negotiators.

“To the best of my knowledge, there are no direct meetings scheduled between the two parties in the coming days,” Foreign Ministry official Majed Al Ansari said.

After the United States and Israel attacked Iran in February, the UAE became one of Iran’s key targets. Over the course of the war, thousands of Iranian missile and drone strikes were aimed at local offices and data centers operated by global companies such as Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Nvidia.

“Data centers have long become critical infrastructure and need to be better protected just like oil refineries or desalination plants,” Sebastian Sons, a senior researcher at the German think tank CARPO, told DW.

Read our full story on how the Iran war affected Abu Dhabi’s high-tech push here.

Two members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have been shot dead at home in “a terrorist and cowardly act,” Iranian state media have reported.

Two other IRGC members were wounded in the same shooting in the western city of Paveh, which is near the border with Iraq‘s Kurdistan region, the reports said.

The attackers have not yet been identified. In the past, Tehran often blamed Kurdish separatist groups for the violence in the region, linking them to the US and Israel.

In a separate incident in the southeastern town of Saravan in Sistan-Baluchistan province on Monday, a vehicle carrying a family was “sprayed with bullets,” with the father killed immediately and the mother dying of her wounds some time later, state television reported.

The broadcaster blamed that attack on “Zionist-American mercenaries,” a term frequently used by Iranian authorities for separatist and militant groups.

Iran’s Sistan-Baluchistan borders Pakistan and Afghanistan. The region has long been a hotspot for clashes between security forces, insurgents and drug smugglers.

The German Foreign Ministry has warned that the Iranian war situation remains “fragile” and urged more talks between Washington and Tehran.

“The agreement between the US and Iran to stop mutual attacks and continue to negotiate is an important step and opens a chance for diplomacy,” German diplomats said on X.

“Now, it is a matter of achieving a sustainable solution for the safe, free passage through the Strait of Hormuz, and, in particular, for the Iranian nuclear program, which must no longer pose a danger,” it added.

The statement comes after German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul held talks with his US counterpart, Marco Rubio, in Washington.

US President Donald Trump said US and Iranian delegations are due to hold talks in the Qatari capital, Doha, on Tuesday.

On Monday, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that Iran had “requested” a meeting that “will take place tomorrow in Doha.” 

He later said the meeting was “going to be perhaps important, perhaps not.”

Tehran, however, has rejected reports that talks with the US were imminent.

The Iranian news agency ISNA quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi as saying that a meeting would take place “as soon as the conditions are in place and agreement has been reached on the date and venue.”

“No technical working group meetings are scheduled for this week,” the Iranian official added. However, he also confirmed there would be consultations via intermediaries.

You join our coverage of the conflict in the Middle East with the road to permanent peace once again appearing unclear.

While US President Donald Trump says talks between US and Iranian delegations will be taking place in the Qatari capital, Doha, there has been no confirmation of this from Tehran.

Hostilities recently flared up after the US accused Iran of attacking commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, but Washington says both sides have agreed to refrain from military actions for now.

Differences still remain over the interpretation of a memorandum of understanding recently signed by Washington and Tehran.

Iran wishes to control the Hormuz Strait, while the US maintains that the waterway must remain completely open under international maritime law.

Follow us as we bring you key updates on the Iran war and the peace process throughout the day.