‘Positive progress achieved on Islamabad MoU’ as Pakistan, Qatar mediate US-Iran talks

Qatari and Pakistani mediators concluded separate meetings with the US and Iranian negotiators in Doha today with positive progress made on issues related to the aspects of the Islamabad MOU, building on the Lake Lucerne Summit, the Foreign Office said on Thursday.

According to a statement released by the FO, the parties have agreed to continue discussions over the coming period, with the next meeting to be set at the earliest possible time following the funeral processions of the former Iranian supreme leader.

The development came as Iran and the United States concluded a round of indirect talks on Wednesday with no sign they had made headway toward a lasting peace, focusing instead on issues that they had supposedly resolved two weeks ago.

Reuters quoted sources as saying that negotiators for the two countries spent two days in Doha discussing maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz and financial incentives for Iran, two pillars of the initial agreement they signed in June, rather than more difficult topics that framework was supposed to tee up.

In Washington, US President Donald Trump said the two sides were making progress on possible limits to Iran’s nuclear programme – the main reason he launched the war in February.

“The denuclearisation of Iran is moving along well,” he told reporters. “They’ve had very good meetings, and we’ll see.”

READ MORE: Trump says US and Iran getting along very well

But sources said the nuclear programme did not come up in the talks, which were technical in nature.

US Vice President JD Vance said that would be addressed later. “Obviously, we’re worried about the nuclear issue, we’re going to start talking about that,“ he told reporters.

The two sides did not meet face to face, instead interacting separately with mediators from Qatar and Pakistan.