Trump sees progress as US, Iran hold Qatar talks

US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that indirect talks with Iran in Qatar were making progress.

The remark offered a tentative sign that diplomacy was holding after recent exchanges of fire had threatened efforts to end the Middle East war. Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi led Tehran's delegation at the talks.

What progress did Trump report in the Iran talks?

Trump told reporters the denuclearization of Iran was moving along well as he boarded Air Force One. He said the US had hit Iran very hard but that both sides were now getting along well. His comments came as the two sides concluded a round of indirect talks in Doha.

What did Iran say about the Qatar talks?

Gharibabadi said the talks had concluded and that both sides agreed to set up a communication channel by Thursday. That channel will report and record violations of their initial memorandum of understanding. Iran had insisted beforehand that there would be no direct negotiations in Doha.

Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei denied Trump's earlier claim that the talks would be direct. He said Iran had no plans for negotiations with the American side at any level in the coming days. A diplomat told AFP the discussions were meant to build on progress made at last month's Lake Lucerne Summit.

What issues did the Doha talks cover?

The memorandum, mediated by Qatar and Pakistan and sealed at the Lucerne summit, includes a 60-day ceasefire and a plan to reopen the blockaded Strait of Hormuz. It also sets a timetable for a final deal on the war and Iran's nuclear programme. Gharibabadi said the talks also covered frozen Iranian assets, whose release Tehran wants as part of any settlement.

He said officials reviewed the use of part of an initial $6 billion and agreed that goods needed by Iran would be purchased and made available. US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff did not take part in the technical talks. They had met Qatar's prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, a day earlier, and later met the country's ruler, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

Anna Jacobs, a non-resident fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute, said the process remains at an early stage and that battles are being fought both privately and publicly. She said the overall positive message is that both sides are continuing to engage after last week's clashes.

Why have US and Iran continued exchanging fire?

Since the US-Iran deal was signed last month, the two sides have exchanged fire in the Gulf. The clashes underscore the difficulty of turning the initial truce into a lasting settlement. Tehran targeted a commercial ship it said had strayed from its approved route through the Strait of Hormuz, and US Central Command responded by striking 10 Iranian military targets. Iran then hit US bases in Kuwait and Bahrain, drawing condemnation from both Gulf states.

Iran's chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said Tuesday that implementation challenges are inevitable once a war of this scale ends, especially where parties such as Israel are involved. He said Iran's delegation in Doha would focus on implementing clauses tied to Hormuz and the fighting in Lebanon. The exchanges of fire appeared to ease in the days before the Qatar talks, and oil prices fell as markets took encouragement from continued US-Iran engagement.

What is the connection to the Lebanon conflict?

Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has also been relatively quiet in recent days. Iran-backed Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the wider Middle East war in March with rocket fire on Israel, which triggered Israeli airstrikes and a ground invasion. Tehran has insisted that any final deal must include an end to the Lebanon conflict and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the south, part of which they still occupy.