Iran and the United States concluded a round of indirect technical talks on Wednesday with no sign they had made headway towards a lasting peace.Instead, the two countries focused on issues that they said had been resolved when an interim agreement was announced two weeks ago.The indirect talks followed days of tit-for-tat military attacks by the US and Iran amid a dispute over shipping routes in the Strait of Hormuz.Who participated in these talks?In Doha on Wednesday, Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani met US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and reaffirmed Qatar’s continued mediation efforts, alongside Pakistan, to end the war in the Middle East.Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi, headed the country’s technical team in the talks.Iran’s top negotiators, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, did not attend the talks.What did the two sides agree on?While neither side commented on whether they had managed to bridge any of their differences during the talks, Gharibabadi told Iranian media that two meetings were held.The first meeting addressed the US’s “violations of its obligations”, Gharibabadi said, adding that the sides decided to establish a communication channel to resolve disputes.The second meeting addressed the release of $6bn in frozen Iranian funds.“During the meetings with Qatari officials, including the …
