US envoys Witkoff and Kushner land in Qatar for fresh Iran war talks

Qatar said Trump's envoys arrived on Tuesday to meet mediators on "all regional issues," as Tehran confirmed sending its own delegation to Doha this week but denied agreeing to meet US counterparts "at any level". The visit follows four days of strikes in the Strait of Hormuz that paused on Monday. US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and senior adviser Jared Kushner arrived in Doha to meet Qatari mediators, the Gulf state's foreign ministry said on Tuesday, as Washington's negotiating team returned to the region for the latest round of talks to end the Iran war. "Mr Steve Witfoff and Mr Jared Kushner are here in Doha to meet with mediators, with Qatari officials," foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari said. The talks will be around all regional issues... including, of course, negotiations with Iran, but also including Lebanon," he added. "They are not here for their negotiations with the Iranians." Iran on Monday separately announced it will send delegations to Qatar this week, although Tehran insisted it has not agreed to meet with the US “at any level” after attacks across the Persian Gulf over the weekend challenged the ongoing talks. Trump said the Islamic Republic had requested a meeting with US counterparts and that they planned to convene in Doha on Tuesday. One of Iran's senior negotiators denied talks had been scheduled, while the spokesman for Iran's Foreign Ministry said Tehran was sending its delegation to Qatar, a key mediator in the negotiations, to discuss the terms of the interim deal without involving the US Hostilities mounted in recent days in the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil had been shipped before war began. After four days of trading strikes, both sides appeared to pause their attacks on Monday. Witkoff, a real estate investor, has served as the administration's lead envoy on Middle East negotiations since the start of US President Donald Trump's second term, playing a central role in both the Gaza ceasefire talks and the more recent US-Iran framework deal signed on 17 June. Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, has worked alongside him as a senior adviser on regional diplomacy, building on his role brokering the Abraham Accords during Trump's first term. This is a developing story and our journalists are working on further updates.