Overview
- Qatar and Pakistan said separate, mediator‑led meetings with US and Iranian teams in Doha produced “positive progress” and that discussions will resume after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s funeral.
- Negotiators agreed to set up a communications channel to log alleged violations and reviewed using part of roughly $6 billion in frozen Iranian funds to buy needed goods.
- Iran insisted the contacts were indirect and said it has no plans for direct negotiations with the United States in the coming days.
- The fragile ceasefire has been tested by recent strikes in the Gulf, including an alleged Iranian attack on a commercial ship, US CENTCOM strikes on Iranian targets, and Iranian strikes on US bases in Kuwait and Bahrain.
- Major technical and political gaps remain, including IAEA access to disputed sites, the conditional sequencing of sanctions relief and asset releases, and enforceable guarantees tied to Lebanon, with a mid‑August window pressuring negotiators.