Mediators set up de-escalation channels ahead of US-Iran talks, source says

(Reuters)

DUBAI, June 29 – Iranian and U.S. technical teams working on the implementation of an interim peace deal are expected to meet in Doha in the coming days, a source told ​Reuters on Monday, after tit-for-tat weekend strikes threatened to derail the fragile accord.

Mediators have established communications channels to de-escalate any incidents, and technical talks are set to continue, ‌the source, with knowledge of the discussions, added. However, a senior Iranian official was reported as saying technical meetings were not confirmed.

The U.S. and Iran signed a 14-point memorandum of understanding aimed at ending four months of conflict on June 17, under which both sides agreed to cease hostilities and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas typically transits.

Closure of the waterway sent oil prices soaring to above $100 a barrel, ​triggering a renewed spike in global inflation and causing a political headache for U.S. President Donald Trump by pushing up prices at the pump months before midterm elections.

The accord paves the ​way for 60 days of more in-depth talks on thornier issues such as Iran’s nuclear program, although both sides have given conflicting accounts as to ⁠what was agreed.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Monday that $6 billion out of $12 billion of assets frozen in Qatar would be released following the accord and returned to Iran, Iranian state media reported.

He ​added that the recent agreement had lifted sanctions on Iran’s oil and petrochemical sectors, describing it as “a great victory for the Iranian people.”