New Delhi, July 2 -- DOHA - Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner flew to Qatar on July 1 and did not sit across from the Iranians. They met separately with Qatar's Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, to work the Lebanon clause. The formal technical talks - between the American negotiating team and Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi - proceeded in a different room, on a different agenda, at a different level of the Iranian government entirely.

The result is what the Doha readout describes as "positive progress" and what two simultaneous tracks not converging actually looks like. A communications hotline was agreed. Partial movement was recorded on frozen Iranian assets. The Hormuz toll question - the one the United States des...