U.S. and Iranian negotiators concluded two days of indirect negotiations in Qatar on Wednesday, in the first uneasy diplomatic steps toward peace following tit-for-tat attacks over the weekend.

President Trump’s special envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, concluded their two-day diplomatic mission to Doha on Wednesday after meeting with Pakistani and Qatari mediators.

The two also met with Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, to discuss the status of U.S.-Iran negotiations and developments in Lebanon.

However, the two did not meet directly with Iranian diplomats, according to U.S. officials.

Still, Mr. Trump struck an optimistic tone when discussing the meetings on Wednesday, telling reporters that negotiations are “moving along well” despite recent flare-ups.

“They’ve had very good meetings, and we’ll see,” Mr. Trump told reporters ahead of a trip to North Dakota.

Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, confirmed Wednesday that the Iranian delegation met with mediators but not with U.S. diplomats. The discussions, he said, focused on the status of Iran’s $6 billion in frozen assets held by Qatar and on implementing a ceasefire in Lebanon.

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari wrote on social media that U.S. and Iranian negotiators had made “positive progress” on issues mentioned in the memorandum of understanding and had agreed to meet following the funeral proceedings for former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Funeral organizers said Wednesday that Khamenei’s funeral will take place in the city of Qom on July 7 after months of delay due to the war.

The two parties are in the process of negotiating a permanent peace deal that would end the war, which the U.S. and Israel launched in late February. Under the terms of the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding, signed by both nations last month, diplomats will have 60 days to negotiate a final deal on Iran’s nuclear program, sanctions and the status of the Strait of Hormuz.

The two sides met last month in Switzerland for the first round of direct negotiations. But officials on both sides indicated that technical talks over more complex issues were still to come.

The prospect of further direct talks between the U.S. and Iran was threatened last week after an attack on a commercial shipping vessel traveling through Omani waters in the Strait of Hormuz.  

While Iran did not claim responsibility for the attack, U.S. Central Command launched retaliatory strikes on Iranian targets in response just hours after the attack on the ship.

Iran responded shortly afterward with its own attacks.

Iran had effectively closed the strait for months in retaliation for U.S. and Israeli strikes, creating chaos in international energy markets and driving up gas prices for Americans.

Iranian officials have repeatedly said that Tehran will retain control over the waterway, which connects the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf, after the war is over. Under decades-old international laws, because the Strait of Hormuz is so narrow, it is all international waters and no shore country can claim even the customary 12-mile territorial waters.

While the memorandum of understanding requires Iran to reopen the strait and to not charge any tolls for at least 60 days, Iran has warned vessels against traveling through the waterway without consulting with Iranian officials.

Mr. Trump on Monday said that both sides had agreed to stand down and that Iran had requested a meeting in Doha.

The president struck a positive tone despite the recent turmoil and general concerns that both sides could return to an all-out war if peace talks stumble.

“We hit them very hard for three nights, as you know, but we’re getting along very well,” Mr. Trump said on Wednesday.

Vice President J.D. Vance said on Wednesday that the U.S. military might provide Mr. Trump with leverage in negotiations.

“I hear people who are attacking the president of the United States for negotiating, even though the president is negotiating from a position of strength because of you,” Mr. Vance told U.S. troops in Virginia Beach. “He’s negotiating from a position where Iran’s nuclear program has been destroyed, and their conventional military has been destroyed, too.”