WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump said negotiators had made progress in indirect talks with Iran, as the two countries seek to move past last week’s tit-for-tat strikes and convert their interim truce into a lasting peace.

Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and envoy Steve Witkoff visited Qatar on Tuesday for technical discussions on the initial agreement, which set a 60-day negotiating period between Washington and Tehran.

“They’ve had very good meetings, and we’ll see. We hit them very hard for three nights, as you know, but we’re getting along very well, so I call it the denuclearization, and it’s all taking place,” Trump said, without specifying what, if any, breakthroughs were made.

Witkoff and Kushner met with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani in Doha to discuss the ongoing negotiations and the envoys said the U.S. is committed to continuing negotiations, according to a Qatari statement issued Wednesday. Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said later that “positive progress” had been made.

Vice President JD Vance said Wednesday that technical talks — which are being carried out by lower-level negotiators — were continuing.

“The technical negotiators are sitting down with the Iranians, with the Qataris, and with others in Doha, talking about some of the details here,” he told reporters in Virginia Beach, Virginia. He said those included discussions on getting traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and said negotiators would “start talking” about nuclear issues, another top priority.

Qatar said the next meeting will be scheduled at the earliest possible time following the funeral processions for Iran’s former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed in an airstrike at the start of the conflict. Ceremonies are expected to begin July 4 and continue for days, according to Iranian state-run media.

The truce was on shaky ground last week when the U.S. and Iran traded retaliatory strikes following an Iranian drone attack on a commercial vessel around the Strait of Hormuz.

The attack was a clear sign that Tehran is seeking to maintain a degree of control over the critical waterway, against the wishes of the Trump administration. That debate is one of the main sticking points in the talks, along with the future of Iran’s nuclear program.

Trump has privately weighed a return to all-out war with Iran and has held conversations with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Dan Caine about military options but has opted to stick with talks for now, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday, citing an unnamed U.S. official.

“Well, I think they’ve come a long way. We hit them very hard last week. I think they’re fine,” Trump said Wednesday when asked about the report. “It’s very simple, and Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.”

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(With assistance from Sherif Tarek, Veena Ali-Khan and Magan Crane.)