Iran Snubs US Talks In Pakistan As Ceasefire Expiry Looms

Iran says no plans for Pakistan negotiations over US blockade, raising tensions and uncertainty days before ceasefire deadline.

Iran isn’t planning to attend talks with the United States, the regime said, after President Trump said he was sending US negotiators to Pakistan to take part in renewed talks on Monday, just days before a ceasefire in the Middle East expires.

The ongoing US blockade of Iranian ports has been a significant sticking point, an issue further complicated by an American destroyer on Sunday firing on and seizing an Iranian ship that tried to evade it.

Tehran said it would retaliate, with the state-run Tasnim news agency reporting that Iran had sent drones in the direction of US military ships after its vessel was seized.

Iran Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said in a weekly press briefing Monday that, “As of now … we have no plans for the next round of negotiation, and no decision has been made in this regard.”

State broadcaster IRIB cited Iranian sources as saying “there are currently no plans to participate in the next round of Iran-US talks.” The Fars and Tasnim news agencies had earlier cited anonymous sources as saying “the overall atmosphere cannot be assessed as very positive,” adding that lifting the US blockade was a precondition for negotiations.

State-run IRNA meanwhile pointed to the blockade and Washington’s “unreasonable and unrealistic demands,” saying that “in these circumstances, there is no clear prospect of fruitful negotiations.”

Iran and the United States, along with Israel, are just days away from the end of the two-week ceasefire that halted the Middle East war, ignited by surprise US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28.

There has so far been only a single, 21-hour negotiating session held in Islamabad on April 11 that ended inconclusively, though groundwork for fresh talks continued afterwards.

“We’re offering a very fair and reasonable deal, and I hope they take it,” Trump said in a social media post, while also renewing his threats against Iran’s infrastructure if a deal isn’t reached, per AFP.

However, as of 9.45pm Nigerian time last night, there were reports that Iran was reconsidering its withdrawal from a proposed second round of peace talks with the US, a senior Iranian official said. It comes as Trump says a delegation from Washington is on its way to Pakistan for a new round of talks.