Islamabad, Pakistan – Iran has signalled that it has no plans to send negotiators to Islamabad for a new round of talks with the United States, threatening Pakistan’s plans for multiday negotiations between the warring nations less than 48 hours before a fragile ceasefire is set to expire. Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday Washington had “violated the ceasefire from the beginning of its implementation”, citing the US naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz since April 13, and the overnight capture of an Iranian container ship by the US military as breaches of the truce as well as international law. He warned that if the US and Israel launched aggression again, Iranian forces “will respond accordingly”, while reaffirming that Tehran’s 10-point proposal, submitted before the first round of Islamabad talks, remained its basis for any negotiation.
Pakistani officials said they remain cautiously hopeful that they can bring the two sides back to the negotiating table. Islamabad has been gearing up to host the second round of talks between the US and Iran aimed at ending their war. But officials acknowledged that rising tensions in recent hours have cast a cloud over the prospects of negotiations.
Unlike the first round of talks held in Islamabad on April 11, Pakistan has been aiming to get the US and Iran to agree to multiple days of negotiations, until a temporary deal – mediators are calling it a memorandum of understanding (MoU) – is signed, effectively extending the ceasefire, sources close to these efforts have told Al Jazeera. If the MoU is agreed, it would give negotiators a longer window – even up to 60 days – to secure a longer peace deal. But all of that will hinge on the participation of Iran, which has now said it has no plans for talks, following a rapid escalation in tensions over the past 24 hours.
US President Donald Trump announced on Sunday that his representatives were heading to Pakistan for a second round of negotiations with Iran, as the ceasefire, due to expire on Wednesday, edges towards its deadline. But Trump accompanied his announcement with a revival of earlier pre-ceasefire threats to bomb Iran’s energy and power facilities. They will be there tomorrow evening, for Negotiations,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
He accused Iran of a “Total Violation of our Ceasefire Agreement” after Iranian gunboats fired on vessels in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, including a French vessel and a British freighter. NICE GUY!” The tensions did not ease overnight. In the early hours of Monday, Trump announced on Truth Social that the US Navy guided missile destroyer USS Spruance had intercepted an Iranian-flagged cargo ship, the Touska, nearly 900 feet (274 metres) long, in the Gulf of Oman after its crew refused to heed warnings to stop.
US Marines have now taken charge of the vessel, which Trump alleged was under US Treasury sanctions for prior “illegal activity”. Iran has described the seizure of the ship as “piracy”. Amid the military and social media exchanges between Iran and the US, Pakistan has been busy preparing to host talks that it, as the principal mediator between Washington and Tehran, hopes will yield a deal to end the war, now in its eighth week.
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