A Pakistani delegation led by the country’s military chief, Asim Munir, landed in Tehran on Wednesday carrying a new message from Washington and aiming to discuss launching a second round of talks. It is the latest diplomatic push to revive talks between the United States and Iran since the two sides agreed a fragile two-week ceasefire last week following nearly six weeks of fighting in the US-Israeli war on Iran. The truce, which expires on April 22, has created a small window for negotiations to end the war, which has killed more than 4,000 people across the Middle East, overwhelmingly in Iran and Lebanon.
The first round of talks was held on Saturday in Islamabad under Pakistani mediation, but failed to secure an understanding or agreement between Tehran and Washington. Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is on tour this week, making a flurry of stops including in Saudi Arabia and Turkiye, to shore up support for the process and prevent a return to all-out war. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump says the war is “very close to being over” and has signalled that a second round of talks could resume within days, again potentially in the Pakistani capital.
Here is what we know about the latest mediation efforts: The first round of high-level talks took place in Islamabad on April 11 and 12, and marked the most significant direct engagement between the US and Iran in decades. Mediated by Pakistan, the talks lasted more than 20 hours and included both indirect and direct exchanges between delegations led by US Vice President JD Vance and senior Iranian officials. According to reports, the discussions focused on several core issues, including Iran’s nuclear programme, sanctions relief, Iran’s frozen assets, and control of the Strait of Hormuz.
The talks concluded without a resolution or memorandum of understanding, with Vance claiming Iran chose “not to accept our terms”, adding that the US needs to see a “fundamental commitment” from Tehran not to develop nuclear weapons. Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the leader of Tehran’s delegation, said it raised “forward-looking” initiatives, but the US had failed to gain the trust of his delegation in the talks. Reports in US and international media suggest there are growing prospects for a second round that could take place in a matter of days.
On Wednesday, the AP news agency reported that Washington and Tehran had given an “in principle agreement” to extend the ceasefire to allow for diplomatic overtures, citing unnamed regional officials. However, a US official was quoted by as saying that Washington has not formally agreed to the extension of its ceasefire with Iran. There is “continued engagement between the US and Iran to reach a deal”, the US official said.
Meanwhile, world leaders have made differing statements over the past week about the ceasefire and the chance for further talks. On Tuesday, US President Trump suggested talks could resume within days. However, Pakistan’s PM Sharif began a four-day trip to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkiye on Wednesday to rally support for the negotiations, making it unlikely that talks could be held in the timeframe Trump was suggesting.
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