Iran has dismissed claims that it has agreed to take part in a second round of peace talks in Islamabad, which the United States said were scheduled for tomorrow, according to Al Jazeera.
Citing the IRNA news agency, Al Jazeera report said, Iranian officials had decided to skip talk 2.0 due to, what it described as “Washington’s excessive demands, unrealistic expectations, constant shifts in stance, repeated contradictions, and the ongoing naval blockade, which it considers a breach of the ceasefire”.
“The published news about the second round of negotiations in Islamabad is not true”, it said, adding that “The news published by the United States is their media game and part of the ‘blame game’ to pressure Iran.”
At a high-level meeting on Sunday, Iran’s first vice president, Mohammad Reza Aref criticised the US approach to negotiations, describing American positions as “childish” and inconsistent, seeking a ceasefire and talks under pressure, only to adopt a more hardline stance later.
Tehran’s decision to skip the talks marked a sudden U-turn, especially after Iranian sources had earlier told Reuters that a delegation might arrive in Pakistan on Tuesday. In fact, parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf had insisted there would be “no retreat in the field of diplomacy”. However, it now appears that fresh threats from Donald Trump may have prompted the shift in stance.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif held a telephone conversation with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Sunday to discuss the evolving tensions in West Asia, according to a post shared by Sharif on X.
He added that he conveyed insights from his recent engagements with leaders of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkiye.
Meanwhile, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright expressed optimism about ongoing diplomatic efforts, stating that the United States “is not too far away from a deal.”
“There are negotiations with the Iranians going on despite what you hear in the chatter in public. I think those are actually going well,” Wright told Fox News Sunday.
He described US President Donald Trump as “a creative negotiator” who uses “pressure in different ways, uses uncertainty in different ways”.
“I think we’ll have a nice end of this conflict,” Wright said, adding that restarting shipping “will take time but probably not too much time” once the Strait is reopened.
Earlier in the day, the US President Donald Trump announced that US representatives, including Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, would travel to Pakistan to advance ceasefire negotiations with Iran while warning of serious consequences if Tehran does not agree to a deal.
“We’re giving diplomacy one last chance. If Iran does not sign this deal. It will be my Honor to do what has to be done,” Trump said.
The developments come as the two-week ceasefire period is nearing its expiry on April 22.
Iran has described the US blockade as an “act of aggression,” with its foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei accusing Washington of violating the ceasefire. In response, Trump alleged that Iran had fired on vessels passing through the strait.
On Saturday, Iranian gunboats reportedly targeted two Indian-flagged merchant ships, forcing them to turn around.
