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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump announced that U.S. negotiators are set to travel to Pakistan on Monday for discussions with Iran, raising hopes for an extension of the ceasefire that is due to lapse this week. This development comes as tensions between Washington and Tehran persist, particularly concerning the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
Although Iran has not yet confirmed the upcoming talks, the potential for dialogue emerges amidst ongoing disruptions in the passage through this crucial maritime route. The blockade by the U.S. continues to restrict ships from entering and exiting Iranian ports, while threats from Iran further complicate the situation.
Earlier on Sunday, Iranian officials expressed willingness to engage in negotiations, yet they remained adamant that the transit through the strait would remain blocked as long as the U.S. blockade is in place.
“It is impossible for others to pass through the Strait of Hormuz while we cannot,” asserted Iranian parliamentary Speaker Mohammed Bagher Qalibaf during an interview broadcasted on state television late Saturday.
In his announcement about the next round of negotiations, President Trump accused Iran of breaching the ceasefire by attacking ships in the strait. He warned that failure to accept the U.S. proposal could result in the destruction of civilian infrastructure in Iran.
“If they don’t, the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran,” Trump wrote.
He didn’t detail which officials the U.S. would be sending to a second round of in-person talks with Iran in Islamabad. The White House and office of U.S. Vice President JD Vance, who led the first round of talks, didn’t immediately respond to messages Sunday morning.
It remained unclear whether either side had shifted their stances on unresolved issues that derailed the last round of negotiations, including Iran’s nuclear enrichment program, its regional proxies and control over the Strait of Hormuz.
Qalibaf, who is Iran’s chief negotiator in talks with the United States, said before Trump’s latest comments that Iran still was seeking peace despite the blockade and deep-seated distrust of Washington.
“There will be no retreat in the field of diplomacy,” he said, acknowledging that the gap between the two sides remained wide.
Iran had announced the strait’s reopening after a 10-day truce between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon took hold on Friday. But after Trump said that the U.S. blockade of Iran’s ports “will remain in full force” until Tehran reaches a deal with the United States, Iran said it would continue enforcing its restrictions in the strait.
After a brief uptick in transit attempts on Saturday, vessels in the Persian Gulf held their positions, wary after two India-flagged ships were fired on mid-transit and forced to turn around. Their retreat returned the strait, through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil trade normally passes, to its pre-ceasefire status quo, threatening to deepen the global energy crisis and push the parties toward renewed conflict as the war entered its eighth week.
With days until the ceasefire in place between the U.S. and Iran runs out, Iran on Saturday said it had received new proposals from the United States, and Pakistani mediators were working to arrange another round of direct negotiations in the coming days.
Pakistani authorities began tightening security in the capital, Islamabad. A regional official involved in the mediation efforts said that mediators were finalizing the preparations and that U.S. advance security teams were already on the ground. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the preparations with the media.
For the Islamic Republic, the strait’s closure — imposed after the U.S. and Israel launched the Iran war on Feb. 28 during talks over Tehran’s nuclear program — is perhaps its most powerful weapon, threatening the world economy and inflicting political pain on Trump. For the United States, the blockade squeezes Iran’s already weakened economy and pressures its government by denying it long-term cash flow.
Though the ceasefire has held, the standoff in the strait threatens to plunge the region back into a war that has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, more than 2,290 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Fifteen Israeli soldiers in Lebanon and 13 U.S. service members throughout the region have been killed.
Reopening hopes sink as ships come under fire
Revolutionary Guard gunboats opened fire on a tanker and a projectile hit a container vessel, damaging some containers, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said. India’s Foreign Ministry said it summoned Iran’s ambassador over the “serious incident” of firing on two India-flagged merchant ships, especially after Iran earlier let several India-bound ships through.
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council issued a statement calling the blockade a violation of the ceasefire and said Iran would prevent “any conditional and limited reopening” of the strait. The council has recently acted as Iran’s de facto top decision-making body.
Since most supplies to U.S. military bases in the Gulf region come through the strait, “Iran is determined to maintain oversight and control over traffic through the strait until the war fully ends,” the council said. That means Iran-designated routes, payment of fees and issuance of transit certificates.
Pakistan pushes for progress toward a new deal
The renewed standoff over the strait came hours after Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said his country was working to “bridge” differences between the U.S. and Iran.
Before Trump’s latest post on Sunday, Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said “new proposals” from the U.S. had been put forward during a visit to Iran by Pakistan’s army chief and were being reviewed.
Khatibzadeh said that Iran will not hand over its stock of 970 pounds (440 kilograms) of enriched uranium to the United States, calling the idea “a nonstarter.” Khatibzadeh didn’t address other proposals for the enriched uranium, saying only that “we are ready to address any concerns.”