Iranian state media reported on Sunday night that Tehran is not planning to attend peace talks announced by President Donald Trump and scheduled for Islamabad, Pakistan, on Tuesday.
Trump said on Sunday that his representatives would arrive in Islamabad on Monday and would be ready to offer a deal that Tehran had best not refuse.
“We’re offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL, and I hope they take it because, if they don’t, the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran. NO MORE MR. NICE GUY!” the president wrote on Truth Social.
“They’ll come down fast, they’ll come down easy and, if they don’t take the DEAL, it will be my Honor to do what has to be done, which should have been done to Iran, by other Presidents, for the last 47 years,” he continued.
“IT’S TIME FOR THE IRAN KILLING MACHINE TO END!” Trump declared.
Vice President JD Vance is once again reported to be leading the U.S. team in Pakistan, along with President Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
Iranian state media did not welcome Trump’s offer. Iran’s IRNA on Sunday complained about Trump’s “maximalism and unreasonable and unrealistic demands, frequent changes of positions, constant contradictions, and the continuation of the so-called naval blockade,” and said there was “no clear prospect of fruitful negotiations” under such conditions.
Other Iranian news agencies said Tehran was unlikely to participate unless the U.S. unilaterally lifted its blockade on Iranian ports as a precondition for talks.
On Monday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian rejected Trump’s peace talks.
“Honoring commitments is the basis of meaningful dialogue,” Pezeshkian said. “Deep historical mistrust in Iran toward U.S. government conduct remains, while unconstructive and contradictory signals from American officials carry a bitter message; they seek Iran’s surrender.”
“Iranians do not submit to force,” declared the president of a violent theocratic tyranny that just murdered 30,000 of its own people to suppress an uprising.
During a public appearance on Monday, Pezeshkian sounded a bit less firmly opposed to negotiations, saying that his goal was to “manage these difficult circumstances through prudence, wisdom, and the preservation of national honor, so that we may subsequently focus on reconstruction and problem-solving through precise planning.”
“It is natural that after the conclusion of hostilities, the country will face challenges in reconstruction, securing financial resources, and market control. These are realities that require meticulous management and public cooperation,” he said.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei lashed out at the U.S. blockade on Monday, and said there were “no plans for the next round of negotiations.”
In a Monday post on Truth Social, Trump blamed U.S. media outlets for complicating peace talks by giving Iran the erroneous impression that America might be “losing the war.”
“The enemy is confused, because they get these same Media ‘reports,’ and yet they realize their Navy has been completely wiped out, their Air Force has gone onto darker runways, they have no Anti Missile or Anti Airplane Equipment, their former leaders are mostly gone (This has been, in addition to everything else, Regime Change!), and perhaps, most important of all, THE BLOCKADE, which we will not take off until there is a ‘DEAL,’ is absolutely destroying Iran,” he said.
“The Anti-America Fake News Media is rooting for Iran to win, but it’s not going to happen, because I’m in charge! Just like these unpatriotic people used every ounce of their limited strength to fight me in the Election, they continue to do so with Iran,” he wrote.
In yet another Truth Social post, Trump said that he would negotiate a deal with Iran that would be “FAR BETTER than the JCPOA, commonly referred to as ‘The Iran Nuclear Deal,’ penned by Barack Hussein Obama and Sleepy Joe Biden, one of the Worst Deals ever made having to do with the Security of our Country.”
After listing the deficiencies of the JCPOA in detail, including the fact that it merely delayed Iran’s march to nuclear weapons by a few years at best, Trump said his own Iran deal would “guarantee Peace, Security, and Safety, not only for Israel and the Middle East, but for Europe, America, and everywhere else.”
“It will be something that the entire World will be proud of, instead of the years of Embarrassment and Humiliation that we have been forced to suffer due to incompetent and cowardly leadership!” he declared.
The ten-day ceasefire agreement with Iran is reportedly due to expire on Tuesday evening, although Trump said on Monday that he was willing to extend it through Wednesday to allow time for negotiations. He said he was unlikely to extend it further, unless he sees significant progress in negotiations.
Read the full article here