As the standoff between the U.S. and Iran over the Strait of Hormuz continues, Pakistani and Iranian officials claim a new round of peace talks could be held in Pakistan by the end of the week.
Reuters on Tuesday quoted “a source who has been involved in the talks” who said Pakistan has sent a proposal for new talks in Islamabad to both Tehran and Washington. The proposal did not include a firm date, but Pakistani and Iranian officials said the new round of talks could be held soon.
An official with the Iranian embassy in Islamabad told Reuters the talks “can come sometime later this week, or earlier next week,” while a senior Iranian source said Tehran’s negotiating team is “keeping Friday through Sunday open.” A Pakistani official also said meetings could take place over the weekend.
The Pakistani government has not been willing to go on the record about further peace talks, and the White House has also declined official comment.
The Associated Press (AP) on Tuesday cited Pakistani sources who saw last weekend’s failed talks as “part of an ongoing process, rather than a one-off effort.”
Two American officials told the AP that “discussions were still underway” about meeting with Iran again, and such a meeting could be held as early as Thursday.
President Donald Trump said on Monday that his administration has been contacted by the “right people” in Iran, and “they’d like to make a deal, very badly.”
Trump seemed open to renewed negotiations, provided that the Iranians accept his non-negotiable demand to abandon their nuclear weapons program.
“Iran will not have a nuclear weapon, and we agreed to a lot of things, but they didn’t agree to that. If they don’t agree, there’s no deal. There’ll never be a deal,” he said.
The U.S. blockade of Iran’s ports went into effect on Monday, taking the showdown over the Strait of Hormuz to a new level.
Vice President JD Vance on Monday said the blockade was an overwhelming response to Iran’s “economic terrorism.”
“What they have done is engage in this act of economic terrorism against the entire world. They’ve basically threatened any ship that’s moving through the Straits of Hormuz. Well, as the President of the United States showed, two can play at that game,” Vance told Brett Baier of Fox News.
Vance led the U.S. negotiating team in Islamabad last weekend. He told Baier that the Iranian team seemed close to reaching an agreement, but then had to step out of the room to receive instructions from Tehran and became less cooperative afterward. The vice president suggested the U.S. was not interested in talking to middlemen or mouthpieces.
“What we figured out is that they were unable, I think — the team that was there, was unable to cut a deal. They had to go back to Tehran, either from the supreme leader or somebody else, and actually get approval to the terms that we had set,” he said.
Vance also said last weekend’s talks broke down when Iran refused to withdraw its threats against civilian vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. He said Tehran would need to commit to “a full reopening” of the strait in order to resume talks.
Iranian government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said in an interview with Russian media on Tuesday that Iran is still pushing for “war reparations” from the United States and plans to add demands for compensation for the economic damage inflicted by the U.S. blockade.
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