Iran on Sunday denied it would participate in new peace talks with the United States, its state news agency reported on Sunday, hours after U.S. President Donald Trump said its negotiators would head to Pakistan on Monday for a second round of peace talks with Iran.
Iran’s official IRNA news agency cited no specific source in its report that Iran had rejected the talks.
“Iran stated that its absence from the second round of talks stems from what it called 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,” IRNA wrote.
Earlier Sunday, Trump stated his representatives were heading for Pakistan to resume peace talks with Iranian negotiators on Monday, after an initial round of face-to-face talks last weekend concluded without an agreement to end hostilities.
“My Representatives are going to Islamabad, Pakistan — They will be there tomorrow evening, for Negotiations,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Sunday.
Trump also said he would launch new strikes on Iran unless it accepts his terms.
“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!
If the talks take place, the U.S. delegation to Pakistan would once again be headed by Vice President JD Vance, two senior U.S. officials told MS Now. Envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, also will be traveling to Islamabad for the talks, according to the White House.
In a telephone interview Saturday, Trump told MS NOW that the vice president would not be leading the second round of talks due to security concerns, as Secret Service wouldn’t have enough time to secure the area before the vice president’s arrival.
The apparent diplomatic setback came with shipping still blocked in the Strait of Hormuz, and could set the stage for a renewed surge in oil prices when markets reopen after the weekend within a few hours.
Iran has blocked the strait to ships other than its own since the United States and Israel attacked on Feb. 28. It announced on Friday that it would reopen the waterway. But it reversed that decision on Saturday after Trump declined to lift a U.S. blockade of Iranian ports.
“Iran decided to fire bullets yesterday in the Strait of Hormuz — A Total Violation of our Ceasefire Agreement!” Trump wrote in Sunday’s post. “That wasn’t nice, was it?”
Pakistan has served as the main mediator in efforts to reach a deal that would end the war, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif spoke by phone on Sunday with Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian. Sharif’s office said Pezeshkian had thanked Pakistan for its mediation efforts, in a readout of the call that made no mention of Iran rejecting the next round of…
Read More: Iran says talks continue while it retains control of Strait of Hormuz
