Iran’s top diplomat briefly returns to Pakistan but Trump says sides can talk by phone
Islamabad, Apr 27: Iran’s foreign minister briefly visited Islamabad again on Sunday as Pakistan’s political and military leadership scrambled to reignite ceasefire negotiations between Tehran and Washington, but US President Donald Trump said they could talk by phone instead.
Abbas Araghchi had left Pakistan’s capital late the previous day, creating confusion around an expected second round of talks there, but he returned before continuing on to Moscow on Sunday, Iranian state media said. He had been in Oman, which previously mediated talks and is on the other side of the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
The White House last week said it would dispatch envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Islamabad to follow up on historic face-to-face talks earlier this month. But shortly after Araghchi’s departure Saturday, Trump said he had called off the mission because of a lack of progress with Iran.
“If they want, we can talk, but we’re not sending people,” Trump told Fox News on Sunday. He said earlier on social media: “All they have to do is call!!!”
Indirect talks between the two sides were ongoing, two Pakistani officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media.
Trump last week indefinitely extended the ceasefire the US and Iran agreed to on April 7 that has largely halted the fighting that began with joint US-Israeli strikes on Feb. 28. But a permanent settlement remains elusive in the war that has killed thousands of people and shaken the global economy.
Strait of Hormuz at the centre of Iran’s discussions in Oman
A standoff remained on in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all traded oil and natural gas passes, as Iran has restricted movement through it and the US enforces a blockade of Iranian ports.
Iran wants to persuade Oman to support a mechanism to collect tolls from vessels passing through the strait, according to a regional official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to discuss the matter.
Oman’s response wasn’t immediately clear.
The official, who is involved in mediation efforts, also said Iran insists on ending the US blockade before a new round of talks and that Pakistan-led mediators are trying to bridge significant gaps between the countries.
Araghchi also spoke by phone with counterparts in Qatar and Saudi Arabia on Sunday.
Even before Saturday’s developments, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said any talks would be indirect and Pakistani officials would act as go-betweens, reflecting Tehran’s wariness after rounds of indirect talks last year and earlier this year ended with Iran being attacked by the US and Israel.
Trump said Iran has offered a much better proposal
The economic fallout is growing two months into the war as global shipments of oil, liquefied natural gas, fertiliser, and other supplies are disrupted by the near-closure of the strategic strait.
Both sides have continued to make military threats. Iran’s joint military command Saturday warned that “if the US continues its aggressive military actions, including naval blockades, banditry, and piracy”, it will face a “strong response.”
Trump last week ordered the military to “shoot and kill” small boats that could be placing mines in the waterway.
Trump told journalists on Saturday, before a security incident at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, that within 10 minutes of his cancelling Witkoff and Kushner’s trip to Islamabad, Iran sent a “much better” proposal.
He did not elaborate but stressed that one of his conditions is that Iran “will not have a nuclear weapon.” The status of Iran’s enriched uranium has long been at the centre of tensions. Tehran has 440 kilograms (970 pounds) of uranium enriched to 60 per cent purity, a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels, according to the UN nuclear watchdog agency.
Syed Mohammad Ali, an independent political analyst in Pakistan, said the delay in the talks must not be seen as a setback and that indirect talks were progressing. He said tensions between Washington and Tehran cannot be eased overnight, and the negotiation process requires patience.
“But the good thing is that the ceasefire is holding, and both sides have a desire to end the conflict in a way that does not backfire at home,” Ali said.
A growing toll even as fragile ceasefires hold
Since the war began, at least 3,375 people have been killed in Iran and at least 2,509 people in Lebanon, where the Israel-Hezbollah fighting resumed two days after the Iran war started.
Also, 23 people have been killed in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Fifteen Israeli soldiers in Lebanon, 13 US service members in the region and six UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon have been killed.
Another ceasefire — between Israel and the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant Hezbollah group — has been extended by three weeks. Hezbollah has not participated in the Washington-brokered diplomacy.
