Trump says more direct talks likely this weekend, but diplomats doubt Islamabad logistics will allow it
No date has been set for the next round of negotiations between Iran and the United States, Iran’s deputy foreign minister said on Saturday, adding that a framework of understanding must be agreed on first.
The highest-level US-Iran talks since the 1979 Islamic Revolution ended in Islamabad last weekend without agreement.
US President Donald Trump has told Reuters there would probably be more direct talks this weekend. However, some diplomats said that was unlikely given the logistics of convening in Islamabad, where the talks are expected to take place.
“We are now focusing on finalising the framework of understanding between two sides. We don’t want to enter into any negotiation or meeting which is doomed to fail and which can be a pretext for another round of escalation,” Saeed Khatibzadeh told reporters on the sidelines of a diplomacy forum in the southern Turkish province of Antalya.
“Until we agree the framework, we cannot set the date … There was significant progress made actually. But then the maximalist approach by the other side, trying to make Iran an exception from international law prevented us to reach an agreement,” he said, referring to US demands over Iran’s nuclear programme.
“I have to be very crystal clear that Iran would not accept to be an exception from the international law. Anything that we are going to be committed will be within the international regulations and international law.”
Asked about reports that Iran again closed the Strait of Hormuz after its temporary reopening following a separate US-brokered 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon on Thursday, Khatibzadeh said Iran had announced it would allow the safe passage of commercial vessels in line with the terms of the truce.
Read More: Strait of Hormuz closed again over US blockade, says Iranian military command
“The other side, the American side, tried to sabotage that by saying that it is open except for Iranians. So that was the reason we said that ‘if you are going to violate the ceasefire terms and conditions, if Americans are not going to honour their words, there will be repercussions for them’,” he said.
Tehran has not yet agreed to a next round of negotiations with Washington, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported today, citing “relevant authorities.”
“Iran has not, up to this moment, agreed to the next round of talks” due to the US blockade of Iranian ports and Washington’s “excessive demands in the negotiations”, it said.
“The absence of excessive US demands is a key condition for continuing talks,” the report claimed, adding that this message was relayed to the US via Pakistani mediators.
Citing Iranian sources, CNN reported on Friday that Iranian and American officials were expected to arrive in Islamabad on Sunday to hold a second round of talks on Monday.
Meanwhile, Pakistani government sources told Anadolu today that US and Iranian teams were likely to hold a second round of talks involving their technical-level teams in Islamabad as early as Monday,
Sources said that the technical-level teams of both sides were expected to meet in Islamabad for the next round of talks “most probably on Monday” to finalise a negotiated settlement of the weeks-long conflict between the US and Iran that has crippled global energy supplies and daily life in the wider Middle East.
“Once they reach a draft, President [Donald] Trump, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and some other important heads of states will air dash to the capital to sign the deal,” a source said, referring to multiple reports that, alongside Trump and Pezeshkian, leaders of several other regional countries were also expected to attend the signing ceremony.
Negotiators from the two warring sides are continuing to exchange messages through Islamabad since the conclusion of the first round of the talks on April 11-12 in Islamabad to reach a “maximum understanding” before the beginning of the next phase of the much-awaited parleys, sources added.
Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of the Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir held in-person talks with Iranian civil and military leadership this week in Tehran, during which Iran declared the Strait of Hormuz open for commercial ships.
Trump said on Thursday that if an agreement was reached with Iran, he may go to Islamabad for the signing of the deal.
“I would go to Pakistan, yeah. Pakistan has been great …” he told reporters. “If the deal is signed in Islamabad, I might go.”
A Pakistani government official told Anadolu, on condition of anonymity, that logistical arrangements were already launched for the arrival of US and Iranian delegations, as well as media personnel covering the event.
There has been no official announcement from any of the sides about the timeframe for the next round of talks.
On February 28, the US and Israel launched a joint offensive on Iran, and Tehran retaliated with strikes on Israel and other regional countries hosting US assets.
The war has been on hold since April 8, when Pakistan mediated a two-week ceasefire.
