Iran says talks continue while it retains control of Strait of Hormuz
President Donald Trump said US negotiators will travel to Pakistan on Monday for the next round of peace talks with Iran.
“My representatives are going to Islamabad, Pakistan, they will be there tomorrow night for negotiations,” Trump said. he said in a post Sunday at Truth Social.
“We are offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL and I hope they accept it, because if they don’t the United States will disable every Power Plant and every Bridge in Iran. NO MORE MR. NICE GUY!
Trump said Iran is violating the ceasefire that expires on Wednesday.
Iran stepped up its rhetoric towards the United States on Sunday, a day after it said it had regained control of the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian Parliament Speaker and Chief Negotiator Mohammed Bagir Galibaf said that negotiations with the USA and Israel to end the war are continuing, but his country is ready to restart the conflict and warned the USA not to impose a naval blockade in the strait.
“We do not think that the armed forces are not ready just because we are negotiating,” Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said. He said in televised statements late Saturday, according to a report in Iranian state media. “On the contrary, our armed forces are ready just as the people are on the streets.”
Galibaf also reiterated Iran’s intention to restrict traffic in the strait, an important energy transit point.
“It is impossible for others, not us, to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. If the USA does not lift the blockade, traffic in the Strait of Hormuz will definitely be restricted.”
Trump announced the blockade on April 12. complainant Tehran does not appear to have reopened the strait, which was one of the conditions for accepting the fragile two-week ceasefire currently in effect.
gunboat diplomacy
Two assault boats from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard shots were opened The British army’s UK Merchant Marine Operations center said in a statement on Saturday that a tanker had been found passing through the strait. He reported that the tanker and crew were safe, without specifying the ship or destination.
Shipping sources told Reuters that at least two more ships reported coming under fire while trying to pass through the waterway.
Confusion over the status of the strait has left ship operators in limbo.
Video footage from ship tracking company Kpler showed several tankers and cargo ships attempted to exit the waterway on Friday but were turned back.
Oil prices fell more than 10 percent to below $90 a barrel on Friday, on hopes that energy supplies would start flowing again from the region. Approximately one fifth of the world’s crude oil resources passed through the Bosphorus before the war. The closure of the sea route connecting the Persian Gulf to global energy markets has triggered the largest oil supply disruption in history.
According to Reuters, India summoned Iran’s ambassador after an Indian-flagged ship carrying crude oil was attacked in Mumbai while trying to cross the strait.
at an event at the White House on Saturday. Trump refused to take journalists’ questions about Iran, but said, “There are very good talks going on.”
He said Iran “got a little cute,” later adding, “They wanted to close up the strait again,” referring to the Strait of Hormuz.
“They can’t blackmail us,” Trump said.
nuclear rights
Meanwhile, Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian was quoted as saying that the USA cannot deprive Iran of its nuclear program.
“Trump says Iran cannot use its nuclear rights, but he does not say for what crime. Who is it that deprives a nation of its rights?” Reuters quoted Pezeshkian as saying via the Iranian Student News Agency.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh rejected Trump’s claims in an interview with The Associated Press on Saturday on the margins of a diplomatic forum in Türkiye, saying his country would not hand over its enriched uranium to the United States.
“I can tell you that no enriched materials will be sent to the United States,” Khatibzadeh said. “This is a non-starter, and I can assure you that while we are prepared to address any concerns we have, we will not accept non-starters.”
Trump said Friday that Iran has agreed to hand over its enriched uranium stockpile.
He also said the United States would go to Iran and “get all the nuclear dust,” referring to 970 pounds (440 kilograms) of enriched uranium believed to be buried beneath nuclear sites badly damaged in U.S. military strikes last year.
Peace talks were held between the US delegation led by the Vice President in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan Iranian negotiators led by J.D. Vance and Ghalibaf failed to reach an agreement last weekend.
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said in a statement that the Pakistani Chief of General Staff, who acted as an intermediary, presented the proposals to Iran during his recent visit to Tehran and that the proposals were still being examined.
It was not disclosed what was in the offers.
‘Excessive demands’
The council said Iran had not yet responded, but continued talks would require the United States to “give up excessive demands and adjust its demands to the realities on the ground.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said on Friday: social media: “In accordance with the ceasefire in Lebanon, the passage of the Strait of Hormuz has been declared completely open for all commercial ships for the remaining period of the ceasefire.”
However, Araghchi said the ships must pass through a “coordinated route” announced by Iranian maritime authorities. It is unclear whether Tehran will force ships to pay transit fees through the strait.
Israel and Lebanon agreed on Thursday to a 10-day ceasefire effective at 5pm that evening. Israel’s military campaign in Lebanon against the Hezbollah militant group, a close ally of Iran, poses another obstacle in negotiations between Washington and Tehran.
— The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
