No reason to meet with Iran without nuclear deal: Trump
President Donald Trump said Iran could call if it wants to negotiate an end to the war started by the US and Israel, as Iran’s foreign minister returned to Pakistan for talks despite the absence of their US counterparts.
While Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi continues to shuttle between mediator countries, hopes of reviving peace efforts have faded after Trump canceled the visit of his envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Islamabad.
“If they want to talk, they can come to us or call us. You know, there’s a phone. We have nice, secure lines,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News on Sunday.
“They know what has to be in the agreement. It’s simple: They can’t have nuclear weapons, otherwise there’s no reason for them to meet,” Trump said.
Iran has long demanded that Washington accept its right to enrich uranium; Tehran says it seeks uranium for peaceful purposes only, while Western powers and Israel say the uranium is intended to produce nuclear weapons.
Although the ceasefire has paused large-scale fighting in the conflict that began with the US-Israeli attack on Iran on February 28, no agreement has been reached on terms to end the war that has killed thousands, driven up oil prices, fueled inflation and dimmed the global growth outlook.
Tehran has largely closed the Strait of Hormuz, which normally carries one-fifth of global oil shipments, while Washington has blockaded Iranian ports.
After talks in Pakistan, Araqchi flew to Oman, another mediator in the war, where he met Sunday with the country’s leader, Haitham bin Tariq al-Said.
According to Iran’s foreign ministry, they discussed security in the strait, and Araqchi called for a regional security framework free from foreign interference.
Araqchi later returned to Islamabad, Iranian state media reported. Pakistani government sources said he would hold talks with the country’s leaders before traveling to Moscow.
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported that Araqchi’s talks with Pakistani officials will include “implementing a new legal regime in the Strait of Hormuz, obtaining compensation, ensuring that warmongers do not launch a new military attack, and lifting the naval blockade.”
The report stated that the talks would have nothing to do with Iran’s nuclear program.
Trump, speaking in Florida after a man opened fire nearby just before the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington, said he canceled his envoys’ visit because of too much travel and expense involved in an offer he considered inadequate from Iran.
Trump said Iran “offered a lot, but not enough.”
An earlier round of talks in Islamabad, where Vice President JD Vance led the US delegation opposite Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Baqir Qalibaf, ended without a deal.
Two US Air Force C-17s flew out of Pakistan carrying security personnel, equipment and vehicles used to protect US officials after the latest diplomatic trip was cancelled, two Pakistani government sources told Reuters on Sunday.
According to the statement made by the Iranian government, Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian told Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif over the phone that Tehran will not enter into “imposed negotiations” under threat or blockade.
He said the United States must first remove obstacles, including a naval blockade, before negotiators can begin laying the groundwork for a solution.
Writing on Truth Social before the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, Trump said there was “tremendous infighting and confusion” within the Iranian administration.
Pezeshkian said last week that there were “no hardliners or moderates” in Tehran and that the country stood united behind its supreme leader.
The war destabilized the Middle East; Iran struck its Gulf neighbors, and the conflict between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon flared up again.
The Israeli military issued a new evacuation order for southern Lebanon on Sunday, ordering residents to leave seven towns beyond a “buffer zone” it had occupied ahead of a ceasefire that failed to completely halt hostilities.
