Iran not planning to talk with U.S.

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Iran is not currently planning to attend talks with the United States, state media said, after President Donald Trump ordered US negotiators to travel to Pakistan on Monday, just days before a ceasefire in the Middle East expires.

“As of now, while I am at your service, we have no plans for the next round of negotiation, and no decision has been made in this regard,” said Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei in a weekly press briefing.

State broadcaster IRIB on Sunday cited Iranian sources as saying “there are currently no plans to participate in the next round of Iran-US talks.”

The Fars and Tasnim news agencies had earlier cited anonymous sources as saying “the overall atmosphere cannot be assessed as very positive,” adding that lifting the US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz was a precondition for negotiations.

State-run IRNA meanwhile, pointed to the blockade and Washington’s “unreasonable and unrealistic demands,” saying that “in these circumstances, there is no clear prospect of fruitful negotiations.”

The ongoing US blockade of Iranian ports has been a significant sticking point, an issue further complicated by an American destroyer on Sunday firing on and seizing an Iranian ship that tried to evade it.

Tehran said it would retaliate with Tasnim news agency reporting that Iran had sent drones in the direction of US military ships after its vessel was seized.

Iran and the US, along with Israel, are just days away from the end of the two-week ceasefire that halted the Middle East war, ignited by surprise US-Israeli strikes on Iran on 28 February.

There has so far been only a single, 21-hour negotiating session held in Islamabad on 11 April that ended inconclusively, though groundwork for fresh talks continued afterwards.

“We’re offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL, and I hope they take it,” Trump said in a post on Sunday, while also renewing his threats against Iran’s infrastructure if a deal is not made.