(AFP) – Iran said it had yet to decide whether to attend a new round of peace negotiations with the United States, as Washington’s delegation prepared to depart for Pakistan on Monday. The uncertainty over the talks on ending the war that engulfed the region and rattled global markets came as US President Donald Trump suggested he could resume attacks should the current temporary ceasefire — now in its final days — lapse. Since initial talks in Islamabad ended without a deal earlier this month, both sides have accused the other of breaching the truce.
“We have no plans for the next round of negotiation, and no decision has been made in this regard,” Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said Monday. “The US is carrying out behaviours that do not in any way indicate seriousness in pursuing a diplomatic process,” he added, calling an ongoing US blockade of Iranian ports and its recent seizure of a ship “clear violations of the ceasefire”. Trump has similarly accused Tehran of violating the truce by harassing vessels in the crucial Strait of Hormuz trade route, which Iran has all but shut.
The US delegation was due to head to Pakistan “soon,” a source familiar with the plan told AFP on Monday, with Trump telling PBS News that Iran was “supposed to be there. We agreed to be there”. He said that if the ceasefire ended without a peace deal “then lots of bombs start going off”, separately telling Bloomberg News it was “highly unlikely” he would extend the two-week truce. Based on its start time, the truce theoretically expires overnight Tuesday, Tehran time, though in his comments to Bloomberg, Trump said the end was a day later, on Wednesday evening Washington time.
Oil prices jumped sharply on Monday over fears hostilities could resume in the weeks-long war, after Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz again following a brief reopening over the weekend. In Tehran, where the main airports reopened on Monday for the first time in weeks, life appeared largely back to normal, with cafes crowded and people out exercising and strolling in parks. But city residents who spoke to Paris-based AFP journalists said the situation was far from rosy.
“Let’s see what happens by Tuesday. The only thing that the 50 days of war has shown is that no one cares about the Iranian people,” one 30-year-old doctor said on condition of anonymity. Saghar, 39, said there was little hope for Iranians squeezed by the government and the war’s impact. “The economy is horrible. They detain people for nothing,” she said, declining to give her family name.
– Elusive off-ramp –
In spite of the uncertainty surrounding the talks in Pakistan, security has been visibly stepped up in the capital Islamabad. A White House official said Vice President JD Vance would lead the delegation, joined by Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. Trump has been under pressure to find an off-ramp since Tehran moved to choke off the Strait of Hormuz. But the naval blockade to cut off Iran’s oil revenues and the seizure of a cargo ship allegedly trying to evade it have drawn renewed threats from Tehran instead of pressuring them back to the negotiating table.
The ISNA news agency cited a spokesperson for Iran’s central command centre as warning that the military “will soon respond and retaliate against this armed piracy”, while Tasnim reported Tehran had sent drones in the direction of US military ships. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have warned that any vessel attempting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz without permission “will be targeted”. Chinese President Xi Jinping told Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in a phone call on Monday that “normal traffic” through the vital conduit for oil and gas shipments “should be maintained,” state media said.
– Lebanon front –
A separate ceasefire agreed between Israel and Lebanon took effect on Friday and included Hezbollah, whose rocket fire in support of Iran drew Lebanon into the war. Israel’s military on Monday warned Lebanese civilians against returning to dozens of villages in southern Lebanon, claiming Hezbollah’s activities were violating the truce. Nonetheless, thousands of displaced residents have begun making their way back to southern Lebanon since the ceasefire began. Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah told AFP on Monday his group would work to break the “Yellow Line” that Israel has established in the south, even as he said it wanted “the ceasefire to continue”.
Another major issue in the US-Iran negotiations has been Tehran’s stockpile of enriched uranium, which Trump said on Friday it had agreed to hand over. But Iran’s foreign ministry has said the stockpile, thought to be buried from US bombing in last June’s 12-day war, was “not going to be transferred anywhere”. Baqaei said on Monday that the issue was “never raised as an option” in talks with US negotiators.
burs-smw/dcp – AFP teams in Washington, Tehran and Islamabad
© 2024 AFP
