Pakistan’s information minister, Attaullah Tarar, provided an update Tuesday evening on negotiations between Iran and the United States, saying no official response has yet been received from Tehran on whether it will attend talks in Islamabad.
According to the Pakistani official, the ceasefire is set to end at 2:50 a.m., contradicting U.S. statements that put its expiration at 3 a.m. overnight between Wednesday and Thursday.
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(Photo: Anna Moneymaker / AFP, ATTA KENARE / AFP, Sputnik/Alexander Kazakov/Pool via REUTERS)
“It is critically important that a decision on attending the talks be made before the end of the two-week period,” Tarar said. “We are making sincere efforts to persuade the Iranian leadership, and those efforts are ongoing.”
Earlier, regional officials told The Associated Press that the United States and Iran had exchanged messages indicating another round of talks is indeed forthcoming. The officials said Pakistan had received confirmation that the heads of the delegations — U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf — are expected to arrive in Islamabad on Wednesday morning. However, no official confirmation has been received from Iran, and it remains unclear whether delegation members will depart.
“There is no Iranian delegation in Pakistan,” Iranian lawmaker Ahmad Naderi said. “The United States and its allies must pay war reparations. The Strait of Hormuz is within our territorial waters, and our rules will prevail. Fixed fees will be imposed for passage through the Strait of Hormuz. The naval blockade will fail. We will avenge what was done to the Iranian ship.”
US military seizes Iranian tanker
(Video: Department of war)
Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump continued to send mixed signals. In an interview with CNBC, Trump said “there will ultimately be a great deal,” while also warning that “we are militarily prepared.”
“We are in a strong position in the negotiations,” Trump said. “We are dealing with them very successfully. The blockade has been a success.” As in previous statements, he said he does not intend to extend the ceasefire: “We don’t have that much time.”
Trump said he believes Iran has little choice but to enter a new round of talks, citing what he described as the destruction of its navy and air force and the elimination of its leadership. He added that while this complicates matters, it has also made Iran’s leaders more rational, and said the outcome amounts to indirect regime change, even though that was not his stated objective.