Iran not planning to attend talks with US in Pakistan

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

The ongoing U.S. 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 U.S. military ships after its vessel was seized.

State broadcaster IRIB on Sunday cited Iranian sources as saying, "There are currently no plans to participate in the next round of Iran-U.S. 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 U.S. blockade 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."

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

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

"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.

AFP