Tehran (AFP) – Iran insisted it has no plan to attend a new round of negotiations with the United States on Monday, as uncertainty grows over a push to stop the Middle East war from resuming. US President Donald Trump said he was sending negotiators to Pakistan for talks on ending the war that engulfed the region and rattled global markets, while repeating threats to attack Iran’s energy infrastructure if it did not make a deal.
After initial talks ended without a deal in Islamabad earlier this month, both sides have traded accusations of ceasefire violations, including the US seizure of an Iranian cargo ship early Monday that Trump said was trying to evade a US blockade of the country’s ports. “We have no plans for the next round of negotiation, and no decision has been made in this regard,” said foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei. “While claiming diplomacy and readiness for negotiations, the US is carrying out behaviours that do not in any way indicate seriousness in pursuing a diplomatic process,” he added, calling the US blockade and cargo ship seizure “clear violations of the ceasefire”.
Iran says the US blockade and attack breached the two-week truce set to end overnight Tuesday and threatened to retaliate, while Trump says Tehran has breached the ceasefire in the crucial Strait of Hormuz, which it has all but shut. The counter-claims have thrown into fresh doubt the bid to end the war that began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran the morning of February 28, killing the country’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei. “We’re offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL, and I hope they take it,” Trump said in a social media post.
Oil prices jumped sharply on Monday over fears hostilities could resume in the weeks-long war, after Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz again over the weekend following its brief reopening on Friday in recognition of a ceasefire in Lebanon.
– Security tight –
In spite of the uncertainty surrounding the talks in Pakistan, security has been visibly stepped up in the capital, Islamabad. Authorities announced road closures and traffic restrictions across the city, as well as in neighbouring Rawalpindi. The US president said his negotiators, whom he did not name, would arrive in Islamabad on Monday evening. A White House official said Vice President JD Vance would lead the delegation after Trump said he would not, citing security concerns. He would be joined by Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, the official said.
Trump has been under pressure to find an off-ramp since Tehran moved to choke off the Strait of Hormuz. But the cargo ship attack and naval blockade to cut off Iran’s oil revenues drew renewed threats from Tehran instead of immediately bringing them back to the negotiating table. On Sunday, Trump announced that a massive Iranian-flagged cargo ship “tried to get past our Naval Blockade, and it did not go well for them,” adding a US destroyer blew “a hole in the engineroom” before US Marines seized the vessel.
The ISNA news agency later cited a spokesperson for Iran’s central command centre as warning that the military “will soon respond and retaliate against this armed piracy and the US military”. Tasnim news agency reported Tehran had sent drones in the direction of US military ships after Touska was seized and “attacked”. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards for their part warned that any attempt to pass through the strait without permission “will be considered cooperation with the enemy, and the offending vessel will be targeted”.
– Sticking points –
Iran’s foreign ministry said delays in implementing a ceasefire in Lebanon, where Israel has been fighting militant group Hezbollah, was also a violation of the ceasefire. A separate truce agreed between Israel and Lebanon took effect on Friday, which 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 in the area were violating that agreement.
Thousands of displaced residents have begun making their way back to southern Lebanon since the truce began. Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz said Sunday that the military would use “full force” against any threats in Lebanon, even during the ceasefire. He also vowed to level homes allegedly used by Hezbollah, with Lebanese state media reporting that demolitions were underway.
Another major issue in the US-Iran negotiations has been Tehran’s stockpile of enriched uranium. Trump said on Friday that Iran had agreed to hand over its roughly 440 kilograms (970 pounds) of enriched uranium. “We’re going to get it by going in with Iran, with lots of excavators,” he said. 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 of moving the country’s enriched uranium was not discussed with US negotiators. “It was never raised as an option for us,” he said.
© 2024 AFP
