Iran’s foreign minister returns to Pakistan despite US talks cancellation

ISLAMABAD - Iran’s Foreign Minister returned to Islamabad for more consultations on April 26, as international mediators try to keep peace talks on track despite US President Donald Trump calling off his envoys’ planned trip.

According to Iranian news agency ISNA, Mr Abbas Araghchi was to sit down with Pakistani officials to convey “Iran’s positions and views on the framework of any understanding to completely end the war”.

The minister had been in Islamabad only the day before, after which he travelled to Oman, while other Iranian envoys had headed back to Tehran “to consult and obtain the necessary instructions on issues related to ending the war”, according to ISNA.

Before the April 25 Iran-Pakistan meetings in Islamabad, the White House had announced that Mr Trump’s peace envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner were planning to leave for Pakistan to engage in further negotiations.

But Mr Trump later told Fox News that he had scrapped the trip, saying there was no point “sitting around talking about nothing”. He dismissed Tehran’s negotiating position, but added that it had revised its proposal within minutes of his decision.

“They gave us a paper that should have been better and – interestingly – immediately when I cancelled it, within 10 minutes, we got a new paper that was much better,” he said without elaborating.

US forces ​removed security equipment from Pakistan’s capital, said Pakistani government sources, signalling that any US delegation was unlikely to return for talks ​soon.

‘Very fruitful’

Asked separately whether halting the trip meant a return to open hostilities, Mr Trump said: “No, it doesn’t mean that. We haven’t thought about it yet.”

Later, after a gunman was arrested at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington, Mr Trump said he did not think the incident was related to Iran but that it would not deter him “from winning the war”.

On April 25, Mr Araghchi met Pakistan’s military chief and key mediator Asim Munir, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, before flying on to Muscat.

He is expected to go to Moscow after the talks in Islamabad.

Mr Araghchi described his initial Pakistan trip as “very fruitful”, but signalled scepticism over Washington’s intentions. “Have yet to see if the US is truly serious about diplomacy,” he said.

After leaving Islamabad, he flew to Oman – another mediator in the war – where he held talks about the war with the country’s leader Haitham bin Tariq al-Said.

The two sides discussed security in the Strait of Hormuz and Mr Araghchi called for a regional security framework free of outside interference, according to an Iranian Foreign Ministry statement.

Hormuz blockade deepens

Pressure to end the war has intensified as the Strait of Hormuz – a vital oil and gas route – remains closed.

Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards said they had no intention of lifting their blockade, which has roiled energy markets.

“Controlling the Strait of Hormuz and maintaining the shadow of its deterrent effects over America and the White House’s supporters in the region is the definitive strategy of Islamic Iran,” the Guards said on their official Telegram channel.

The US has imposed a blockade of Iranian ports in retaliation.

In a statement carried by state media, Iran’s military warned that continued US “blockading, banditry and piracy” would draw a response.

Israel strikes Lebanon

On the war’s Lebanese front, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered strikes on Hezbollah after accusing the Iran-backed group of violating a ceasefire extended last week.

“It must be understood that Hezbollah’s violations are, in practice, dismantling the ceasefire,” Mr Netanyahu said, during a weekly Cabinet meeting on April 26.

Lebanese official media said Israel’s military began striking the country’s south after issuing an evacuation warning for seven locations, despite the ceasefire with the Iran-backed group.

“Israeli warplanes launched a strike” in Kfar Tibnit – one of the locations included in the warning – the state-run National News Agency said, adding that there were reports of casualties.

Under the terms of the ceasefire, Israel reserves the right to act against “planned, imminent or ongoing attacks”. AFP