Iran has signaled it will not attend a new round of negotiations with the United States, throwing the future of a fragile Middle East ceasefire into doubt just days before it is set to expire. President Trump announced Sunday that he was sending Vice President JD Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff and presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner to Islamabad for talks, but Iranian state media said Tehran has no plans to participate.
The impasse centers on what Iran calls Washington's "maximalist" demands. In an interview with the Associated Press on the margins of a diplomacy forum in Turkey, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh said the two sides have exchanged many messages but remain far apart. "We are still not there yet to move on to an actual meeting because there are issues that the Americans have not yet abandoned their maximalist position," Khatibzadeh said. He flatly rejected Trump's claim that the U.S. would retrieve enriched uranium from damaged Iranian nuclear sites, calling it a "non-starter."
The U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports has further inflamed tensions. Iran's parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed if the blockade is not lifted. The situation escalated when an American destroyer fired on and seized an Iranian ship that tried to evade it, prompting Tehran to say it had dispatched drones toward U.S. military vessels in retaliation.
CBS News reported that only a single 21-hour negotiating session has taken place, held in Islamabad on April 11, and it ended inconclusively. State-run Iranian media pointed to what it called Washington's "unreasonable and unrealistic demands," saying "there is no clear prospect of fruitful negotiations." Meanwhile, Hezbollah claimed its first attack on Israeli forces since a 10-day ceasefire began, detonating explosives against a tank convoy in southern Lebanon — a development that could further complicate diplomatic efforts.
Trump struck an optimistic tone on social media, writing, "We're offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL, and I hope they take it." But with the ceasefire clock ticking and neither side showing signs of flexibility, the risk of a return to open conflict looms large across the region.
