US, Iran talks in question with ceasefire in balance

With a fragile ceasefire winding down, Pakistan is pushing ahead with preparations for a second round of talks in Islamabad, even as Tehran signals it may not show up.

U.S. officials have expressed cautious optimism that talks on a longer-term deal to end hostilities would resume in Pakistan despite uncertainty over whether an Iranian delegation would participate.

The White House is once again sending Vice President Vance to lead the U.S. delegation, alongside special envoy Steve Witkoff and President Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Iranian officials have not committed to returning to the negotiating table.

Time is running out on the two-week ceasefire reached by the U.S. and Iran on April 7, and Trump said on Monday that he was “highly unlikely” to extend the deadline past Wednesday evening if no deal is reached. He also warned that “lots of bombs” would start going off in the Islamic Republic if the temporary truce expires.  

The warning prompted a similar threat from Iranian officials later Monday, with Parliament Speaker Mohammed Bagher Qalibaf saying that his country’s armed forces were “prepared to reveal new cards” if fighting continued.

“Trump, by imposing a siege and violating the ceasefire, seeks to turn this negotiating table— in his own imagination — into a table of surrender or to justify renewed warmongering,” Qalibaf wrote on social platform X. “We do not accept negotiations under the shadow of threats, and in the past two weeks, we have prepared to reveal new cards on the battlefield.”

Qalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi led the Iranian delegation during the first round of Pakistani-brokered talks, which collapsed after officials were unable to reach an agreement on the future of the country’s nuclear program.

An Iranian official told Reuters on Monday that Tehran was “positively reviewing” its participation in negotiations this week but emphasized that it was waiting to see whether its conditions would be met.

Trump accused Iran on Tuesday morning of violating the ceasefire “numerous times,” a day after he told Bloomberg that the U.S. would maintain its blockade in the Strait of Hormuz “until a deal is signed.”

The waterway has remained a flashpoint in the conflict as the U.S. and Iran struggle for control of the vital economic channel, which carries about one-fifth of the world’s oil supply.

The strait was fully open to commercial shipping traffic before the war began, and Trump has demanded that safe passage for vessels be restored as one of the U.S. conditions for peace. He has also condemned the Iranian regime for charging tolls in the channel, though he has mulled a similar approach.

The U.S. military has directed 25 commercial vessels to turn around or return to an Iranian point since the U.S. naval blockade went into effect two weeks ago, according to U.S. Central Command.

Naval forces also intercepted an Iranian-flagged cargo ship that was attempting to bypass the blockade over the weekend after issuing “multiple warnings.”

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