It is uncertain whether negotiations will finally take place in Pakistan between the US and Iran. More specifically, the US delegation is due to leave today (Tuesday, 21 April 2026) for Islamabad, unlike that of Iran, which has yet to say whether it will ultimately take part. Donald Trump continues to make threats through a naval blockade of Iranian ports while Tehran stresses that US threats are not helping the talks.
Hours after Donald Trump’s post on Iran stressed he would not lift the blockade on Iranian ports, the US president was interviewed saying he is unlikely to extend the ceasefire which expires on Wednesday.
“I’m not going to rush into a bad deal. We have all the time in the world,” he said.
He reiterated that the Strait of Hormuz will continue to be blockaded, assessing that Iran is desperate for it to be reopened. “I’m not opening it until an agreement is signed,” he continued.
Iran had previously said it would open the critical waterway for energy supplies for international shipping, but reversed that decision in light of Donald Trump’s refusal to lift the blockade.
US threats stand in the way of talks
Iranian diplomatic chief Abbas Araghchi fired fresh shots at the US, without absolutely ruling out Tehran’s participation in a new round of negotiations.
“The provocations, threatening rhetoric and ongoing ceasefire violations by the US, particularly the attacks on Iranian merchant ships, raise a major obstacle to the continuation of the diplomatic process,” Abbas Araghchi said in a telephone conversation with Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar, Tasnim news agency reported.
“Iran will carefully weigh the circumstances and then decide what path to take,” he added.
Earlier, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said Iran had not yet decided whether to hold new talks with the US and that no next round of negotiations had been scheduled.
The speaker of the Iranian parliament on the other hand, Mohammad Bayr Galibaf, has warned that Iran is preparing to throw “new cards on the battlefield” if the war unleashed by the US and Israel resumes.
“We will not accept negotiating under threat and, over the past two weeks, we have been preparing to reveal new cards on the battlefield,” Mr Galibov said via X.
Donald Trump stressed on Sunday, just 24 hours before a two-week ceasefire was due to expire, that he would send a delegation to Islamabad for talks. Members of the delegation are preparing to depart “shortly,” according to a German news agency source in Washington.
The first round of talks in the Pakistani capital failed to produce results.
Axios: JD Vance to travel to Pakistan today for talks with Iran
U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance will travel to Pakistan today (Tuesday) to attend talks with Iran, Axios reports citing three U.S. sources.
According to the US news website, Vance, who led the US delegation in the first round of talks, will arrive in Islamabad as part of the team from Washington, with the two-week-old ceasefire on the verge of ending.
Stiv Whitcoff and Jared Kushner, who were present last time, are also expected to travel.
