Iran says exchanges with US via Pakistan continue after talks in Islamabad

Iran said on Wednesday that exchanges with the United States via Pakistan had continued following negotiations in Islamabad over the weekend that yielded no result.

“Since Sunday, when the Iranian delegation returned to Tehran, several messages have been exchanged through Pakistan,” said foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei in a weekly press briefing.

“Today, we are very likely to receive a Pakistani delegation as a continuation of the discussions in Islamabad,” he added.

The development comes a day after US President Donald Trump said that talks between Washington and Tehran could resume over the next two days and that “we’re more inclined to go” to Pakistan, according to The New York Post.

“You should stay there, really, because something could be happening over the next two days, and we’re more inclined to go there,” Trump said.

“It’s more likely, you know why? Because the Field Marshal is doing a great job. He’s fantastic, and therefore it’s more likely that we go back there,“ he told The NY Post. “Why should we go to some country that has nothing to do with it?”

This was after he earlier told the US media outlet that discussions were “happening, but, you know, a little bit slow”, before indicating that a second round of direct negotiations would likely happen somewhere in Europe.

Pakistan hosted direct Iran-US talks in Islamabad on Saturday and Sunday, marking the highest engagement between the two sides since 1979. Both delegations departed the capital on Sunday after the talks ended without any result.

On Monday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif told a meeting of the federal cabinet that “full efforts” were ongoing to resolve the conflict.

Noting that the truce was still holding, he said, “As I am talking to you, matters that are not resolved, full efforts are underway to resolve them.”

The ceasefire between the US and Iran, brokered on April 8 after weeks of conflict, is set to expire on April 22. While technically intact, it is increasingly precarious.

The US has moved toward enforcing a naval blockade of Iranian ports, prompting a warning from Tehran that such a move would be a violation of the ceasefire.

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