WASHINGTON/ISLAMABAD – Iran rejected new peace talks with the United States, its state news agency reported on April 19, hours after US President Donald Trump had said he was sending envoys to Pakistan for talks and would strike Iran unless it accepted his terms.
Mr Trump posted on Truth Social that his envoys would arrive on the evening of April 20 for negotiations, a timetable that would leave only a day for talks to make progress before a two-week ceasefire ends.
“We’re offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL, and I hope they take it because, if they don’t, the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran,” he wrote. “NO MORE MR. NICE GUY!”
Iran’s official IRNA news agency cited no specific source in its report that Iran had rejected the talks.
“Iran stated that its absence from the second round of talks stems from what it called Washington’s excessive demands, unrealistic expectations, constant shifts in stance, repeated contradictions, and the ongoing naval blockade, which it considers a breach of the ceasefire,” IRNA wrote.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Iran’s rejection of the talks.
A White House official had said the US delegation would be headed by Vice-President J.D. Vance, who led the war’s first peace talks a week ago, and also include Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner. Mr Trump had initially told ABC News and MS Now that Mr Vance would not go.
The apparent diplomatic setback came with shipping still blocked in the Strait of Hormuz, and could set the stage for a renewed surge in oil prices when markets reopen after the weekend within a few hours.
Iran’s chief negotiator, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, had earlier said the two sides had made progress but were still far apart on nuclear issues and the strait.
Iran has blocked the strait to ships other than its own since the United States and Israel attacked on Feb 28. It announced on April 17 that it would reopen the waterway. But it reversed that decision on April 18 after Mr Trump declined to lift a US blockade of Iranian ports.
“Iran decided to fire bullets yesterday in the Strait of Hormuz — A Total Violation of our Ceasefire Agreement!” Mr Trump wrote in April 19 morning’s post. “That wasn’t nice, was it?”
Pakistan has served as the main mediator in efforts to reach a deal that would end the war, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif spoke by phone on April 19 with Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian.
Mr Sharif’s office said Mr Pezeshkian had thanked Pakistan for its mediation efforts, in a readout of the call that made no mention of Iran rejecting the next round of talks.
Mr Trump’s renewed threat to hit Iran’s power plants and bridges fits a pattern of such warnings throughout the war, several of which preceded moves to de-escalate. He abruptly announced the ceasefire two weeks ago, just hours after declaring that Iran’s “whole civilisation will die tonight.”
Iran has said that if the United States were to attack its civilian infrastructure it would hit power stations and desalination plants of Gulf Arab neighbours.
Now in its eighth week, the war has created the most severe shock to global energy supplies in history, sending oil prices surging because of the de facto closure of the strait, which before the war carried one-fifth of the world’s oil shipments.
Two liquefied petroleum gas tankers were seen on ship-tracking websites moving eastbound toward the strait early on April 19 morning, but the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported that Iran’s armed forces turned them back. Marine traffic data showed no other movement after midnight.
April 17’s announcement that the strait would reopen caused the sharpest one-day drop in oil prices in years and boosted stock markets to all-time highs. Dr Amrita Sen, founder of the Energy Aspects think tank, predicted oil prices would rise on April 20 when traders returned to their desks having realised they might have been prematurely optimistic last week.
“Events over the weekend with Iran firing on merchant vessels and shutting the strait again highlight just how precarious the situation is,” she said.
Thousands of people have been killed by US-Israeli strikes on Iran and in an Israeli invasion of Lebanon conducted in parallel. Iran responded to the attacks with missiles and drones against its Arab neighbours that host US bases.
On April 19, Pakistan appeared to be preparing for new talks. Two giant US C-17 cargo planes landed at an air base on April 19 afternoon, carrying security equipment and vehicles in preparation for the US delegation’s arrival, two Pakistani security sources said.
Municipal authorities in the capital city of Islamabad halted public transport and heavy-goods traffic through the city. Barbed wire was rolled out near the Serena Hotel, where last week’s talks were held. The hotel told all guests to leave.
Pressure for a way out of the war has mounted on Mr Trump as his fellow Republicans prepare to defend narrow majorities in Congress in the November midterm elections, with US gasoline prices high, inflation rising and his own approval ratings down. REUTERS