US-Iran Negotiations Collapse Again

Hopes for a diplomatic breakthrough in the US-Israel war with Iran have faded with the start of this new week. Negotiations aimed at ending the conflict that has lasted two months have stalled, and neither Tehran nor Washington shows willingness to soften their requirements.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi left mediator Pakistan empty-handed at the weekend, and US President Donald Trump cancelled plans for his envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to visit Islamabad, marking consecutive blows to peace prospects.

This deadlock has left the country with the world’s largest economy and the world’s top oil producer trapped in a confrontation that has driven energy prices to the highest levels in several years, triggering inflation and worsening global growth prospects.

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian told Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif by phone that Tehran would not engage in “forced negotiations” under threat or blockade, according to a statement from the Iranian government.

Pezeshkian said the United States must first remove “operational barriers”, including the blockade on Iranian ports, before negotiators can lay the groundwork for resolving the conflict.

Araqchi described his visit to Pakistan as “very beneficial.” Iranian diplomatic sources in Islamabad said Tehran would not accept “maximalist demands” from the United States.

Trump told reporters in Florida that he cancelled the envoys’ visit because the negotiations involved too much travel and expense to consider Iran’s inadequate offer. After the diplomatic trip was cancelled, Iran “offered a lot, but not enough,” Trump said.