US-Iran peace negotiations stall as conflict approaches two-month mark

By Josh Wingrove and Arsalan Shahla

 

Efforts to resume peace talks over the Iran war stalled after US President Donald Trump canceled a planned trip by his top envoys and the Islamic Republic said it won’t negotiate so long as it’s being threatened.

 

Trump on Saturday told Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff to skip the trip to Pakistan, which is mediating talks, and later told reporters that Iran “offered a lot, but not enough.” Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said his nation won’t enter “imposed negotiations under threats or blockade.”

 

While a ceasefire has mostly held since early April, both countries are maintaining a blockade on the Strait of Hormuz, making the key energy chokepoint virtually impassable. The disruption to about a fifth of the world’s oil flows has been dubbed the biggest supply shock in history by the International Energy Agency, and the conflict has prompted cuts to global economic growth forecasts.

 

 

“Too much time wasted on traveling,” Trump wrote in a social media post. “Nobody knows who is in charge, including them. Also, we have all the cards, they have none! If they want to talk, all they have to do is call!!!”

 

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met mediators in Pakistan on Saturday and left Islamabad well ahead of the planned arrival of the US envoys. He said in a social media post that Iran has “yet to see if the U.S. is truly serious about diplomacy.” He plans to return to Islamabad on Sunday, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.

 

US forces intercepted a sanctioned vessel in the Arabian Sea on Saturday as part of the blockade of Iran’s energy exports, according to US Central Command. The US deployed a Navy helicopter to intercept the vessel, which subsequently complied with US military directions to turn back to Iran under escort. A total of 37 vessels have been redirected since the start of the blockade, Centcom said.

 

Iran is in turn imposing its own blockade of Hormuz, using its “mosquito fleet” of gunboats. Daily transits are now close to zero, compared with about 135 before the conflict began Feb. 28. The oil market faces a guaranteed supply loss of around one billion barrels — in part because of the time it would take to revive flows once the strait reopens, Vitol Group Chief Executive Officer Russell Hardy said at the FT Commodities Global Summit.

 

Benchmark crude-oil prices closed at $105.33 a barrel on Friday, compared with $72.48 on the day before the conflict started. US gasoline prices averaged about $4 a gallon on Friday, compared with about $3 at the end of February. The conflict has also choked off about a fifth of global liquefied-natural-gas supplies, with benchmark prices in Europe now about a third higher than prewar levels.

 

Elsewhere in the region, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday ordered his country’s military to strike Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, without giving details. The Israel Defense Forces later said it carried out strikes on weapons storage sites in southern Lebanon. Earlier it said two projectiles were launched from Lebanon toward Israel. 

 

Trump had announced on April 23 that Israel and Lebanon would extend their ceasefire by three weeks, paving the way for negotiations on a permanent peace accord between the two countries.

 

The ceasefire, which originally went into effect on April 17, came after almost two months of fighting, triggered by Hezbollah’s decision to join Tehran’s retaliation against the joint US-Israeli attacks on Iran by targeting Israel’s northern communities. Fighting escalated as Israel invaded southern Lebanon to create what it has described as a “security zone.”