Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is expected to head to Islamabad Friday night to discuss the next steps in stalled peace negotiations with the U.S., a Pakistani official involved in the matter told MS NOW.
Araghchi and a small team are expected to talk with Pakistani mediators about a potential second round of negotiations with the U.S., said the official, who spoke anonymously due to sensitivities around the topic, according to MS NOW.
The first round of peace talks, held nearly two weeks ago in Islamabad and led on the U.S. side by Vice President JD Vance, ended with no deal.
A U.S. delegation including Vance was expected to head back to Pakistan earlier this week for further negotiations, but the trip was delayed as Iranian officials reportedly said they would not show up.
Much of the mutual prickliness has centered on the Strait of Hormuz, the major oil-shipping route that has seen traffic slow to a trickle amid Iranian threats and, as of last week, a retaliatory U.S. naval blockade.
The tensions have further strained an already-fragile ceasefire, which was announced April 7 amid threats by President Donald Trump that Iran’s “whole civilization will die” unless a deal is struck.
Despite the continued stress in the strait, Trump on Tuesday unilaterally extended the ceasefire shortly before it was set to expire.
After the war started on Feb. 28, the Trump administration repeatedly said that it expected operations to be brief and to conclude within four to six weeks.
Since passing that deadline, the administration has reframed its timeline, while stressing that prior U.S. conflicts have lasted far longer.
“Unlike the endless wars of the past that dragged on for years and for decades with little to show for it, Operation Epic Fury has delivered a decisive military result in just weeks,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said at a press briefing Friday morning.
Wars in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan “all took years, decades,” with “vague missions, shifting sands” and a “little to show for it,” Hegseth said, echoing similar language used by Trump.
Hegseth insisted the Iran operation “has been laser-focused from the very start” on the goal of Iran never getting a nuclear weapon. In fact, the administration originally put forward shifting narratives about the war’s objectives, including regime change and concern about the safety of Iranian protestors.
Trump said Thursday that he is in no rush to make a peace deal, claiming the war has had less of an effect on both stocks and oil prices than he had expected.
This is developing news. Please check back for updates.
