{"id":406774,"date":"2026-04-19T14:42:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T14:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/406774\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T14:42:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T14:42:08","slug":"us-negotiators-to-return-to-pakistan-for-iran-talks-as-trump-makes-threats-if-no-deal-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/406774\/","title":{"rendered":"US negotiators to return to Pakistan for Iran talks as Trump makes threats if no deal \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

US president Donald Trump<\/a> has said his special envoy Steve Witkoff is travelling to Pakistan<\/a> for talks with Iran on Monday.<\/p>\n

It comes after Iranian<\/a> officials said they reversed the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and reimposed restrictions on the vital shipping lane after the US<\/a> said it would not end its blockade of Iranian ports.<\/p>\n

Trump wrote on social media: \u201cMy Representatives are going to Islamabad, Pakistan – They will be there tomorrow evening, for Negotiations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL, and I hope they take it because, if they don\u2019t, the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

He also wrote on Truth Social on Sunday that Iran was in violation of the ceasefire agreement. \u201cNO MORE MR. NICE GUY!\u201d Trump warned, on if the talks failed.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, two tankers were turned around by Iran\u2019s military as they tried to pass through the strait, Iran\u2019s news agency Tasmin has reported. The vessels, sailing under the flags of Botswana and Angola, were forced to change course after what the report described as \u201cunauthorised transit\u201d through the strategic waterway.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, a UK<\/a> maritime agency reported that Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) ships had fired at a tanker as it attempted to pass through the strait. Reuters reported an Indian-flagged vessel carrying crude oil had also been attacked while in the waterway.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s Khatam al-Anbiya joint military command said on Saturday that Tehran had restored the strait to its \u201cprevious status\u201d and was now \u201cunder strict management and control by the armed forces\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"TankersTankers anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Qeshm Island, Iran. Photograph: Asghar Besharati\/AP <\/p>\n

Iran said the restrictions would remain if Washington did not \u201censure full freedom of navigation for vessels travelling from Iran to destinations and from destinations to Iran\u201d. This was reiterated by the country\u2019s deputy foreign minister, Saeed Khatibzadeh, and the IRGC\u2019s navy command.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s top negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said on Saturday that the recent talks with the US had made progress but gaps remained over nuclear issues and the strait of Hormuz. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have had progress but there is still a big distance between us,\u201d he told state media, referring to talks last weekend. \u201cThere are some issues on which we insist \u2026 They also have red lines. But these issues could be just one or two.\u201d<\/p>\n

International flights will resume in Iran on Monday, the country\u2019s civil aviation department has said.<\/p>\n

Trump said the US was having \u201cvery good conversations\u201d with Tehran, but warned against \u201cblackmail\u201d over the key shipping channel. He later praised war ally Israel in a social media post, adding that other allies had \u201cshown their true colours in a moment of conflict and stress\u201d.<\/p>\n

Neither side offered any specifics about the state of negotiations on Saturday, days before a fragile ceasefire in the US-Israeli war against Iran is set to expire.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0What Trump hopes to achieve by blockading Iran\u2019s portsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The war, now in its eighth week, has killed thousands, spread to Israeli attacks in Lebanon and sent oil prices surging because of the closure of the strait, which usually carries a fifth of the world\u2019s oil shipments.<\/p>\n

Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of a Turkish diplomatic forum in Antalya, Iranian deputy foreign minister Khatibzadeh said the US \u201ccannot impose their will to do a siege over Iran, while Iran, with good intention, is trying to facilitate safe passage through the strait of Hormuz\u201d.<\/p>\n

In a post on X, the IRGC\u2019s navy command wrote: \u201cAs long as the movement of vessels from Iran and to Iran is under threat, the status of the Strait of Hormuz will remain as it was previously. Any breach of commitments by the United States will receive an appropriate response.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iran officially closed the strait on March 4th in response to US-Israeli airstrikes on the country, and declared it back open on Friday after a 10-day ceasefire deal was agreed between Israel and Lebanon, as part of wider negotiations to achieve peace in the region.<\/p>\n

The UK\u2019s Maritime Trade Operations Centre said it had received a report from a tanker that had been approached and then fired on by \u201ctwo IRGC gunboats\u201d 20 nautical miles north-east of Oman. The captain said there had been no radio warning beforehand. The agency added that the tanker and crew were reported safe, and authorities were investigating the incident.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Donald Trump relaxes curbs on LSD, ecstasy and other drugs to aid researchOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The announcement of Iran\u2019s U-turn came the day after Trump said the US blockade would \u201cremain in full force\u201d until a permanent peace deal with Tehran was reached. The US president also said that the temporary ceasefire with Iran, brokered by Pakistan and due to expire on Wednesday, may not be extended.<\/p>\n

US and Iranian delegations are expected to hold a second round of peace talks, although the timing is yet to be confirmed. Agence France-Presse reported that the Egyptian foreign minister said on Saturday there were hopes for a deal \u201cin the coming days\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope to do so [reach an agreement] in the coming days,\u201d Badr Abdelatty said, adding: \u201cNot only us in the region, but the whole world is suffering from the continuation of this war\u201d.<\/p>\n

Before Iran\u2019s reversal, at least eight oil and gas tankers had passed through the strait in the brief window when it was open early on Saturday, according to maritime tracking data.<\/p>\n

About 20 per cent of the world\u2019s oil and liquefied natural gas passes through the narrow strait, which has become a focal point of the US-Israeli war on Iran. Its closure has driven up energy prices around the world.<\/p>\n

In Lebanon, the Israeli military said on Sunday that one soldier was killed during combat in the south, adding that nine soldiers were wounded, including one who was severely injured. – The Guardian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"US president Donald Trump has said his special envoy Steve Witkoff is travelling to Pakistan for talks with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":406775,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[969,42,11829,3410,150432,14396,43,40,38,41,39,90],"class_list":{"0":"post-406774","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-donald-trump","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-iran","11":"tag-israel","12":"tag-israel-iran-conflict","13":"tag-lebanon","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-top-news","16":"tag-top-stories","17":"tag-topnews","18":"tag-topstories","19":"tag-us"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=406774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406774\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/406775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}