Trump says US-Iran talks may return to Pakistan within days

Donald Trump said a second round of talks between the United States and Iran could take place in Pakistan “over the next two days,” after initial negotiations ended without a deal at the weekend.

"You should stay there, really, because something could be happening over the next two days, and we're more inclined to go there," Trump was quoted as saying in a phone interview with a New York Post reporter in Islamabad.

After saying in an initial call that talks were unlikely to return to Pakistan, the Post said Trump called back minutes later to say it was "more likely" they would go back to Islamabad because the country's army chief Asim Munir "is doing a great job."

“He's fantastic, and therefore it's more likely that we go back there. Why should we go to some country that has nothing to do with it?” Trump said.

Negotiating teams from Washington and Tehran could return to Islamabad this week to resume talks to end the war, sources earlier said, after the collapse of weekend negotiations prompted the United States to impose a blockade on Iranian ports.

While the U.S. move drew angry rhetoric from Tehran, signs that diplomatic engagement might continue helped calm oil markets, pushing benchmark prices below $100 on Tuesday.

The highest-level talks between the two adversaries since the 1979 Islamic Revolution ended in Islamabad without a breakthrough, raising doubts over the survival of a two-week ceasefire that still has a week to run.

But a source involved in the talks said both sides could return as early as the end of this week, with Friday through Sunday being kept open. “No firm date has been set, with the delegations keeping Friday through Sunday open,” a senior Iranian source said.

A U.S. official said there was continued engagement and forward movement toward an agreement. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also said efforts were ongoing to resolve the conflict.

Trump said Iran had been in touch on Monday and wanted to make a deal, adding that he would not approve any agreement allowing Tehran to possess a nuclear weapon.

Vice President JD Vance, who led Washington’s delegation opposite Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf, told Fox News the U.S. had “made a lot of progress” in talks.

He said Washington had outlined where it could make accommodations and where it would remain firm, stressing that any enriched nuclear material must be removed from Iran and that a verification mechanism must ensure Tehran is not developing nuclear weapons.

“Tehran moved in our direction, which is why I think we would say that we had some good signs, but they didn't move far enough,” Vance said.

Since the United States and Israel launched attacks on February 28, Iran has effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz to all vessels except its own, saying passage would be allowed only under Iranian control and subject to a fee.

In response, the U.S. military began blocking shipping traffic in and out of Iranian ports on Monday. Tehran has threatened to target naval vessels passing through the strait and retaliate against ports in Gulf countries.