The urgent efforts to prevent the collapse of the fragile ceasefire come amid heightened threats that the US would quickly resume strikes on Iran if a deal was not reached.
Qatari and Pakistani envoys arrived in Tehran yesterday as part of the ceasefire negotiations.
Pakistan’s military said that a recent meeting in Tehran between Iranian leadership and Field Marshal Asim Munir was “short but highly productive”.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking to reporters in New Delhi, left open the possibility that the US was ready to resume bombing, but also touted some “progress” in the negotiations.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei told Iranian state-run media that negotiations over the past week had been trending towards “reducing points of contention”.
Trump has signalled a willingness to let negotiations proceed while broadcasting overt threats to hit Iran’s civilian infrastructure and energy plants if talks failed.
Amid a flurry of social media posts, including sharing an image titled “The United States of the Middle East?” with the US flag superimposed over Iran, Trump touted his support from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose Government has been trying to broker a diplomatic resolution to the war for months. Without providing context, Trump posted on social media, “Thank you President Erdogan!”
Iranian officials are demanding that talks about the country’s nuclear programme be delayed until after an agreement to end the war and reopen the strait, while US officials want all issues to be addressed at once, according to a Pakistani official briefed on the talks.
Both sides have been nominally adhering to a ceasefire but there have been multiple exchanges of fire from both Iran and the US that Pentagon leaders have taken great pains to characterise as short of a resumption of war.
There are more than 20 warships in the region now, including two aircraft carriers – the George HW Bush and Abraham Lincoln.
Since the pause in hostilities began in early April, the US has resupplied its ships with missiles and air defences. Despite Trump’s heated rhetoric, two US officials said they were seeing more internal indications that an agreement was more likely than a resumption of conflict.
Sign up to Herald Premium Editor’s Picks, delivered straight to your inbox every Friday. Editor-in-Chief Murray Kirkness picks the week’s best features, interviews and investigations. Sign up for Herald Premium here.
