The truce hangs by a thread between the United States and Iran. And this one is particularly fine. Escalation is indeed the order of the war in the Middle East, especially since this weekend. Washington and Tehran continue to clash over the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial route for global hydrocarbon trade, and to denounce each other’s violations of the ceasefire.
Even if an American delegation is due to arrive in Pakistan this Monday to relaunch peace talks two days before the expiration of the ceasefire, Iran has indicated that it does not intend to participate in new negotiations with Washington.
Trump seizes Iranian cargo ship
Iranian state television (Irib) affirmed on Sunday that Tehran had “currently no plans to participate in the next session of Iran-United States discussions”, while the official Irna agency affirmed that there was “no clear prospect of successful negotiations”.
Several Iranian media outlets have further argued that a lifting of the US naval blockade would be a precondition for these talks. A question made even more complicated with the announcement on Sunday of the seizure by the American navy of an Iranian cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman. The Touska cargo ship, flying the Iranian flag, “tried to cross our maritime blockade, and it got bad,” Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. Tehran, through the spokesperson of the general staff, promised for its part to “retaliate soon” against this “act of armed piracy”.
JD Vance expected in Pakistan
Despite the uncertainty of Iranian participation, Donald Trump announced on Sunday that he would send Vice-President JD Vance to Pakistan, who had already led the delegation to Islamabad on April 11 for discussions at an unprecedented level, which ended in failure. Announcing the arrival of the delegation for Monday evening, the American president affirmed on Truth Social that he would offer Iran a “reasonable deal” and that in the event of refusal, “the United States would destroy all the power plants and all the bridges in Iran”.
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But the positions of the two belligerents remain very far apart, particularly on the nuclear aspect. According to Donald Trump, Iran has agreed to hand over its highly enriched uranium, which Tehran has denied. “Trump says Iran must not use its nuclear rights […] What possesses him to want to deprive Iran of its rights? », Launched President Massoud Pezeshkian on Sunday, quoted by the ISNA agency. Tehran, which denies wanting to acquire an atomic bomb, defends its right to civilian nuclear power.
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