An American delegation led by US Vice President J.D. Vance has flown to Pakistan for peace talks with Iran and will land in Islamabad “shortly”. US President Donald Trump said this in an interview with The New York Post.
In an interview with Fox News, the president suggested that a peace agreement could be reached as early as today.
At the same time, Iran still does not confirm that the second round of talks in Islamabad will take place. A spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry said in the morning of 20 April that the Iranian side had no plans to participate in the second round of peace talks with the United States.
At the same time, New York Post sources claim that Iranian representatives are lying and are indeed preparing for the meeting.
On 22 April, a two-week ceasefire that the sides had previously reached through Pakistani mediation expires.
US President Donald Trump said the day before that Iran had “totally violated” the existing truce by firing in the Strait of Hormuz. But Iran’s Foreign Ministry called the US naval blockade of Iranian ports a violation of the ceasefire agreement and an “illegal and criminal” act.
US President Donald Trump ordered the naval blockade of Iran after US-Iranian peace talks in Islamabad on 11-12 April failed to produce an agreement to end the war.
The Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas is routed, has been effectively closed due to US-Israeli air attacks on Iran that began on 28 February and Tehran’s strikes on targets in the Middle East, including ships in the Persian Gulf.