Fresh Talks With Iran Likely In Pakistan In "Next Two Days", Says Trump

Days after the US-Iranian talks in Pakistan failed, US President Donald Trump said that negotiations could resume "over the next two days." Speaking to the New York Post on Tuesday, Trump confirmed that the venue is going to stay the same -- Pakistan.

"...It's more likely that we go back there," he said, adding, "Why should we go to some country that has nothing to do with it?"

Trump said that Pakistan's Army Chief Field Marshal, Asim Munir, was "fantastic" and "doing a great job", which is why the US and Iran would go back to the talks in Islamabad. Earlier, Trump had told the Post that the US would not be returning to Pakistan for any future talks with Iran but later called them back with the update.

The Republican leader had hinted at a European country as a mediating country previously. When asked if it was Turkey that the US was considering as the next location for talks, Trump said, "No, somebody more central. Europe, maybe."

He criticised European allies again and complained that although they do want to help, "they just don't know how to do it".

"They're doing nothing except to have meetings. All they do is have meetings," he said. "They want to get there, but they just don't know how to do it. They're a paper tiger."

US-Iran Weekend Talks Failed In Islamabad

On Monday, Trump informed reporters that "the other side has reached out to us" and "they're eager to negotiate a deal."

US Vice President JD Vance also said Iran has moved in the direction of the US during the peace talks in Islamabad to end the war, and it was for Tehran to make the next move on taking the discussions forward.

"I wouldn't just say that things went wrong. I also think things went right. We made a lot of progress," Vance told Fox News.

"They 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," said the US vice president, who led the delegation comprising Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, for the talks with the Iranian delegation.

The United States and Iran ended 21 hours of face-to-face talks in Islamabad on Sunday without reaching a deal, leaving the fate of the fragile, two-week ceasefire still unclear. The US delegation, led by Vance, and the Iranian delegation, led by parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, had discussed how to advance a ceasefire already threatened by deep disagreements and Israel's continued attacks against the Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Among the slew of issues at stake was the Strait of Hormuz, a major transit point for global energy supplies that Iran has effectively blocked but the US. has vowed to reopen, as well as Iran's nuclear programme and international sanctions on Tehran.

"There was a strong hope in the middle of the talks that there would be a breakthrough and the two sides would reach an agreement. However, things changed within no time," a Pakistani government source told Reuters.

from NDTV News- Special https://ift.tt/V1KrT3J
via IFTTT