By Steve Holland, Enas Alashray and Mubasher Bukhari
WASHINGTON/CAIRO/ISLAMABAD, April 21 (Reuters) - The United States has expressed confidence that peace talks with Iran will go ahead in Pakistan and a senior Iranian official said Tehran was considering joining, but significant uncertainty remained on Tuesday as the end of a ceasefire loomed.
The two-week truce in the war that the U.S. and Israel unleashed on Iran on February 28 was set to expire in the next day or two, although officials have given mixed messages on the precise timing.
A first session of talks 10 days ago produced no agreement and Tehran had been ruling out a second round this week, after the United States refused to end its blockade of Iranian ports and seized an Iranian cargo ship.
But a Pakistani source involved in the discussions told Reuters there was momentum for talks to resume on Wednesday and U.S. Vice President JD Vance was expected in Islamabad.
An Iranian official told Reuters on Monday that Tehran was “positively reviewing” its participation but stressed that it was waiting to see if its conditions would be met, including recognition of its right to enrich uranium.
The Pakistani source, who declined to be identified while discussing confidential diplomatic matters, said U.S. President Donald Trump might attend, either in person or virtually, if a deal were to be signed.
OIL PRICE EASES ON LIMITED IRAN TALKS OPTIMISM
Oil prices eased around $0.50 and stocks bounced back in Asia on expectations that peace talks will resume this week, although European stocks were flat. Oil had jumped around 6% on Monday on doubts about the talks. [O/R]
A senior military commander said on Tuesday that Iran was ready to deliver an “immediate and decisive response” to any renewed hostility, the semi-official Tasnim news agency said, while Iran’s ambassador to Pakistan, Reza Amiri Moghadam, said on social media that any nation with a great civilisation would not negotiate under threat or force.
Iran’s distrust runs deep, as the U.S. has twice in the past year unleashed an air war while talks were under way.
Top negotiator Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf late on Monday accused Trump of increasing pressure through the blockade, saying he was deluded in seeking to “turn the negotiating table into a table of submission” or justify renewed warmongering.
Iran’s army said an Iranian tanker had entered its territorial waters from the Arabian Sea on Monday with help from the Iranian Navy, despite what it described as repeated warnings and threats from the U.S. naval task force.
Trump wants an agreement that would prevent further oil price rises and stock market shocks but has insisted Iran cannot have the means to develop a nuclear weapon. He wants Iran to give up its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, which can, if further enriched, be used for a nuclear warhead.
Tehran hopes to exploit its control of the Strait of Hormuz to strike a deal that averts a restart of the war and eases sanctions while retaining more of its nuclear programme, which it says is for peaceful purposes.
Trump initially announced the ceasefire would last two weeks from the evening of April 7 in Washington, though he has lately suggested it runs until the evening of Wednesday, April 22, effectively an extra 24 hours. A Pakistani source involved in the talks also said it would expire at 8 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, which is 3:30 a.m. Thursday in Iran.
IRAN DEMANDS RELEASE OF VESSEL AND CREW
U.S. Central Command said the ship impounded on Sunday by the United States had violated the U.S. blockade and failed to heed warnings repeated for six hours.
China, the main buyer of Iranian crude, expressed concern over the interception. Iran demanded the immediate release of the vessel, its crew and their families.
Thousands of people have been killed by U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran and a parallel Israeli bombing campaign and invasion of Lebanon. The war has caused a historic shock to global energy supplies, and fears that the global economy could be pushed to the brink of recession.
The U.S. blockade of Iranian ports has infuriated Tehran, prompting it to maintain its own restrictions on the Strait of Hormuz, which typically handles roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supply. Mediator Pakistan has lobbied Washington to end its blockade.
‘THEY’RE GOING TO NEGOTIATE,’ TRUMP SAYS
Trump said on Monday Iran was “going to negotiate, and hopefully they’ll make a fair deal, and they’ll build their country back up, but they will not have - when they do it - they will not have a nuclear weapon”.
Pakistan has been preparing to host the talks despite the uncertainty. Nearly 20,000 security personnel have been deployed across Islamabad, officials said.
Trump said on Sunday that the U.S. would destroy every bridge and power plant in Iran if it rejected his terms, continuing a recent pattern of such threats. Iran has said it would retaliate against attacks on its civil infrastructure by hitting its Gulf Arab neighbours.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Fox News’ “Hannity” programme that a deal was close, “thanks to the success of the military operation and his (Trump’s) hardline negotiating style.”
“And if not, the president, as commander in chief, still has a number of options at his disposal that he’s unafraid to use.”
(Reporting by Reuters bureaus; Writing by Martin Petty and Kevin Liffey; Editing by Stephen Coates, Raju Gopalakrishnan, Peter Graff)
