Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi (left) meets with Pakistan’s Chief of Staff Asim Munir (right) in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad on April 25, 2026, amid efforts to restart stalled peace talks between the United States and Iran to end eight weeks of war.
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Iran’s foreign minister made another brief visit to Islamabad on Sunday, but US President Donald Trump said he could talk by phone instead, as Pakistan’s political and military leaders scramble to rekindle ceasefire talks between Tehran and the United States.
Iranian state media said Abbas Araghchi had left Pakistan’s capital late a day earlier amid confusion over a second round of talks there, but returned before heading to Moscow on Sunday. He had previously brokered negotiations and was in Oman, on the other side of the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
The White House announced last week that it would send special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Islamabad to follow up on historic face-to-face talks earlier this month. But shortly after Araghchi’s departure on Saturday, President Trump said he was canceling the mission due to a lack of progress in relations with Iran.
“We can talk to them if they want, but we’re not going to send people over,” Trump told Fox News on Sunday. He said on social media, “All they have to do is call!!!”
Two Pakistani officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, said indirect negotiations between the two countries were ongoing.
President Trump last week indefinitely extended the cease-fire agreed to by the United States and Iran on April 7, which largely halted fighting that began with a joint U.S.-Israel strike on February 28. But a durable solution to the war, which has killed thousands and shaken the global economy, remains elusive.
Strait of Hormuz at center of Iran negotiations in Oman
A stalemate continues in the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s vital waterway, as Iran restricts movement through the Strait and the United States tightens its blockade of Iranian ports.
Iran hopes to persuade Oman to support a system that would collect fees from ships passing through the strait, through which one-fifth of the world’s oil flows in peacetime, said a regional official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter.
Oman’s reaction was not immediately clear.
The official involved in the mediation effort also said Iran was insisting on lifting the U.S. blockade before new talks, and that Pakistan-led mediators were trying to bridge the wide gap between the two countries.
Araghchi also spoke by phone on Sunday with his Qatari and Saudi counterparts.
Even before Saturday’s developments, Iran’s Foreign Ministry had said any talks would be indirect and Pakistani officials would act as facilitators, reflecting Tehran’s wariness after a series of indirect talks that ended last year and earlier this year after Iran was attacked by the United States and Israel.
President Trump says Iran offered a ‘much better’ offer
The near closure of the strategic strait has disrupted global shipments of oil, liquefied natural gas, fertilizer and other supplies, and the economic fallout is growing two months into the war.
Both sides continue to make military threats. Iran’s Joint Military Command warned on Saturday that it would face a “strong response” if “the United States continues its aggressive military actions, including naval blockade, robbery and piracy.”
President Trump last week ordered the military to “shoot and kill” small boats that may be setting mines in waterways.
Trump told reporters Saturday before the security incident at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner that within 10 minutes of canceling Witkoff and Kushner’s trip to Islamabad, Iran had sent him a “better” offer.
Although he did not elaborate, he emphasized that one of the conditions is that Iran “not possess nuclear weapons.” Iran’s enriched uranium situation has been the center of tension for years. The U.N. nuclear watchdog says Tehran has 440 kilograms (972 pounds) of uranium enriched to 60% purity, which is technically just short of weapons-grade.
Independent Pakistani political analyst Syed Mohammad Ali said the delay in talks should not be seen as a setback and that indirect talks were making progress. He said tensions between the United States and Iran will not ease overnight and the negotiation process requires patience.
“But the good thing is that the ceasefire continues and both sides have a desire to end the conflict in a way that does not backfire domestically,” Ali said.
Casualties rise despite fragile ceasefire
At least 3,375 people have been killed in Iran and at least 2,509 in Lebanon since the war began. In Lebanon, fighting between Israel and Hezbollah resumed two days after the start of the Iran war.
Twenty-three people were also killed in Israel and more than a dozen people in Gulf Arab states. Fifteen Israeli soldiers in Lebanon, 13 US military personnel in the region and six UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon were killed.
Another ceasefire between Israel and the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has been extended for three weeks. Hezbollah does not participate in Washington-mediated diplomacy.
