US and Iranian officials are set to travel to Islamabad, raising hopes of a resumption in direct negotiations between Washington and Tehran.
The Iranians “want to talk in person”, the White House said Friday. US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner will leave for Pakistan’s capital on Saturday to “hear the Iranians out”.
However, Iran later dismissed any plans of holding direct negotiations with US officials in Islamabad. “No meeting is planned to take place between Iran and the US. Iran’s observations would be conveyed to Pakistan,” Esmail Baghaei, the foreign ministry’s spokesperson, said on Friday evening.
Tasnim, Iran’s state media, said Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi had arrived in Islamabad. The minister said earlier on Friday he would travel to the city for a “timely tour” to discuss the situation in the Middle East.
Araghchi would arrive with a “small delegation” to prepare for a “second round of Islamabad peace talks”, a Pakistani official said earlier on Friday.
Pakistan hosted the first peace talks between the US and Iran earlier this month, which led to the announcement of a 10-day ceasefire on April 8, which had been extended.
The reports tempered a rise in the price of oil, with Brent crude settling 0.2 per cent higher at $105.19 per barrel.
Earlier on Friday oil hit $107, its highest level since the US and Iran first agreed the ceasefire, amid heightened naval tensions in the Gulf and uncertainty over new talks.
Oil tankers remain stranded on either side of the strait almost eight weeks after the conflict began, while tensions between the US and Iran over the Gulf chokepoint have risen despite the ceasefire.
Other developments:
Lebanese militant group Hizbollah said the US-brokered pause in hostilities with Israel was “meaningless” a day after US President Donald Trump announced it had been extended by three weeks.
The UK insisted the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands was “not in question” after reports of a leaked Pentagon memo suggesting the US may review its position on the territory in retaliation for the UK’s lack of support for strikes against Iran.
The aircraft carrier USS George HW Bush arrived in the Middle East on Thursday as Washington boosted its military presence in the region.
Source:
www.ft.com