Between doubts and threats, the United States and Iran seem to be heading towards a new peace negotiation in Pakistan

President Donald Trump has made it known that he is not willing to extend the deadline when it expires, a White House official said. While Tehran has not officially confirmed that it will send representatives to the meeting in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, informed the regional mediators that he will send a team to negotiate, indicated sources cited by the newspapers The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and the news agency Reuters.

White House sources confirmed that Vice President JD Vance would lead the US delegation as he did during the first meeting on April 11. That meeting, with a level of high-ranking representatives unprecedented since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979, ended without progress. His departure was scheduled for last night from Washington after having been postponed almost a day.

In parallel, Iranian sources assured that the president of Parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who also attended the first frustrated meeting, will attend Islamabad this week if Vance does too.

The holding of this new round of talks is anyway in limbo, despite the promises from both sides known until last night, due to the exchange of threats between both countries over the weekend.

Trump has warned that if Iran does not reach a peace agreement, “Then many bombs will begin to explode.” and, speaking to Bloomberg News, he said an extension to the two-week truce was “highly unlikely.” He also said that he will not lift the blockade on Iran’s ports until there is an agreement. Trump accuses Tehran of violating the truce by attacking ships in Hormuz, a key sea lane for the global hydrocarbon trade.

Separately, confusion over Iran’s involvement has been widespread, with Iranian state media suggesting on Monday morning that officials could sit out the talks, citing Washington’s “excessive demands.”

Everything became even more complicated this Sunday when the US attacked and seized the Iranian-flagged cargo ship Touska in the Gulf of Oman, the first known use of force within the framework of the US blockade, following the attack by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard on two merchant ships the previous days. According to the Tasnim agency, Iran launched drones towards the US military ships that “attacked” the cargo ship and He promised to “respond” against what he called an “act of armed piracy.”

The US reported it had intercepted 27 ships as part of its blockade of the strait. Crude oil prices returned to rise to close to $100 per barrel this Monday.

The ceasefire expires at 9 p.m. this Tuesday (Argentine time, zero Greenwich hours). While both sides have expressed support for the goal of a negotiated solution to the war, they continued to escalate tensions in Hormuz, the crucial sea route that has become a central issue in the peace talks.

“So far, we have not made any decisions regarding the next round of negotiations,” Esmaeil Baqaei, spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, said at a press conference yesterday. Baqaei stated that the seizure of the Iranian-flagged ship and the continued US blockade of Iranian ports constitute violations of the ceasefire agreement.

The goal of the negotiations is to end the war in the Middle Eastwhich began on February 28 due to attacks by the US and Israel against Iran, which left more than 2,000 dead, mainly in Iran and Lebanon, and shook the world economy.

Trump – facing midterm elections this year – is under pressure to find a way out since Tehran moved to block the Strait of Hormuz and raised energy prices that are angering his voters. But the theocratic regime is also in need of a settlement.

The US naval blockade, aimed at depleting Iran’s oil revenues, has seriously affected the Iranian economy. Likewise, both parties maintain antagonistic positions, particularly regarding Iran’s nuclear program. According to Trump, Iran agreed to hand over its highly enriched uranium, something Tehran denies.

In Lebanon, the other front of the war, the situation remains unstable despite a 10-day truce that came into effect on Friday. This Thursday there will be new talks between Israel and Lebanon aimed at promoting a peace agreement between the two countries, a US official confirmed to AFP yesterday.