Peace talks in Islamabad led by Vice President JD Vance fell apart over the weekend. Vance told reporters that the Iranians would not pledge to no longer pursue the development of a nuclear weapon.
“They have chosen not to accept our terms,” he said. “The simple fact is that we need to see an affirmative commitment that they will not seek a nuclear weapon and they will not seek the tools that would enable them to quickly achieve a nuclear weapon.”
Further talks between American and Iranian negotiators have not been publicly disclosed. But Trump told a New York Post reporter on Tuesday that “something could be happening over the next two days, and we’re more inclined to go [to Pakistan],” praising Pakistani leaders’ roles in the negotiations.
The blockade could exacerbate shortages of key agricultural commodities and helium, already in scant supply due to Iran’s earlier closure of the strait. Oil and gasoline prices, meanwhile, have remained stubbornly high, an ominous sign for Republicans ahead of the fall midterm elections.
With negotiations on ice and the war already well past Trump’s four-to-six-week timeline, the president has still been quick to claim victory in the military arena.
“They have no navy,” he said. “They have no air force. Everything has been wiped out. They have no anti-aircraft equipment. They have no radar. They have no leaders. The leaders they have — and now it’s a new regime — and we find them pretty reasonable to be honest with you, by comparison pretty reasonable. It really is a new regime.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at a press briefing Wednesday that “we feel good about the prospects of a deal” but denied reports that the administration had formally requested an extension of the ceasefire agreement reached earlier in April.
“It’s obviously in the best interests of Iran to meet the president’s demands,” she said. “I think he’s made his red lines in these negotiations very clear to the other side, and so we are continuing to see how these conversations go.”
Also on Wednesday, Trump took to Truth Social to write that China had agreed not to send any weapons to Tehran ahead of his visit to the country in mid-May. Beijing “is very happy” with the American push to force Iran to open the strait, the president wrote. And Chinese President Xi Jinping, he said, “will give me a big, fat, hug when I get there in a few weeks.”