Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: US President Donald Trump has unilaterally extended the ceasefire with Iran indefinitely, hours before it was to expire, even though Tehran refused to attend a second round of talks that Trump had said were imminent.
After making several threats to Iran if it did not accept his terms for a settlement, he announced on Truth Social on April 21 that because “Iran is seriously fractured, he was extending the ceasefire till Tehran can come up with a unified approach.
While announcing the extension of the ceasefire, Trump said that he was continuing the naval blockade of Iranian ports, which was one of the factors behind Tehran staying away from the talks he had said would take place this week in Islamabad. While the ceasefire announcement kept a ray of hope for a world reeling under the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz that shuts out 20 per cent of the global supply of oil and gas, a lifting of the restrictions by either side was not on the horizon for now.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Government-owned PressTV said Tehran “unequivocally insisted on the removal of the blockade” and said that it “would not rejoin negotiations under pressure”. It said that according to its sources, “the Iranian negotiating team has informed the American side through a Pakistani mediator that it will not be in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Wednesday and there is currently no prospect for participating in the negotiations”.
Earlier, Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar confirmed that Iran was not coming to Islamabad for the second round of talks. US Vice President JD Vance was expected to leave for Pakistan but delayed the trip under the threat of Iranians standing him up.
