{"id":32974,"date":"2026-04-25T11:54:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T09:54:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=32974"},"modified":"2026-04-25T11:54:55","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T09:54:55","slug":"us-negotiators-to-go-to-islamabad-but-iran-says-no-direct-talks","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/us-negotiators-to-go-to-islamabad-but-iran-says-no-direct-talks\/","title":{"rendered":"US negotiators to go to Islamabad, but Iran says no direct talks"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>United States (US) negotiators are scheduled to leave for Pakistan this Saturday, but \u200bIran said its officials did not plan to meet the Americans to discuss ending the war that has killed thousands and \u200croiled global markets.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>US President Donald Trump\u2019s special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner are due to depart on Saturday morning for talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, the White House said.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters that Iran had a chance to make a \u201cgood deal\u201d with the US.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u201cIran knows that they still have an open window to choose wisely,\u201d \u200bhe said. \u201cAll they have to do is abandon a nuclear weapon in meaningful and verifiable ways.\u201d<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Araqchi \u200barrived in the capital, Islamabad, on Friday. But an Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson posted on X that Iranian officials did \u2060not plan to meet with US representatives and that Tehran\u2019s concerns would be conveyed to mediator Pakistan.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The White House did not immediately respond to a \u200brequest for comment on the Iranian statement.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Washington and Tehran are at a costly impasse as Iran has largely closed the Strait of Hormuz, which normally carries \u200bone-fifth of global oil shipments, while the US blocks Iran\u2019s oil exports. The conflict, entering its ninth week, has pushed energy prices to multi-year highs, stoking inflation and darkening global growth prospects.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Trump told <i>Reuters<\/i>\u00a0on Friday that Iran planned to make an offer aimed at satisfying US demands but that he did not know what the offer entailed. He declined \u200bto say who Washington was negotiating with, \u201cbut we\u2019re dealing with the people that are in charge now\u201d.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the US \u200bhad seen some progress from the Iranian side in recent days and hoped more would come this weekend, while Vice President JD Vance was ready to travel to Pakistan \u200cas well.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Vance, \u2060Witkoff, Kushner and Araqchi, as well as the speaker of Iran\u2019s parliament, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, took part in inconclusive talks in Islamabad two weeks ago.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Araqchi, who posted on X that he would also be visiting Pakistan, Oman and Russia, met Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Friday at the Serena Hotel, where the earlier talks were held, while a US logistics and security team was in place in Islamabad, Pakistani sources said.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Trump unilaterally \u200bextended a two-week ceasefire on Tuesday \u200bto allow more time to reconvene \u2060the negotiators.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Oil prices surged this week, with Brent crude futures soaring 16%, on uncertainty over the fate of the peace talks and as violence flared in the region.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Shipping data on Friday showed that five ships had crossed the Strait \u200bof Hormuz in the previous 24 hours, compared to around 130 a day before the war that the US \u200band Israel launched \u2060on February 28. The ships included an Iranian oil-products tanker but none of the vast crude-carrying supertankers that normally feed global energy markets.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>On Thursday, Israel and Lebanon extended their ceasefire for three weeks at a White House meeting brokered by Trump, but there was little sign of an end to the fighting in southern Lebanon.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Israel invaded \u2060its northern \u200bneighbour last month to root out Iran\u2019s Hezbollah allies after the militant group fired across \u200bthe border. Tehran says a ceasefire there is a precondition for talks.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Lebanese authorities reported six people were killed by an Israeli strike and Hezbollah downed an Israeli drone. Israel\u2019s military said it \u200bhad killed six armed Hezbollah members in southern Lebanon.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8211;SABC&#8211;<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":14836,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-32974","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Trump unilaterally \u200bextended a two-week ceasefire on Tuesday \u200bto allow more time to reconvene \u2060the negotiators.","published_date":"","news_description":"Trump unilaterally \u200bextended a two-week ceasefire on Tuesday \u200bto allow more time to reconvene \u2060the negotiators.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/32974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/32974\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32975,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/32974\/revisions\/32975"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=32974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}