Las authorities of Iran has stressed that talks with the United States in Pakistan will be resumed only after Washington lifts its blockade of the Strait of Hormuzafter the second round planned in Islamabad did not materialize and in the midst of diplomatic contacts for this purpose that have led the US president, Donald Trump, to extend the ceasefire agreed on April 8.
“The United States naval blockade is a violation of the ceasefire,” reiterated Iran’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Amir Saeid Iravani, who stressed that Tehran has conveyed this request to Washington and added that, in response, they have received “signals that they are willing to do so.”
“As soon as they do, I think the next round of negotiations will take place in Islamabad,” explained Iravani, who stressed that Iran “is prepared” for a negotiation process for an agreement. “If they want to sit at the (negotiation) table and discuss a political solution, they will find us willing. If they want to go to war, Iran is also prepared,” he argued.
“They started the war”
Thus, he recalled that Iran “did not initiate military aggression.” “They started the war,” he stressed, in reference to the offensive launched by surprise on February 28 by the United States and Israel against the Asian country, in the middle of a negotiation process between Washington and Tehran to try to achieve a new nuclear agreement, after Trump left the one signed three years earlier in 2018.
own Trump announced on Tuesday the extension of temporary ceasefire reached on April 8 after a request from Pakistan, which is mediating in the diplomatic process, although it insisted that the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz will remain in place. The blockade and the recent assault and seizure of Iranian ships in the area have been one of the reasons given by Tehran for not going to Islamabad, given that it considers that these actions represent a violation of the ceasefire that blocks the dialogue process.
In fact, the Iranian authorities announced on April 17 that they were ending their traffic restrictions in the area once a temporary ceasefire in Lebanon was confirmed the day before, although they assured that they were reimposing them after Trump stated in response – after applauding Tehran’s step – that US forces would maintain their blockade of the strategically important road.
