Iran on Sunday rejected its participation in the second round of peace talks with United States, reportedly scheduled for April 21 (Tuesday) in Islamabad, citing "Washington’s excessive demands and unrealistic expectations". Taking to X, formerly Twitter, Iran's official IRNA news agency said, "Iran has rejected participation in a second round of peace talks due to Washington’s excessive demands, unrealistic expectations, constant shifts in stance, repeated contradictions, and the ongoing naval blockade, which it considers a breach of the ceasefire."

The development has come after Donald Trump, earlier today, informed that two US officials including US special envoy to Middle East Steve Witkoff and US special envoy to Peace and also Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, would be attending the second round of peace talks in Islamabad. The US President, in a post on Truth Social on Sunday evening, said, "...My representatives are going to Islamabad, Pakistan, and will be there tomorrow evening for negotiations. Iran recently announced that they were closing the Strait, which is strange because our BLOCKADE has already closed it. They’re helping us without knowing, and they are the ones that lose with the closed passage: $500 million dollars a day! The United States loses nothing."

As Trump confirmed US officials visit, conflicting reports surfaced Sunday suggesting that Vice President JD Vance would also be heading to Pakistan. While Trump denied that Vance was visiting, a CNN correspondent said the White House informed them that the Vice President is also going to Islamabad as things changed.

"The White House tells CNN that VP Vance is traveling to Pakistan for talks, in addition to Witkoff & Kushner, despite POTUS saying Vance wasn’t attending. As for Trump’s comments this morning saying Vance wasn’t making the trip, a White House official told CNN: 'Things changed'' the CNN correspondent said.

As US said it was preparing for talks, Iran did not immediately confirm the development but its chief negotiator and Parliament speaker Mohammed Bagher Qalibaf, said in an interview aired on state television late Saturday that “there will be no retreat in the field of diplomacy,” while acknowledging a wide gap remained between the sides.

The White House said Vice President JD Vance, who led the first round of historic face-to-face talks over 21 hours last weekend, would lead the US delegation to Pakistan with envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.

Pakistani authorities began tightening security in Islamabad. A regional official involved in the efforts said mediators were finalising preparations and US advance security teams were on the ground. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss preparations with the media.

Iran on Saturday said it had received new proposals from the United States. It was unclear whether either side had shifted stances on issues that derailed the last round of negotiations, including Iran’s nuclear enrichment program, its regional proxies and control over the Strait of Hormuz.

Meanwhile, Trump in his latest social media announcement repeated his threats against Iranian infrastructure that have drawn widespread criticism and warnings of war crimes. If Iran doesn't agree to the US-proposed deal, "the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran,” he wrote on Truth Social.

Shashwat Bhandari is the Associate Editor at Times Now. With 14 years of experience in the news and media industry, he understands the responsibility...View More

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