Trump Cancels Islamabad Trip as US-Iran Talks Fail To Restart

ISLAMABAD: US President Donald Trump has described the failure to resume US-Iran talks as a setback to peace efforts but said while it didn’t mean war would restart as a result.

After Iranian repeated refusal to sit across the table with the US delegation from Pakistan’s federal capital , President Trump told US media that he was cancelling his envoy’s trip to Islamabad.

US President Donald Trump said he was cancelling his envoys’ trip to Islamabad for talks does not automatically mean war with Iran would restart, despite the setback in peace efforts, US media reported.

Asked whether the cancellation meant he would resume the war; Trump told US media: “No. It doesn’t mean that. We haven’t thought about it yet.
President Trump announced that his envoys were leaving for Islamabad the day Iranian foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi tweeted that he would be visiting Islamabad over the weekend.

It seems Araghchi’s tweet was seen in Washington as an Iranian signal that they were willing for a second round of talks in Islamabad.

However, both Pakistani and Iranian officials clarified that the visit was bilateral in nature and had nothing to do with the Pakistani mediation efforts.
There are reports that the Iranian foreign minister handed over Iranian demands for the resumption of talks with the US to Pakistani Prime Minister.

Pakistani media went into overdrive to speculate that the second round of talks would soon resume in Islamabad as both Iranian and US delegations were now heading towards Islamabad.

The hopes, however, proved short lived when Iranian foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi departed Pakistan after lengthy meetings with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir.

It is, however, extremely embarrassing for a superpower like the United States to almost anxiously wait for the resumption of US-Iran talks while Iranians are not even willing to sit with them across the table.

US-Iran delegations held a 21-hour long marathon session of negotiations in which they exchanged demands on three key issues, a) American demand for Iran to cap its nuclear enrichment activity for the next 20 years, b) Iranian demand that its control of Strait of Hormuz should be legitimized, c) Iranian demand that sanctions against Iranian state should be lifted and its assets and accounts in international banks should be un-freezed.

Despite military tensions both the sides have, however, not rejected the idea of holding talks in Islamabad. Both sides are also appreciative of Pakistan’s mediation efforts.