Iran state media reported on Sunday evening (19 April) that it is not planning to participate in new talks with the United States. The US has been accused of violating the ongoing ceasefire between the two countries, which is set to expire on Wednesday (23 April), by seizing an Iranian cargo ship which attempted to get past the US blockade near the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday.
“We have full custody of their ship, and are seeing what’s on board!” Trump wrote on social media.
Iranian military command said that the ship had been traveling from China. “We warn that the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran will soon respond and retaliate against this armed piracy by the US military,” an Iranian military spokesperson was quoted as saying.
The US said it was sending a negotiating party to Pakistan on Monday (20 April) for another possible round of peace talks, but Iranian state media said that there were “currently no plans to participate in the next round”.
Iran stated that its absence from the second round of talks stemmed from what it called “Washington’s excessive demands, unrealistic expectations, constant shifts in stance, repeated contradictions, and the continuing naval blockade, which it considers a breach of the ceasefire,” Iran’s official IRNA news agency wrote.
Trump said on Sunday that any talks in Islamabad were the “last chance” for Iran to agree to a peace deal.
“If Iran does not sign this deal, the whole country is getting blown up,” he told Fox News. Trump then reiterated a threat made earlier that the US would specifically destroy Iran’s power plants and bridges if it did not sign the agreement.
Source: commonspace.eu with The Guardian, the Associated Press, and Reuters
