Pakistan proposes second round of Islamabad talks

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan has proposed hosting a second round of talks between the United States and Iran in Islamabad as early as Thursday, two Pakistani officials have said. Negotiating teams could return to Islamabad this week, the sources ⁠said on Tuesday, days after the highest-level talks between the two countries since the 1979 ‌Islamic ⁠Revolution ended in the Pakistani capital without a ⁠breakthrough. The Pakistani officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the press, said the proposal would depend on whether the parties request a different location or not. One of the officials said that, despite ending without an agreement, the first talks were part of an ongoing diplomatic process rather than a one-off effort. US Vice President JD Vance said in an interview with Fox News that negotiations “did make some progress” in the Islamabad talks on the US insistence on the removal of nuclear material from Iran as well as a mechanism to ensure uranium cannot be enriched in the future. “They moved in our direction,” Vance said in the interview. He said he thought Iranian negotiators were “unable to cut a deal” and needed to get approval from others in Tehran. Vance also said that US negotiators made clear that Trump “would be very happy if Iran was treated like a normal country, if it had a normal economy,” but he did not go into details about what he meant. “There really is, I think, a grand deal to be had here. But, it’s up to the Iranians, I think, to take the next step,” Vance said. The White House was not responsive to queries about whether new talks were being weighed. “President Trump, Vice President Vance and the negotiating team have made the US red lines very clear. The Iranians desperation for a deal will only increase with President Trump’s highly effective Naval blockade now in effect,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. Trump told reporters earlier Monday that “we’ve been called by the other side” and “they want to work a deal.” The sides are weighing new in-person negotiations in a bid to reach a deal aimed at ending their six-week war before the ceasefire expires next week, two US officials and person familiar with the development said. They said discussions were still underway about a new round of talks, while a diplomat from one of the mediating countries went further to say Tehran and Washington have agreed to it. The diplomat and US officials said Islamabad was once again being discussed as the host location. The US officials also said Geneva was a possibility, and that while the venue and timing had not been decided, the talks could happen Thursday. — Agencies