Ahead of a second round of talks scheduled in Islamabad, Iran is yet to confirm whether it would be participating, even as the US has announced that its team of negotiators would be in Pakistan on Monday. Amid suspense over the future of these talks and a ceasefire that is soon set to expire, a report has claimed that Iranians are suspecting a trap in Trump’s push for a deal.
Some Iranian officials suspect that Trump could be wanting to resume the war and his call for a deal could be a guise for a surprise US attack, Axios reported on Sunday, without naming any officials or elaborating further on the kind of threat Iranians suspect. Follow live updates on US-Iran war here.
The report comes amid anticipation over the next round of talks in Islamabad.
This is not the first time reports of Iran suspecting an attack from the US have emerged.
Back in March, when the US was seeking in-person talks with Iran amid the war, an Axios report had said that Iranians told negotiators Pakistan, Egypt and Turkey that it was in no mood to be “fooled”. Back then too, Iranians reportedly suspected that Trump’s peace talks push was a “ruse”.
Trump’s threat to Iran over deal
Even as he was sending negotiators to Pakistan on Monday for the fresh round of talks, Donald Trump renewed his threats against Iran’s infrastructure, saying in a post on his Truth Social on Sunday that without a deal, the US was “going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran. NO MORE MR. NICE GUY!”
While Trump has confirmed US participation in the Islamabad talks, Iran remains noncommittal, with the state IRNA reportedly saying that Tehran has “rejected” the participation over the US’s “excessive demands”.
“Iran stated that its absence from the second round of talks stems from what it called 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,” IRNA wrote, as quoted in a Reuters report on Sunday.
From the US, Vice President JD Vance, and Trump’s fellow businessmen-friend Steve Witkoff, and daughter Ivanka trump’s husband Jared Kushner, will be heading to Islamabad for talks this week.
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