ISLAMABAD: A senior US official said on Tuesday no new round of talks with Iran has been scheduled, though the possibility remains under discussion as Pakistan continues to engage with both sides following rare high-level negotiations hosted in Islamabad last weekend.
Islamabad hosted direct talks between high-level US and Iranian delegations on Saturday, marking the most senior engagement between the two countries in decades. The negotiations, which lasted for 21 hours, took place days after a temporary truce led to a pause in fighting in Iran beginning with the US-Israeli strikes on Tehran on Feb. 28.
The talks ended without an agreement but opened a channel for continued diplomacy amid reports of another round later this week.
“Future talks are under discussion but nothing has been scheduled at this time,” a US administration official familiar with the matter said in response to an Arab News query, requesting anonymity.
US President Donald Trump had earlier suggested that talks could resume “over the next two days,” according to an interview reported by the New York Post, but officials on all sides have since struck a more cautious tone, emphasizing that discussions remain fluid.
Pakistan has positioned itself as a conduit between Washington and Tehran following a ceasefire in the Iran conflict, with diplomatic sources saying Islamabad continues to pass messages between the two sides as they explore the possibility of further engagement.
The Pakistani foreign office and information ministries did not respond to queries on whether a fresh round of talks was planned this week. However, an Iranian embassy official in Islamabad said discussions could resume at any time but stressed that no formal plans had been finalized.
“The coming rounds of talks can come anytime and anywhere but nothing is official as of now.”
Asked about the talks during a news conference, United Nations Secretary General António Guterres maintained it was “essential that these negotiations go on.”
“I think it would be unrealistic to expect to such a complex problem, long-lasting problem could be resolved in the first session of a negotiation,” he said.
He also called for the ceasefire to persist while hoping that the US-Iran talks would resume soon.
“The indication we have is that it is highly probable that these talks will restart,” he added.
Guterres also expressed his “enormous admiration for Pakistan” for taking the initiative to bring the two sides together and work for peace in the Middle East.
