President Donald Trump said Sunday that Iran can call if it wants to talk to end the two-month war, and he insisted Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. The remarks came after Tehran said the United States must remove obstacles to the deal, including a blockade of Iranian ports.
On Saturday, hopes for a revival of peace efforts faded after Trump canceled a planned visit to Islamabad by his envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi shuttled between Pakistani and Omani mediators on Sunday before heading to Russia, where he was scheduled to meet President Vladimir Putin.
After U.S.-Iran peace talks stalled over the weekend, oil prices continued to rise, the dollar rose slightly and U.S. stock futures fell in early Asian trading on Monday, disrupting shipping through the Gulf.
Trump told Fox News' The Sunday Briefing,
"If they want to talk, they can come to us or call us. You know, there's a phone. We have a good, safe line."
He added, “They know what the deal needs to be. It’s very simple: They can’t have nuclear weapons, otherwise there’s no reason to meet.”
Iran has long demanded that the United States recognize its right to enrich uranium, which Tehran says is for peaceful purposes but Western powers say is aimed at building nuclear weapons.
While the ceasefire halted full-scale fighting in the conflict that began with a US-Israeli attack on Iran on February 28, no agreement has been reached to end the war that has killed thousands, driven up oil prices, fueled inflation and dented prospects for global economic growth.
Iran’s envoy to Russia, Kazem Jalali, said in a statement on X that Araqchi would meet with Putin “as a continuation of diplomatic jihad to advance the country’s interests in the face of external threats.”
Jalali said, “Iran and Russia are showing a united front in the campaign of the world’s totalitarian powers against independent and just nations, and those who want the world to be free from unilateralism and Western domination.”
Trump said in a speech in Florida on Saturday that he was canceling his envoy’s visit because of the travel and cost involved in what he considered to be inadequate Iranian offers. He said Iran “offered a lot, but not enough.”
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif by phone on Saturday that Tehran would not hold “forced talks” under threat or naval blockade, according to an official Iranian statement.
He insisted that the United States should first remove obstacles, including maritime blockades, before negotiators could begin efforts to establish a basis for a settlement.
