WNAM REPORT: Tehran accused the United States of “excessive demands,” Iranian media said on Saturday, as US media reports raised the prospect that Washington was mulling new strikes and leaders of the Islamic republic considered the latest peace proposal.
Pakistan army chief, Asim Munir, held talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Tehran on Friday as Islamabad steps up diplomatic efforts to help mediate between Iran and the United States, Iran’s state media reported on Saturday.
Both sides exchanged views on the latest diplomatic initiatives aimed at preventing further escalation and ending the Iran war in talks that lasted late into the night, the report said.
Intensifying diplomacy to end the conflict, Pakistan’s military chief arrived in Tehran on Friday to press on with mediation efforts, and Iranian media reported that Iran’s foreign minister and Pakistan’s interior minister had met there.
Pakistan has assumed an increasingly active mediation role since the beginning of the war in late February following joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran, with Islamabad maintaining close coordination with Tehran and Washington to prevent wider regional escalation.
Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Friday a Qatari delegation was currently holding talks with Araghchi, adding that Pakistan remained the main mediator in the negotiations.
The United States has seen some progress towards a deal with Iran but more work is required, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday.
“There’s been some progress. I wouldn’t exaggerate it. I wouldn’t diminish it,” Rubio told reporters after a meeting of NATO ministers in Helsingborg in Sweden. “There’s more work to be done. We’re not there yet. I hope we get there.”
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency, citing a source close to the negotiations, said negotiations were continuing. The source added that progress had been made on some issues, but no agreement would be reached until all disputed matters are resolved.
Rubio reiterated comments made on Thursday that Iran’s plans for a tolling system for the strait through which a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas flows were “unacceptable”.
