Trump says talks between U.S. and Iran to resume in Pakistan on Monday

President Donald Trump said U.S. negotiators will head to Pakistan on Monday for the next round of peace talks with Iran.

“My Representatives are going to Islamabad, Pakistan — They will be there tomorrow evening, for Negotiations,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Sunday.

“We’re offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL, and I hope they take it because, if they don’t, the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran. NO MORE MR. NICE GUY!

The president also claimed Iran violated a ceasefire that’s due to end on Wednesday.

The U.S. delegation will be headed by special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, and Jared Kusher, the president’s son-in-law, Trump said in a telephone interview with MS NOW.

Vice President JD Vance, who led the first round of negotiations in Islamabad that ended without coming to an agreement, will not attend the talks for security reasons, Trump told MS NOW.

Iran ratcheted up its rhetoric against the U.S. on Sunday, a day after it said it had reasserted control of the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran’s parliament speaker and top negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said talks to end the war with the U.S. and Israel are continuing but that his country stands ready to resume the conflict and warned the U.S. against using a naval blockade in the strait.

“It is not the case that we think just because we are negotiating, the armed forces are not ready,” Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said in televised remarks late Saturday according to a report on Iranian state media. “Rather, just as the people are in the streets, our armed forces are also ready.”

Ghalibaf also reiterated Iran’s intentions to restrict traffic through the strait, a key energy chokepoint.

“It is impossible for others to pass through the Strait of Hormuz but not us. If the U.S. does not abandon the blockade, traffic in the Strait of Hormuz will certainly be restricted,” he said.

Trump announced the blockade on April 12, after complaining that Tehran has not appeared to reopen the strait, one of his conditions for agreeing to the fragile two-week ceasefire that is currently in effect.

Gunboat diplomacy

Two gunboats from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard opened fire on a tanker transiting the strait, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said Saturday. It reported the tanker and crew as safe, without identifying the vessel or its destination.

Shipping ​sources told Reuters at least two other vessels reported coming under fire while trying to transit the waterway.

The confusion over the strait’s status has left ship operators in a state of limbo.

Video footage from ship-tracking firm Kpler showed that several tankers and cargo ships attempted to exit the waterway on Friday but turned back.