Iran has announced that it will not send a delegation to participate in the second round of high-stakes peace talks with the United States in Islamabad, Pakistan. The talks, scheduled to take place on Monday, have been thrown into uncertainty following recent developments.
The decision comes after the US attacked and seized an Iranian-flagged cargo vessel, which it claimed had attempted to evade its naval blockade near the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday. Washington has confirmed that a negotiating team, led by Vice President JD Vance, will be deployed to Islamabad to engage in discussions aimed at bridging gaps and reaching a comprehensive agreement to end the hostilities.
It remains unclear whether the talks will proceed as planned without Iranian participation or if the US will also withdraw. Tehran’s joint military command has vowed to respond, casting doubt on the fate of a fragile ceasefire that is set to expire soon.
The intercepted ship marks the first such incident since the US Navy began blockading Iranian ports last week in response to Tehran’s closure of the strategic waterway following the US-Israeli war on the country, which began on 28 February.
Iran has condemned the armed boarding of the cargo vessel, calling it a violation of the fragile truce and an “act of piracy.” According to US President Donald Trump, a US Navy guided missile destroyer in the Gulf of Oman warned the Iranian-flagged ship, the Touska, to halt and then “stopped them right in their tracks by blowing a hole in the engine room.”
US Marines were reported to have custody of the US-sanctioned vessel and were “seeing what’s on board!” It was not clear whether anyone was injured. The US Central Command stated that the destroyer had issued “repeated warnings over a six-hour period,” though it did not answer questions about the incident.
The incident has caused oil prices to surge, exacerbating an already severe global energy price crisis. Brent crude, the international standard, opened trading at $95 a barrel early on Monday, a significant increase from its previous range of $91 to $92 during the majority of the ceasefire.
This development has heightened uncertainty about the future of the conflict, which Trump had previously claimed was “close to over.” His recent statements about new talks with Iran in Pakistan now face scrutiny.
Minutes after the ship seizure was announced, Iranian state media reported that President Masoud Pezeshkian had spoken with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif earlier on Sunday. The reports cited Pezeshkian as expressing increased suspicion that Washington would repeat past patterns and “betray diplomacy” due to its bullying and unreasonable behavior.
Two previous attempts at talks—last June and earlier this year—were disrupted by Israeli and US attacks. On another call, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told his Pakistani counterpart, Ishaq Dar, that recent US actions, rhetoric, and contradictions indicated “bad intentions and lack of seriousness in diplomacy,” according to Iran’s state broadcaster.
Pakistan has not confirmed a second round of talks, but authorities have begun tightening security in Islamabad. A regional official involved in the efforts said mediators were finalizing preparations, with US advance security teams already on the ground.
Iran stated on Saturday that it had received new proposals from the United States. However, Iran’s chief negotiator, parliament speaker Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf, emphasized that “there will be no retreat in the field of diplomacy,” while acknowledging that a wide gap still exists between the sides.
It remains unclear whether either side has shifted positions on issues that derailed the last round of negotiations, including Iran’s nuclear enrichment program, its regional proxies, and the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump’s announcement on talks repeated his threats against Iranian infrastructure, which have drawn widespread criticism and warnings of potential war crimes. If Iran does not agree to the US-proposed deal, “the United States is going to knock out every single power plant, and every single bridge, in Iran,” he wrote.
Iran, meanwhile, warned that it could continue to cause global economic pain as ships remain unable to transit the strait, with hundreds of vessels waiting at each end for clearance. “The choice is clear: either a free oil market for all, or the risk of significant costs for everyone,” said Mohammad Reza Aref, first vice president of Iran, in a social media post calling for an end to military and economic pressure on Tehran.
Approximately one-fifth of the world’s oil trade normally passes through the strait, along with critical supplies of fertilizer for farmers, natural gas, and humanitarian aid for regions in dire need, such as Afghanistan and Sudan.
