Hours before President Trump’s 8 p.m. deadline for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz or see its “whole civilization” end, U.S., Iranian, Israeli and other foreign officials offered varying accounts about the state of negotiations between Washington and Tehran.
In one of the day’s few tangible signs of diplomatic activity, Pakistan’s prime minister, whose country has acted as a mediator, issued a public plea on Tuesday for Mr. Trump to extend the deadline.
Three Iranian officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive diplomacy, as did other diplomats who discussed the matter, said Iran had stopped engaging even in indirect talks through mediators with the Trump administration.
While Iran left open the possibility that Pakistan could serve as a conduit if talks resumed, the response suggests that Mr. Trump’s dramatic threat, which one U.S. official said was intended to force Iranian concessions, may have backfired.
But an Israeli official speaking on condition of anonymity said talks were making progress. And on Tuesday afternoon, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan posted on social media that talks were “progressing steadily,” and had “the potential to lead to substantive results in near future.”
Mr. Sharif publicly asked Mr. Trump to extend his deadline by two weeks and for Iran in turn to open the strait “as a goodwill gesture.”
It is unclear whether Mr. Sharif’s proposal reflected any private knowledge of U.S. and Iranian positions. On Monday, Iran rejected a 45-day cease-fire plan offered by regional states including Pakistan. An Iranian official in Cairo told The Associated Press on Monday that Iran had insisted on guarantees that the U.S. military would not resume its attacks after any pause in fighting before Tehran would allow ships safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz.
Referring to Mr. Sharif’s public offer, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said in a statement that “the president has been made aware of the proposal, and a response will come.”
The White House has otherwise offered little detail about which U.S. officials might be speaking with Iranians or intermediaries.
One current and one former U.S. diplomat described the negotiations as disorganized and confusing. Adding to the fog is the fractured nature of Iran’s leadership, which has been decimated by U.S. and Israeli attacks. Negotiations have only become more difficult, U.S. officials say, as Iran’s surviving leaders avoid communications and meetings that might expose them to assassination.
Even some diplomats from countries in the region were in the dark and asking their unofficial contacts for any information about the negotiations.
Mr. Trump himself has depicted diplomacy with Iran as perplexing, writing on social media late last month that Iran’s negotiators were “very different and ‘strange.’”
Ronen Bergman, Farnaz Fassihi and Edward Wong contributed reporting.
Michael Crowley covers the State Department and U.S. foreign policy for The Times. He has reported from nearly three dozen countries and often travels with the secretary of state.
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