US President Donald Trump announced the extension of the truce in the war with Iran “at the request” of the Pakistani authorities. He made the statement on Wednesday night, April 22, when the ceasefire reached on April 8 was due to expire, dw.com writes.
“Due to the serious split in the Iranian government, which is expected, however, as well as at the request of Field Marshal Asim Munir (commander of the Armed Forces of Pakistan. – Ed.) and Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, we have been asked to suspend the attack on Iran until their leaders and representatives come up with a unified proposal,” Trump wrote on the social network Truth Social.
According to the US president, the ceasefire will remain in place until “their proposal is presented and negotiations are finalized – one way or another.” At the same time, Trump noted that he instructed the US Army to “continue the blockade” of the Strait of Hormuz and “remain combat ready in all other respects.”
Iran backed out of the talks on April 22
Less than an hour before Trump’s publication, Iranian state agency Tasnim wrote that the country, despite Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei’s authorization to continue talks with the U.S., had definitively refused to participate in the second round of discussions, which according to media reports were supposed to take place on April 22 in Islamabad.
It is alleged that Tehran’s representatives informed the US representatives of the decision through an intermediary in Pakistan. According to the Iranian side, participation in the talks would be a “waste of time” because the US is making “excessive demands” and “preventing any reasonable deal from being reached.”
In addition, a couple of hours earlier, Axios reporter Barak Ravid quoted a source as saying that the trip to Islamabad by US Vice President James David Vance, who was leading the US delegation in the first round of talks with Iran, had been postponed indefinitely. The White House also confirmed the cancelation of the visit.
