It is generating doubt on the current push to stop the Middle East war from starting again.
By Catholics for Catholics
As the deadline for the volatile and temporary peace truce between the United States and Iran lurks, Tehran said it had yet to decide whether to be present at a new series of peace talks with the United States on Monday, generating doubt on the current push to stop the Middle East war from starting again.
President Donald Trump said he was deploying peacemakers to Pakistan for negotiations on ending the war that overwhelmed the region and shook global markets, while repeating threats to attack Iran’s infrastructure if it did not make a deal.
A series of preliminary deals in Islamabad ended without a truce earlier this month, with both sides accusing each other of breaching a temporary cease-fire that is now in its final days, according to a story by Newsmax.
“We have no plans for the next round of negotiation, and no decision has been made in this regard,” Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said Monday.
“The U.S. is carrying out behaviors that do not in any way indicate seriousness in pursuing a diplomatic process,” he added, calling an ongoing U.S. blockade of Iranian ports and its recent seizure of a ship “clear violations of the ceasefire.”
Likewise, Trump accused Tehran of infringing the ceasefire — set to lapse overnight Tuesday — by firing on ships in the pivotal Strait of Hormuz trade route, which Iran has all but shut.
The finger pointing has thrown into fresh doubt the efforts to end the war that started with US-Israeli strikes on Iran the morning of Feb. 28, killing the country’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei.
In the meantime, the prices of oil rose on Monday over qualms that the fighting could resume in the weeks-long war. Tensions flared after Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz again following a brief reopening over the weekend.
The gloom in the markets was mirrored in Tehran, despite the capital reopening its main airports on Monday.
“Let’s see what happens by Tuesday. The only thing that the 50 days of war has shown is that no one cares about the Iranian people,” said one 30-year-old doctor on condition of anonymity.
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