Iran told regional mediators that it would send a negotiating team to Pakistan on Tuesday for the second round of peace talks with the U.S., said people familiar with the matter, as the end of a two-week cease-fire looms and President Trump levied fresh threats on Iranian infrastructure.
Tehran hadn’t publicly confirmed that it would send representatives to the meetings in Islamabad, and confusion about its participation in the talks grew after Iran’s Foreign Ministry representative, Esmaeil Baqaei, said Monday that there was no plan for a second round of negotiations in the Pakistani capital.
“As of now, we have no plans for the next round of negotiations,” Baqaei said. “We don’t believe in deadlines or ultimatums to secure Iran’s national interests.”
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said earlier that Tehran maintains a deep, historical mistrust of the U.S. government, adding that “Iranians do not submit to force.”
Trump is unlikely to extend the cease-fire with Iran that is set to expire on Wednesday evening, according to a White House official. The deadline puts pressure on negotiators ahead of the U. S-Iran talks.
The president told Bloomberg in an interview earlier Monday that it is “highly unlikely” he would extend the cease-fire.
Trump has warned that if Iran doesn’t make a deal it would face strikes that knock out all of its bridges and power plants.
U.S. oil futures ended Monday 6.9% higher ahead of the planned peace talks. Benchmark futures, which tumbled on Friday after Iran said the Strait of Hormuz was open to ship traffic, regained $5.76 a barrel Monday in New York to settle at $89.61. Monday’s closing price was down roughly 21% from the April peak yet about 34% higher than before the U.S. and Israel began bombing Iran.
Meanwhile, the U.S. will host a second round of ambassador-level talks between Israel and Lebanon on Thursday at the State Department, according to officials from the two countries and an agency representative.
As with last week’s negotiations, the two countries will hold rare direct discussions between Israel’s ambassador to the U.S., Yechiel Leiter, and Lebanon’s ambassador to the U.S., Nada Hamadeh Moawad. It will be their first meeting since the two countries agreed to a U.S.-backed cease-fire on Thursday after a weekslong battle between the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and Israel that started a few days into the Iran war.
Following the first meeting last week, the two sides said they had agreed to launch direct talks for a comprehensive peace deal.
Hezbollah, a political and security player inside Lebanon, opposes the talks.
Write to Summer Said at summer.said@wsj.com, Natalie Andrews at natalie.andrews@wsj.com and Dov Lieber at dov.lieber@wsj.com
