ANI
26 Apr 2026, 10:51 GMT+10
Islamabad [Pakistan], April 26 (ANI): Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is expected to return to Pakistan for a second stopover following his current discussions in Oman and prior to his scheduled visit to Russia, according to Iranian media.
According to Al Jazeera, citing Iranian media, Araghchi will likely visit Pakistan before heading to Russia.
Araghchi's return to Islamabad follows a high-stakes visit on Friday and Saturday, where he met with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Army Chief Asim Munir. During those meetings, Iran reportedly submitted what Araghchi termed a 'workable framework' to permanently end the eight-week-old war.
The Iranian minister indicated that Tehran has outlined what it considers a workable path forward but questioned whether Washington is genuinely committed to diplomacy.
According to reports, the Iranian delegation submitted an 'official list of demands' during the Islamabad meetings, addressing both the United States and Israel as part of a broader resolution plan.
Araghchi later stated that Iran had explained its 'principled positions' regarding a ceasefire and a complete end to what it described as an imposed war involving US and Israeli forces.
After Islamabad, Araghchi flew to Muscat, a traditional 'back-channel' for US-Iran relations, to further refine the proposal.
The final leg of his tour will take him to Russia, where he is expected to brief Moscow on the progress of the 'Islamabad Talks' and ensure regional alignment.
The anticipated second visit to Islamabad suggests that a new round of 'indirect' negotiations with the US technical team may be imminent, despite President Trump's recent cancellation of the high-level Kushner-Witkoff delegation.
Speaking to reporters at Palm Beach International Airport, President Trump said, 'They offered a lot but not enough,' while responding to a question on whether Iran had offered anything in return to negotiate the US proposal of a 20-year minimum suspension on enriched uranium.
President Donald Trump has abruptly cancelled a scheduled trip to Pakistan for his top negotiators, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff. The envoys were set to fly to Islamabad for a new round of talks regarding the ongoing US-Iran conflict, but the President pulled the plug on Saturday, citing long travel times, high costs, and a lack of 'senior-level' engagement from the Iranian side.
He dismissed the idea of sending his team on a gruelling 18-hour journey to meet with mid-level officials while the leadership in Tehran remains, in his view, fractured.'We're not going to be travelling 15-16 hours to have a meeting with people that nobody ever heard of before,' he remarked, adding that the proposed meeting timeline and lack of top leadership participation made the visit unviable.
Calling himself a 'cost-conscious person,' Trump said, 'When they said that the meeting was scheduled for Tuesday, I said, 'Tuesday! That's a long time from now'... They weren't meeting with the leader of the country. They were meeting with other people. And I said, 'We're just not going to do it. Too much travelling. Takes too long. Too expensive.' I'm a very cost-conscious person.'
The President doubled down on his Truth Social platform, asserting that the US holds 'all the cards' and that Tehran's leadership is plagued by 'tremendous infighting.'
Despite the cancellation, Trump revealed that the move had an immediate tactical effect. He claimed that after the trip was called off, Iran submitted a significantly improved proposal within minutes. Trump reiterated his singular objective, 'Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. Very simple.'
He noted that a revised proposal was received shortly after the cancellation. 'Interestingly, immediately when I cancelled it, within 10 minutes, we got a new paper that was much better. We talked about the fact that they will not have a nuclear weapon. It's very simple. That whole deal is not complicated. Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. Very simple,' he said.
When asked about the possibility of a ceasefire holding, Trump downplayed immediate concerns. 'Haven't even thought about it,' he said, suggesting uncertainty over the trajectory of the situation.
The cancellation comes as a blow to Islamabad, which has been acting as the primary mediator in the conflict.
A previous round of talks hosted in Islamabad earlier this month, involving US Vice President JD Vance and Iranian parliamentary leadership, failed to yield any breakthrough despite marathon discussions lasting over 20 hours. Pakistan's ambitions to position itself as a mediator have since faced setbacks. (ANI)
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