{"id":87790,"date":"2026-04-28T15:48:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T15:48:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/87790\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T15:48:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T15:48:12","slug":"keeping-talks-with-us-sputtering-along-iran-may-be-looking-for-time-not-a-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/87790\/","title":{"rendered":"Keeping talks with US sputtering along, Iran may be looking for time, not a deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

The latest stutter steps to plague US-Iran talks \u2014 marked by cancellations and missed meetings in Pakistan \u2014 has sharpened a central question hanging over the high-stakes negotiation: Is this a temporary breakdown, or evidence that the two sides are not negotiating at the same table at all?<\/p>\n

Plans for the sides to gather in Islamabad over the weekend fell apart on Saturday, with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi leaving Pakistan and US President Donald Trump telling his negotiators<\/a> to turn back at the last second and describing the trip and the talks as a waste of time. This came after Tehran earlier rejected attending a planned second round of direct talks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey can call us anytime they want, but you\u2019re not going to be making any more 18-hour flights to sit around talking about nothing,\u201d Trump said he told special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner.<\/p>\n

Both sides have continued to exchange proposals indirectly, but the episode underscored a widening gap \u2014 not just over substance, but over how negotiations themselves should unfold.<\/p>\n

For some analysts, that gap reflects the messy reality of high-stakes diplomacy. For others, it signals something more fundamental: a process designed to buy time rather than reach a deal.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tGet The Times of Israel’s Daily Edition
\n\t\t\tby email and never miss our top stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tBy signing up, you agree to the terms<\/a><\/p>\n

Sanam Vakil, director of the Chatham House think tank\u2019s Middle East and North Africa Program, cautioned against reading too much into the failed meeting itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll negotiations are very difficult,\u201d she said, emphasizing that while direct talks may be paused, indirect exchanges are still ongoing.<\/p>\n

From that perspective, the missed connection does not necessarily indicate a setback or impending collapse, but rather a familiar phase in negotiations in which both sides test their leverage and set conditions.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tA police officer walks past posters of US and Iran talks near a possible venue in Islamabad, Pakistan, April 25, 2026. (AP Photo\/Anjum Naveed)<\/p>\n

While the delays and false starts may be part of tactical maneuvering on the part of Tehran, it may also be a symptom of a lack of clarity within Iran\u2019s leadership itself regarding what its negotiating position is.<\/p>\n

Beni Sabti, a senior Iran researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies, argued that Tehran may no longer have a coherent negotiating framework following the death of supreme leader Ali Khamenei in a February 28 US-Israeli strike.<\/p>\n

During the late ayatollah\u2019s reign, Sabti said, \u201che was guiding them on what to give up and what not to give up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, \u201cit seems that they actually don\u2019t know what to talk about. They jump from one issue to another,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Vakil similarly pointed to the erosion of previously rigid boundaries.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t have the same sort of restraints that they did before,\u201d she said, noting that Ali Khamenei had enforced clear red lines, including opposition to direct talks. That taboo was broken when senior US and Iranian officials met in Islamabad this month for the highest-level talks<\/a> between Washington and Tehran in half a century.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tIn this photo released by the Pakistan Prime Minister Office, U.S. Vice President JD Vance, left, shakes hand with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif prior to their meeting, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Saturday, April 11, 2026 (Pakistan Prime Minister Office via AP)<\/p>\n

Reports have circulated that Ali Khamenei\u2019s son and successor, Mojtaba Khamenei, has been incapacitated by injuries from the same round of strikes that killed his father, elevating Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps generals in shaping wartime and diplomatic decisions instead of the country\u2019s traditional clerical leadership and contributing to internal friction and confusion.<\/p>\n

Still, Sabti argued that despite any discombobulation regarding specific tactics or positions, Iran\u2019s leadership remains aligned on broader goals, including confronting the West \u2014 even if it is divided on how to do so.<\/p>\n

Michael Makovsky, president of the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, explained that Ali Khamenei borrowed heavily from his predecessor Ruhollah Khomeini in his openness to trading concessions for diplomatic gains.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tA woman holds a picture depicting the late Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, left, and the late revolutionary founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini during a government-sponsored protest attended by medical workers against the US-Israeli military campaign outside Imam Khomeini Hospital in Tehran, Iran, on April 6, 2026. (AP Photo\/Francisco Seco)<\/p>\n

Khomeini famously referred to the 1988 agreement ending the Iran-Iraq war, which he okayed, as \u201cmore deadly than drinking from a poisoned chalice.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the IRGC, known for its hardline opposition to the West, might not be as willing to make compromises.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if the head of the IRGC could do that here,\u201d Makovsky said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be harder for them to drink a poison chalice and work out an arrangement with the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

Delaying talks, dodging nuclear issue<\/p>\n

For Iran, smarting after a six-week US-Israeli bombing campaign that degraded its military capabilities and facing the threat of renewed attack, there is a benefit to using the talks to buy time regardless of whether gaps between the sides seem ultimately unresolvable.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey want to earn some time,\u201d said Sabti, describing the current situation as a \u201ctactical pause\u201d on the Iranian side.<\/p>\n

He argued that Tehran is using diplomacy to rebuild degraded capabilities, including its ballistic missile program and regional proxy network.<\/p>\n

Looming over the talks is whether the sides can reach an agreement on Iran\u2019s nuclear program, an issue that appears to be intractable at present. Iran insists that it be allowed to continue enriching uranium and wants a pact similar to the one signed by former US president Barack Obama in 2015, which Trump ripped up a few years later.<\/p>\n

Trump demands that Iran give up all enrichment and seems keen to avoid anything resembling the 2015 deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t see how to reconcile the two sides,\u201d Makovsky added. \u201cI don\u2019t see how the Iranians are ever going to give up their nukes\u2026 It\u2019s just not in their DNA.\u201d<\/p>\n

Makovsky noted that Trump appeared similarly unwilling to budge on the nuclear issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor a guy with an erratic personality, he\u2019s been very steadfast in focusing on the nukes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Sabti suggested that the regime \u201cdoesn\u2019t want any kind of agreement\u2026 that the West can live with.\u201d<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t see how the Iranians are ever going to give up their their nukes\u2026 It\u2019s just not in their DNA.<\/p>\n

Yet Iran has also indicated that it would like to reach an agreement in other areas, particularly the US-imposed blockade deployed in response to the IRGC\u2019s closure of the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n

Nowhere is the US-Iranian friction clearer than in the maritime trade issue, where both sides continue to exert pressure.<\/p>\n

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday that a\u00a0reported recent offer<\/a>\u00a0from Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz under strict conditions is not acceptable<\/a> to the United States or other countries.<\/p>\n

During the ongoing ceasefire, Iran has restricted shipping, allowing passage only under its strict conditions, while the United States has imposed a blockade on Iranian ports. The result, Vakil said, is a high-stakes standoff.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tIn this picture obtained from Iran\u2019s ISNA news agency on April 24, 2026, an Iranian man rides his motorcycle past a boat at Suru Beach in Bandar Abbas along the Strait of Hormuz. (Razieh Poudat\/ISNA\/AFP)<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re both holding a gun to each other\u2019s heads,\u201d she said. \u201cThe question is, who\u2019s going to bring their gun down?\u201d<\/p>\n

Vakil argued that economic pressure wrought by the moves \u2014 particularly rising oil prices and global market disruption \u2014 may ultimately weigh more heavily on Washington than Tehran.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Islamic Republic doesn\u2019t make decisions based on inflation or GDP per capita,\u201d she said, suggesting the US could feel pressure to blink first.<\/p>\n

At the same time, Iran\u2019s suggestion that talks start with Hormuz before moving to the nuclear issue could signal that Tehran doesn\u2019t want its foot-dragging to stall the resumption of maritime trade.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tUS President Donald Trump speaks during a press briefing in the Brady Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, DC, shortly after a shooting incident at the White House Correspondents Dinner on April 25, 2026. (Kent NISHIMURA \/ AFP)<\/p>\n

According to reports, Iran has proposed sequencing negotiations to address the Strait of Hormuz and other issues while saving the nuclear issue for last, a strategy that could see it avoid war and resume economic trade without giving up its primary piece of leverage.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, Makovsky claimed Trump was unlikely to lift the blockade without concessions on the nuclear front.<\/p>\n

Vakil said Iran\u2019s approach of delaying nuclear talks could also be a way of simply getting the negotiations moving, though she warned that leaving the problem unaddressed is \u201cdangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think the nuclear issue is on the back burner,\u201d she said. \u201cPerhaps this is a sequenced process\u2026 that can build momentum to a nuclear deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Limbo land<\/p>\n

For now, the talks appear suspended in an uneasy middle ground \u2014 neither advancing nor fully collapsing.<\/p>\n

Vakil described the moment as finely balanced, saying, \u201cI think we\u2019re at a 50\/50 point\u201d between a diplomatic breakthrough and renewed fighting.<\/p>\n

Others are far more skeptical about the chances of diplomacy succeeding.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not near a diplomatic solution, and it also seems that we are not ready to renew the war,\u201d Sabti said, describing a state of limbo.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tIn this photo obtained by The Associated Press, Iranians attend an anti-government protest in Tehran, Iran, January 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)<\/p>\n

Makovsky, who predicted that \u201ca renewed round of fighting is inevitable,\u201d noted that the hope for regime change in Iran should weigh on US deliberations.<\/p>\n

Any deal Trump makes is liable to bolster the regime in some way rather than buttress opposition forces who could renew protests and bring it down.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t want to make a deal that demoralizes them,\u201d Makovsky said. \u201cYou want to encourage them to rise up and bring down the regime with [American] protection.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The latest stutter steps to plague US-Iran talks \u2014 marked by cancellations and missed meetings in Pakistan \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":87791,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[27587,34,69,30458,291],"class_list":{"0":"post-87790","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tehran","8":"tag-2026-us-israel-war-with-iran","9":"tag-iran","10":"tag-tehran","11":"tag-us-iran-nuclear-talks","12":"tag-us-iran-relations"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116483123119106456","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87790\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}