US President Donald Trump will hold talks on the Iran war with his top security advisors, US media have reported, as negotiations between the rival parties hosted by Pakistan seemed to reach an impasse.
Tehran's top diplomat blamed Washington on Monday for the failure of talks in Pakistan this month — the first and only round of negotiations in a bid to strike a deal to end the US-Israel war on Iran that has engulfed the Middle East and strangled the global economy.
Barak Ravid, global affairs correspondent for US media outlet Axios, reported that Trump was expected to hold a meeting with his top national security and foreign policy team on Monday to discuss the next steps.
ABC News quoted two unidentified US officials as saying that Trump would meet with his key security advisors on Iran, adding that a new deal proposed by Tehran to resolve the conflict fell short of Washington's red lines.
That deal centered on reopening the Strait of Hormuz and ending a US naval blockade of the vital waterway, with nuclear negotiations postponed for a later stage, Axios reported.
Iran has offered to end its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for the US lifting its blockade on the country and an end to the war, while proposing that discussions on the larger question of its nuclear programme would come in a later phase, two regional officials told AP news agency.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi's visit to Islamabad had fanned hopes for fresh negotiations with Washington at the weekend until Trump scrapped a planned trip by envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
Trump told Fox News after calling off his emissaries' trip that, if Iran wanted talks, "they can come to us, or they can call us."
Ceasefire holds amid backchannel talks
Meanwhile, a top Iranian official said his country's armed forces would be the authority responsible for the Strait of Hormuz under a proposed national law for managing the waterway.
Ebrahim Azizi, head of the national security commission in Iran's parliament, told state television the armed forces were already in control of the strait and were seeking to prohibit the passage of "hostile vessels".
Azizi said the law also proposes that money generated from ships' passage through the strait should be paid in Iran's rial currency.
US and Israel jointly launched a war against Iran on February 28, targeting its politicians, military and civilian facilities, including schools, power plants, ports and nuclear facilities.
In retaliation, Tehran fired hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel and GCC nations hosting US bases, including Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
The April 7 ceasefire brokered by Pakistan after some 40 days of fighting has so far held, but its economic shock waves have continued to reverberate globally.
Iran has blockaded Hormuz, cutting off flows of oil, gas and fertiliser and sending prices soaring, raising fears of food insecurity in developing countries.
In response, the US has imposed a blockade of Iranian ports in the waterway and beyond.
Trump faces domestic pressure as fuel prices rise following Iran's closure of Hormuz, with midterm elections due in November.
Polls show the war is unpopular among Americans.
