An Iranian regime spokesman said on April 22 that the country still has not decided on whether it would enter talks with the United States, coming hours after a ceasefire extension with the United States was announced by U.S. President Donald Trump and as several ships were seized by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz.
“We entered the negotiations in good faith and with seriousness, but the negotiating party [the United States] has shown disregard and lack of good faith,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmaeil Baqaei, said on Iranian state-run television.
“Iran has not yet decided whether it will participate in the new round of peace negotiations with the United States scheduled for later this week,” Baqaei said on Wednesday.
There was uncertainty on Tuesday about whether Iran or the United States could enter talks on a deal.
Trump told CNBC on April 21 that, should no deal occur, the United States would likely start striking Iran soon. That comment was made before he announced the ceasefire extension.
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi criticized a U.S. military decision on April 19 to fire at an Iran-flagged ship’s engine room and seize it during its enforcement of a naval blockade on the country’s ports, which went into effect one week earlier. U.S. forces on Tuesday also said they boarded a vessel that was previously sanctioned for carrying Iranian oil in the Indian Ocean.
“Striking a commercial vessel and taking its crew hostage is an even greater violation,” Araghchi wrote in the X post. “Iran knows how to neutralize restrictions, how to defend its interests, and how to resist bullying.”
But Trump wrote on Tuesday that because Iran’s leadership structure “is seriously fractured,” the United States was asked by Pakistani officials “to hold our Attack on the Country of Iran until such time as their leaders and representatives can come up with a unified proposal.”
Trump said he told the U.S. military to extend the naval blockade of Iranian ports. He cautioned that the United States would “remain ready and able” to strike.
During the conflict, which began on Feb. 28, the U.S. and Israeli militaries have killed dozens of Iranian officials, including the country’s former top leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whose son, Mojtaba, was later named as the leader of the country, although he has not made any public appearances since then.
Hours after Trump’s latest ceasefire announcement, Iran said it captured two ships in the Strait of Hormuz for what regime officials claimed were violations of maritime safety rules, according to the state-backed and semi-official IRNA news agency. The officials said that one of the ships was linked to Israel and that the other was trying to exit the strait without a permit.
Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard attacked a third ship on Wednesday in the Strait of Hormuz, other Iranian news agencies said. Nour News, Fars, and Mehr all reported the attack on a vessel called the Euphoria and said the vessel had become “stranded” on the Iranian coast, without elaborating.