Iran denies talks with US on extending ceasefire

ISLAMABAD: Iran has denied holding discussions with the United States on extending a ceasefire, contradicting an Anadolu report that said the two sides had agreed to extend a 60-day truce brokered under the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding.

“There were no discussions between Iran and the United States to extend the ceasefire because from Tehran’s perspective the deal had no start date and therefore there was nothing to extend,” a senior Iranian source told Reuters on Wednesday.

The Reuters report came hours after Turkish news agency Anadolu, citing Pakistani government sources, reported that Washington and Tehran had “agreed” to extend the 60-day ceasefire, which is set to expire on August 17.

“Both sides have conveyed their consent to the mediators to extend the deadline,” a source close to the mediation process told Anadolu.

The source, however, said the two sides were still exchanging messages to determine the duration of any extension.

The conflicting reports come as Pakistan continues diplomatic efforts to facilitate a resolution to the ongoing US-Iran standoff.

HUM News could not independently verify either account, while officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the security establishment declined to comment when approached.

Naqvi in Tehran for diplomatic efforts

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi is in Tehran, where he held meetings with key Iranian officials, including President Masoud Pezeshkian, on Tuesday as part of Pakistan’s diplomatic efforts to help resolve the crisis.

Naqvi’s visit comes days after Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar held a telephone conversation with his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi.

During the conversation, the two foreign ministers discussed regional security developments and the newly signed Makkah Joint Defence Agreement.

Pakistan has sought to maintain its role as a mediator between Washington and Tehran amid renewed tensions and efforts to revive diplomatic engagement.

Khawaja Asif sees possible arrangement

Earlier, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif told Bloomberg that the United States and Iran were close to reaching some form of arrangement.

“Things are shaping up again in favour of a peace arrangement or a deal,” Asif said. “The signals in the last two or three days are that we are close to some sort of an arrangement.”

His comments came amid renewed diplomatic activity involving Pakistan and other regional mediators.

However, Iran has previously maintained that direct negotiations with Washington would not resume while it considers the existing interim arrangement to have been violated.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Sunday that Tehran and Washington were not engaged in direct talks and that Iran would not start negotiations as long as the United States continued to breach the interim agreement signed in June.

He said messages were being exchanged through intermediaries.

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Ceasefire under strain

The United States and Iran agreed to a ceasefire in June and subsequently signed a memorandum of understanding on June 17, according to Reuters.

The agreement followed months of military confrontation between the two countries.

Between July 8 and July 24, Washington and Tehran exchanged military strikes, with the United States attacking targets inside Iran and Tehran responding with strikes on what it described as US military facilities and equipment in several Arab countries, including Jordan, Bahrain and Kuwait.

The ceasefire has since remained under strain, with Iran accusing Washington of violating the interim agreement and the United States maintaining pressure on Tehran.

The latest disagreement over whether there is a ceasefire to extend highlights the uncertainty surrounding the diplomatic process.

While Anadolu reported that both sides had conveyed their consent to extending the deadline, the senior Iranian source cited by Reuters said Tehran did not recognise a defined start date for the ceasefire and therefore did not consider an extension to have been discussed.

Pakistan’s diplomatic efforts are continuing as officials seek to bridge the differences between the two sides and create conditions for a broader political settlement.