Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Saturday night that Tehran will not engage in “forced negotiations" with the United States while facing threats and pressure, according to Iran’s state broadcaster, Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB).
During a phone conversation with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Pezeshkian said current US policies were damaging trust and making any diplomatic progress more difficult.
He said movement toward dialogue would remain unlikely unless “hostile actions and operational pressures" by Washington are brought to an end.
Pezeshkian added that the United States must first remove “operational obstacles, including the blockade" of vessels traveling to and from Iranian ports in order to create conditions for resolving disputes.
According to a statement from the Pakistani Prime Minister’s Office, Sharif told Pezeshkian that Islamabad “would continue its sincere and honest endeavors to promote regional peace and security."
In a post on social media, Sharif also thanked Iran for sending a senior delegation headed by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi to Islamabad for talks aimed at ending the war.
The Iranian delegation departed Islamabad on Saturday and later arrived in Muscat, Oman, for additional regional discussions.
US special envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner had been expected to travel to Islamabad on Saturday, but Trump canceled the visit at the last moment.
"I just cancelled the trip of my representatives going is Islamabad, Pakistan, to meet with the Iranians," he wrote in a post on Truth Social. "Too much time wasted on traveling, too much work! Besides which, there is tremendous infighting and confusion within their 'leadership.' Nobody knows who is in charge, including them. Also, we have all the cards, they have none! If they want to talk, all they have to do is call!!!"
Trump later told Fox News in an interview, "I've told my people a little while ago they were getting ready to leave, and I said, 'Nope, you're not making an 18 hour flight to go there. We have all the cards. They can call us anytime they want, but you're not going to be making any more 18 hour flights to sit around talking about nothing.'"
Trump announced on Tuesday that due to the division in Iran, the ceasefire in Iran would be extended for an unspecified amount of time, to allow the leadership time to submit a proposal for a deal.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump made clear that the US naval blockade will remain in place until an Iranian proposal is submitted.
On Thursday, Trump was asked how long he is willing to wait for Iran to submit a proposal to end the war and replied he was in “no rush".
Trump told reporters that Iran's leaders are "fighting like cats and dogs for who's going to control" the country.
“We’ve taken out their military. We’ve hit about 75 percent of our targets. We stopped a little early because they wanted to have some peace, and we have a blockade that’s 100 percent effective. And they’re getting no business," he said.
Trump further stated, “They want to make a deal. We have been speaking to them, but they don’t even know who’s leading the country. They’re in turmoil."
“They came to us, and they said, 'We will agree to open the Strait,' and all my people were happy. Everybody was happy-except me. I said, ‘Wait a minute. If we open this strait, that means they’re going to make 500 million dollars a day. I don’t want them to make 500 million dollars a day until they settle this thing, so I’m the one that kept it closed. We have total control of it. And it’ll open when they make a deal or something else happens," continued Trump.
The President also said he could make a deal with Iran “right now," but he wants it to be “everlasting" rather than temporary.