Donald Trump said he was “highly unlikely” to extend the ceasefire in Iran and threatened to resume bombing if a deal was not reached by Wednesday night.
On Tuesday, the US president said he would not be “rushed into making a bad deal” as JD Vance prepared to travel to Islamabad to lead a second round of peace talks.
But uncertainty hung over the prospect of direct negotiations after Iran refused to say whether it would attend the talks as the clock on the two-week ceasefire deadline ticked on.
Mr Trump also sowed confusion by suggesting that Mr Vance was already airborne and bound for Pakistan on Monday morning, with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the president’s peace envoys.
In fact, the vice-president was still in Washington and was seen at the White House on Monday afternoon, yet to depart for the summit.
“There are various indications that there is no seriousness on the US side in advancing diplomacy,” an Iranian foreign ministry spokesman said.
Tehran distrustful of Washington
Tehran’s hesitancy to return to the negotiating table is in part because it does not trust Washington and believes Mr Trump’s positive public comments are a cover for a surprise attack.
Later on Monday, sources told the Wall Street Journal that Iran would send a delegation to the summit, yet officials have still not publicly confirmed the talks.
The sides disagree over the key issues that derailed the first round of talks in Islamabad, including Iran’s nuclear enrichment programme, its regional proxies and control over the Strait of Hormuz.
When Mr Trump was asked by Bloomberg whether he would prolong the truce, which expires on Wednesday, he said it was “highly unlikely that I’d extend it”.
He also told PBS News that if no deal was reached, “then lots of bombs start going off”.
As the prospect of talks remained uncertain, Mr Trump denied reports that he was considering a proposal to lift the US naval block on Iranian ports, saying it would remain in place until a deal was reached.
“They want me to open it. The Iranians desperately want it opened. I’m not opening it until a deal is signed,” he told Bloomberg.
US seizes cargo ship
The US seized an Iranian cargo ship, the Touska, that tried to breach its naval blockade after “blowing a hole” in its engine compartment on Sunday.
It was the first known time that the US had fired on a commercial vessel during the conflict. Until then, it had turned back more than 20 Iranian-linked ships without using force.
Iran’s joint military command vowed to respond, and Abbas Aragchi, its foreign minister, told his Pakistani counterpart that American threats to Iranian ships and ports were “clear signs” of Washington’s disingenuousness before the planned talks.
Mr Trump said the two-week ceasefire would expire on “Wednesday evening, Washington time”.
But the truce between Iran, Israel and the US started after multiple deadlines were posed and then postponed by Mr Trump. Further delays or sudden changes are expected in the hours leading up to the deadline.
With tensions flaring, Pakistan, the main mediator between the warring countries, pushed for talks to resume as planned on Tuesday.
‘Negotiations are just a waste of time’
On Monday, Pakistan said that Mohsin Naqvi, the interior minister, held separate meetings in Islamabad with the Iranian ambassador and the acting US ambassador to discuss arrangements.
“The Iranian delegation believes that as long as America does not look at the issue realistically and approaches the negotiating table with the same wrong calculations that led to its heavy battlefield defeat, negotiations are just a waste of time,” Iran’s state media Tasnim reported.
Meanwhile, the hard line Fars news agency urged negotiators not to go, calling participation “strategic self-harm” that would “legitimise American deception” given the broken commitments and continuing blockade.
Stock markets fell and oil prices rose following Mr Trump’s comments about enforcing the blockade until Tehran reached a deal with Washington.
The benchmark S&P 500 share index dropped 0.6 per cent to a session low before paring losses. Oil prices extended their gains, rising more than 5 per cent in afternoon trading.
Diplomatic talks between Israel and Lebanon were scheduled to resume in Washington on Thursday.
A 10-day ceasefire began on Friday in Lebanon, where fighting between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants broke out two days after the US and Israel launched their war on Iran.
In a post on his Truth Social network on Monday, Mr Trump denied claims that Israel had convinced him to launch the war against Iran.
Recent reporting in the US, including by the New York Times, claims that Mr Trump decided to launch the war after being impressed by a briefing by Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister.
“I watch and read the FAKE NEWS Pundits and Polls in total disbelief. 90 per cent of what they say are lies and made up stories, and the polls are rigged, much as the 2020 Presidential Election was rigged,” he wrote.
“Just like the results in Venezuela, which the media doesn’t like talking about, the results in Iran will be amazing – And if Iran’s new leaders (Regime Change!) are smart, Iran can have a great and prosperous future!”