Trump Sends US Officials Back to Pakistan for Iran Talks

U.S. officials were due back in Pakistan on Monday night as a fragile diplomatic track collided with fresh danger in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that carries a major share of the world’s oil trade. The route briefly reopened and then closed again on Sunday, a reminder that any breakdown in the Pakistan-mediated talks could quickly move from diplomacy to energy shock.

The second round of negotiations followed face-to-face U.S.-Iran talks in Islamabad on April 11 that ended without agreement. Pakistan has been intensifying its role as mediator between Washington and Tehran, and the White House said any further talks would likely take place in Islamabad, although no final decision had been made. A senior Pakistani government source said Islamabad was actively trying to bring both sides back to the table.

Iran’s political leadership was offering no sign of a breakthrough. Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s parliament, said the sides were still far from a final peace agreement. Iran’s chief negotiator said on state television that Tehran wanted a “lasting peace,” but the message from Tehran remained tied to pressure on the United States over the blockade on Iranian shipping.

That blockade remained in effect, and President Donald Trump warned that if no deal emerged, the United States could escalate pressure on Iran’s infrastructure. The stakes are not confined to the Gulf. A constrained Strait of Hormuz can tighten global oil supplies within hours, lifting crude prices and feeding through to gasoline, freight and airline costs for U.S. consumers while putting energy-importing allies in Europe and Asia on edge.

Pakistan has become a central channel in the effort to prevent that outcome. Gen. Asim Munir, Pakistan’s army chief, was in Tehran on April 15 as part of the push to restart talks, underscoring how quickly the crisis has drawn in regional players. The sequence of meetings, from Islamabad to Tehran and back again, shows that the bargaining is now about more than a ceasefire. It is about whether the world’s most important oil chokepoint stays open enough to keep a regional war from becoming a global economic problem.