- ARAB NEWS
- 06 Jun 2026
Since 1975
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump will hold talks on the Iran war on Monday with his top security advisers, US media reported, as negotiations between the rival parties seemed to reach an impasse.
Tehran’s top diplomat blamed Washington on Monday for the failure of talks in Pakistan this month — the first and only round of negotiations in a bid to strike a deal to end the conflict that has engulfed the Middle East and strangled the global economy.
Barak Ravid, global affairs correspondent for US media outlet Axios, reported that Trump was expected to hold a meeting with his top national security and foreign policy team on Monday to discuss the next steps.
In a sign that backchannel efforts were ongoing, the Fars news agency said Iran had passed “written messages” to the Americans via Pakistan spelling out red lines, including nuclear issues and the Strait of Hormuz.
ABC News quoted two unidentified US officials as saying that Trump would meet with his key security advisers on Iran, adding that a new deal proposed by Tehran to resolve the conflict fell short of Washington’s red lines.
That deal centered on reopening the Strait of Hormuz and ending a US naval blockade of the vital waterway, with nuclear negotiations postponed for a later stage, Axios reported.
Fars news agency said the messages were not part of formal negotiations, however.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi’s visit to Islamabad had fanned hopes for fresh negotiations with Washington at the weekend until Trump scrapped a planned trip by envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
Trump told Fox News after calling off his emissaries’ trip that, if Iran wanted talks, “they can come to us, or they can call us.”
Senior Iranian sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters the proposal carried by Araqchi to Islamabad over the weekend envisioned talks in stages.
A first step would require ending the US-Israeli war on Iran and providing guarantees that Washington cannot start it up again. Then negotiators would resolve the US blockade and the fate of the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran aims to reopen under its control.
Only then would talks look at other issues, including a longstanding dispute over Iran’s nuclear program, with Iran still seeking some kind of US acknowledgment of its right to enrich uranium for what it says are peaceful purposes.
In a sign that no face-to-face meetings are planned any time soon, streets reopened in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad, which had been locked down for a week in anticipation of talks that never took place. The luxury hotel that had been cleared out to serve as a venue was again taking reservations from the public.
Pakistani officials said negotiations were still taking place remotely, but there were no plans to convene a meeting in person until the sides were close enough to sign a memorandum.
“The draft will be negotiated remotely till they reach some consensus,” said a Pakistani source familiar with the negotiations.
