The US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has contributed to the ongoing uncertainty surrounding a second round of talks between Iranian and American negotiators, according to officials familiar with the matter.
Iran had initially sent private signals to the US it was ready to dispatch a negotiating team to Islamabad to resume talks, and made clear they expected Vice President JD Vance to again lead the American team, the officials said.
If Vance attended, Iran signaled it would send Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who led the last round of talks.
But since then, Iran has conveyed that the American blockade of Iranian ports needs to be lifted before another round of direct negotiations, officials said.
That is among the reasons for an apparent hold-up in the negotiations. None of the American delegation — including Vance and envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner — have yet departed the United States, White House officials said.
In a Tuesday morning interview, Trump sounded unlikely to reopen the waterway without a deal.
“We’re not going to open the strait until we have a final deal,” he said on CNBC. He claimed Iran responded by insisting: “No, no, we want to open this strait.”
“I said, ‘We’re not opening,’” Trump said.
