Islamabad, Pakistan \u2013 <\/strong>Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has discussed with regional interlocutors a proposal aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz but deferring talks with the US on Tehran\u2019s nuclear programme for later, during a 72-hour diplomatic sprint across three countries seemingly aimed at securing a broader buy-in for the plan.<\/p>\n Araghchi on Monday met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg, after visiting Islamabad twice in two days \u2013 the two trips sandwiching a meeting in Muscat, Oman. Sources close to these diplomatic efforts told Al Jazeera that senior intelligence officials from several countries were present at the Muscat talks.<\/p>\n list of 4 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n Discussions in Muscat focused on the Strait of Hormuz, regional security guarantees, and the framework for a potential settlement, with nuclear-related issues set aside for a later stage.<\/p>\n Iran submitted its latest proposal to end the war with the US to Pakistan, which is transmitting messages between Tehran and Washington after direct talks on April 11 in Islamabad failed to deliver a breakthrough.<\/p>\n The White House has not confirmed the contents of the Iranian proposal, also reported by the Associated Press. Spokeswoman Olivia Wales said the US \u201cwill not negotiate through the press\u201d and would \u201conly make a deal that puts the American people first, never allowing Iran to have a nuclear weapon\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n But it is unclear whether US President Donald Trump will accept the Iranian proposal to push back nuclear negotiations. Speaking to Fox News on Sunday, Trump said Iran already knew what was required.<\/p>\n \u201cThey cannot have a nuclear weapon. Otherwise, there\u2019s no reason to meet,\u201d he said, adding that Tehran was welcome to reach out. \u201cYou know there is a telephone. We have nice, secure lines.\u201d<\/p>\n The latest diplomatic efforts are unfolding against a ticking clock.<\/p>\n Under the 1973 War Powers Resolution, Trump faces a May 1 deadline to obtain congressional authorisation to continue military operations against Iran, now in their ninth week. A fourth bipartisan Senate bid to invoke the resolution was defeated 52-47 on April 15. Republican lawmakers have largely backed Trump so far, but several have said that support will not extend beyond the 60-day window without formal congressional approval.<\/p>\n During the first of his two visits to Islamabad, Araghchi on Monday met Pakistan\u2019s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, and Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir.<\/p>\n He then travelled to Muscat, and returned to Pakistan on Sunday, meeting Munir again before departing for Moscow.<\/p>\n Araghchi said in a message on social media after his departure that Pakistan had \u201cplayed an important role in mediating negotiations between Iran and the United States recently\u201d, adding that \u201cincorrect approaches and excessive demands of the United States\u201d had prevented the previous round of talks from achieving its objectives despite \u201csome progress\u201d.<\/p>\n Senior Pakistani officials familiar with the discussions said Islamabad would continue its efforts as an honest facilitator.<\/p>\n Iranian state media, however, struck a firmer tone.<\/p>\n The Fars News Agency, close to Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), said Araghchi had relayed messages through Pakistan outlining Tehran\u2019s red lines on nuclear issues and the Strait of Hormuz. These, it said, were \u201can initiative by Iran to clarify the regional situation\u201d.<\/p>\n Aizaz Chaudhry, a former Pakistani foreign minister, said the conduct of the talks had been notable in itself.<\/p>\n \u201cI have seen a commendable display of confidentiality. This is a disciplined and professional method to conduct these talks,\u201d he told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n Beyond visits to Pakistan, Oman and Russia, Araghchi held telephone calls with the foreign ministers of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and France over the past three days.<\/p>\n Qatar\u2019s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani spoke directly with Araghchi, warning that sea lanes must not become \u201ca bargaining chip or pressure tactic\u201d.<\/p>\n Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud was briefed on \u201cdevelopments related to the ceasefire\u201d. Egypt\u2019s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty spoke with both his Qatari and Iranian counterparts. France\u2019s Jean-Noel Barrot insisted that Europe had played a \u201cconstructive role\u201d in the crisis.<\/p>\n After the meeting in Muscat, Oman\u2019s Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi called for \u201cpractical solutions to ensure lasting freedom of navigation\u201d.<\/p>\n Dania Thafer, executive director of the Gulf International Forum, said the flurry of calls pointed to cautious engagement rather than strategic realignment.<\/p>\n \u201cAlthough Iranian leadership did not physically visit Qatar or Saudi Arabia, there were phone calls, and that indicates a willingness to maintain contact without a full diplomatic embrace,\u201d she told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n Prior to the fragile ceasefire currently in place, Iran had fired a daily barrage of missiles and drones at Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other Gulf countries, angering them. Still, Qatar, Oman and Saudi Arabia have indicated a desire to pursue diplomacy over retaliation \u2013 if Iran commits to not attacking them again.<\/p>\n At the same time, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has effectively choked a bulk of their energy exports.<\/p>\n \u201cAmong regional players, the most emphasised topic by far is the Strait of Hormuz and maritime security,\u201d said Thafer.<\/p>\n Reza Afzal, an Iranian journalist and political analyst, said the Gulf states\u2019 posture had shifted since 2015.<\/p>\n \u201cCountries that had opposed the nuclear deal [JCPOA] at the time now understand that a guaranteed agreement with Iran served their interests, particularly after Iranian military actions during the war highlighted the costs of sustained hostility,\u201d he told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n Chaudhry, the former Pakistani diplomat, said the current conversations extended beyond any single issue.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is not just necessarily about nuclear issues, but mainly about how this war will eventually end and what happens after that, what security architecture we can expect. These are the conversations everybody is having,\u201d he told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s ambassador to Russia, Kazem Jalali, confirmed Araghchi\u2019s Moscow visit would cover \u201cthe latest status of negotiations, the ceasefire and surrounding developments\u201d.<\/p>\n Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has spoken with Putin three times since the war began. Jalali described the trip in ideological terms, positioning Iran and Russia as standing in a \u201cunited front\u201d against what he called \u201cthe world\u2019s totalitarian forces\u201d.<\/p>\n Taimur Khan, a research associate at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad, said Russia brought three key assets, from Iran\u2019s perspective: a long-standing strategic relationship with Tehran, a veto on the United Nations Security Council, and a technical role in the original nuclear deal.<\/p>\n \u201cMoscow cannot guarantee US sanctions relief, nor can it substitute for direct US-Iran understandings. Its value is more as a diplomatic stabiliser, technical facilitator and geopolitical counterweight,\u201d Khan told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n Tehran-based analyst Javad Heiran-Nia said the Moscow visit also appeared to address more specific concerns alongside the broader diplomacy.<\/p>\n \u201cThe trip was likely linked to questions around Iran\u2019s enriched uranium stockpiles and military cooperation between Tehran and Moscow,\u201d the analyst said. Russia has offered to take over Iran\u2019s enriched uranium.<\/p>\n Behind Araghchi\u2019s outreach lies a structural lesson that analysts say Tehran has drawn from the collapse of the 2015 nuclear deal.<\/p>\n When Trump withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) during his first term in 2018, Iran was left without regional backing and without a guarantor capable of holding Washington to its commitments.<\/p>\n Khan said Tehran had drawn lessons from that experience.<\/p>\n \u201cEuropean states, who were part of the JCPOA negotiations, also cannot be reliably depended upon in times of crisis,\u201d he said. \u201cFM Araghchi\u2019s outreach appears to be part of a hedging strategy to build diplomatic insulation, reassure neighbours, and create a wider constituency against escalation.\u201d<\/p>\n Jauhar Saleem, a former ambassador and president of the Institute of Regional Studies in Islamabad, said Iran\u2019s calculation was also tactical.<\/p>\n \u201cIdeally, Iran would not want a deal vulnerable to the US election cycle,\u201d he told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n Tehran, he said, appeared to be playing a longer game. \u201cThis strategy also fits well with Iran\u2019s waiting game tactic in the face of what they perceive as US desperation for a quick exit.\u201d<\/p>\n Heiran-Nia offered a contrasting historical perspective. Unlike during the original negotiations, he said, Gulf Arab states had supported diplomacy even before the 12-day war in 2025.<\/p>\n \u201cEven at the time of the JCPOA\u2019s conclusion, the Gulf Arabs, especially Saudi Arabia, had shown serious opposition,\u201d he told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n Mehran Kamrava, professor of government at Georgetown University in Qatar, said the current outreach should be seen as part of a longer trajectory of Iranian relationship-building with Gulf states in recent years.<\/p>\n To be sure, Iran\u2019s outreach only matters if the US agrees to a deal, analysts point out.<\/p>\n Trump cancelled a planned Islamabad visit by envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner on Saturday, saying Iran had \u201coffered a lot, but not enough\u201d.<\/p>\n He also said China could \u201chelp a lot more\u201d on Iran. Trump is scheduled to meet President Xi Jinping in Beijing on May 14-15.<\/p>\n Thafer said a broader accommodation remained distant.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat Iran is asking for goes well beyond a deal on the strait. It is asking for full regional realignment, and that is something the Gulf states are unwilling to offer, particularly after these attacks,\u201d she told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n Afzal, the journalist, said the domestic Iranian dimension on Hormuz was often underestimated. Public opinion inside Iran, he said, opposed any reopening of the strait without tangible concessions. \u201cTehran would continue to use the strait as leverage until Washington agreed to compromise,\u201d he told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n Several deadlines are now converging: the May 1 War Powers threshold, Trump\u2019s China visit, and the approaching Hajj season.<\/p>\n With millions of pilgrims expected in Saudi Arabia in late May, Riyadh\u2019s diplomatic and logistical bandwidth will be constrained, making any escalation during that period particularly costly for a Gulf state that is both a key interlocutor and the custodian of Islam\u2019s holiest sites.<\/p>\n Senior Pakistani officials said that Islamabad remained ready to host another round of formal talks, but that substantive negotiations were likely to continue out of public view, with visible engagement reserved for when a deal is within reach.<\/p>\n \u201cThey [the Gulf countries] are in a tight corner and may have to walk a tightrope, both strategically and diplomatically,\u201d Saleem told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Islamabad, Pakistan \u2013 Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has discussed with regional interlocutors a proposal aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz but deferring talks with the US on Tehran\u2019s nuclear programme for later, during a 72-hour diplomatic sprint across three countries seemingly aimed at securing a broader buy-in for the plan. Araghchi on Monday […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20339,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20533"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20533\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n
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