Iran says it won’t accept ‘maximalist demands’ as Islamabad hosts peace push

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi laid out Iran’s demands and its reservations about U.S. positions on Saturday as Pakistan made a new push to end a war that has killed thousands and shaken global energy markets.

After holding talks with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and other top officials, Araqchi and his delegation flew out of Pakistan’s capital Islamabad with a military jet escort, government sources said. Details of the talks were scant.

The White House had earlier said President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner would travel to Islamabad on Saturday.

It was not immediately clear if or when Araqchi would return to Pakistan. Iran has previously ruled out a new round of direct talks with the United States.

Washington and Tehran are at an impasse as Iran has largely closed the Strait of Hormuz, which normally carries one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipments, while the U.S. blocks Iran’s oil exports.

IRAN SETS OUT ITS ‘PRINCIPLED POSITIONS’

The conflict, in which a ceasefire is now in force, began with U.S.-Israeli airstrikes on Iran on February 28. Iran has since carried out strikes against Israel, U.S. bases and Gulf states, and the war has pushed up energy prices to multi-year highs, stoking inflation and darkening global growth prospects.

Araqchi “explained our country’s principled positions regarding the latest developments related to the ceasefire and the complete end of the imposed war against Iran”, said a statement on the minister’s official Telegram account.

Asked about Tehran’s reservations about U.S. positions in the talks, an Iranian diplomatic source in Islamabad told Reuters: “Principally, Iranian side will not accept maximalist demands.”

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had earlier told reporters that Iran had a chance to make a “good deal”.

“Iran knows that they still have an open window to choose wisely,” he said. “All they have to do is abandon a nuclear weapon in meaningful and verifiable ways.”

Araqchi arrived in Islamabad on Friday. But an Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson posted on X that Iranian officials did not plan to meet U.S. representatives and that Tehran’s concerns would be conveyed to mediator Pakistan.

Trump told Reuters on Friday that Iran planned to make an offer aimed at satisfying U.S. demands but that he did not know what the offer entailed. He declined to say who Washington was negotiating with, “but we’re dealing with the people that are in charge now”.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the U.S. had seen some progress from the Iranian side in recent days and hoped more would come this weekend, while Vice President JD Vance was ready to travel to Pakistan as well.

CEASEFIRES IN PLACE, FEW SHIPS CROSSING HORMUZ

Days after Trump extended the ceasefire, international flights resumed from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport on Saturday, Iranian media said. The first passengers had departed for Medina, in Saudi Arabia, Muscat and Istanbul, with operations expected to accelerate in the coming days.

“Well, it’s a good feeling. When flights resume, trade is done, and people can do their jobs. It’s a good feeling,” said one passenger at the airport, where passengers were queuing at check-in desks.

Iranian airspace has been largely closed since the start of the war. Tens of thousands of flights have been cancelled, rerouted and rescheduled worldwide, shutting much of ​the Middle East’s airspace because of missile and drone threats.

Trump unilaterally extended a two-week ceasefire on Tuesday to allow more time to reconvene the negotiators.

Oil prices surged this week, with Brent crude futures soaring 16%, on uncertainty over the fate of the peace talks and as violence flared in the region.

Shipping data on Friday showed that five ships had crossed the Strait of Hormuz in the previous 24 hours, compared to around 130 a day before the war. The ships included an Iranian oil-products tanker but none of the vast crude-carrying supertankers that normally feed global energy markets.

Data analytics firm Vortexa said this week it had recorded 35 total transits through the U.S. blockade from April 13 to 22, involving Iran-linked or sanctioned vessels for inbound and outbound journeys.

“The enemy, whose objective of crippling Iran’s missile and military capabilities has failed, is now seeking an honorable exit from the quagmire of war,” Iranian media quoted a defence ministry spokesperson as saying. “Iran is today in firm control of the Strait of Hormuz.”

Iranian state TV quoted the country’s top military command as reiterating that Iran would react if U.S. forces continued their “blockade and piracy” in the region.

On Thursday, Israel and Lebanon extended their ceasefire for three weeks at a White House meeting brokered by Trump, but there was little sign of an end to the fighting in southern Lebanon.

Israel invaded its northern neighbour last month to root out Iran’s Hezbollah allies after the militant group fired across the border in support of Iran. Tehran says a ceasefire there is a precondition for talks.

Four people were killed in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon on Saturday, Lebanon’s state news agency reported, and Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel, the Israeli military said, in the latest challenge to the ceasefire there.