President Donald Trump says American negotiators will return to Pakistan Monday night for negotiations after the Islamic state reversed course and closed the Strait of Hormuz and fired on Indian-flagged ships.
“A Total Violation of our Ceasefire Agreement!” Trump said in a post on Truth Social Sunday, adding that U.S. delegates will arrive in Islamabad on Monday for more negotiations.
In a call Sunday with MS NOW’s Jacqueline Alemany, co-anchor of “The Weekend,” Trump said the U.S. delegation will include his special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law. He said Vice President JD Vance would not join this round of negotiations for security reasons after leading their delegation last week.
But two senior U.S.officials later told MS NOW that Vance will, in fact, lead the delegation to Islamabad on Monday evening to start a second round of peace talks in hopes of ending the war. In response to a request for comment from MS NOW about what changed, the White House did not offer further clarification.
Trump again on Sunday threatened to destroy Iranian civilian infrastructure if Iran doesn’t reach a deal — with the two-week ceasefire set to expire this week and the strait remains shut to Western shipping.
“We’re offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL, and I hope they take it because, if they don’t, the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran,” Trump said in his Truth Social post. “NO MORE MR. NICE GUY!”
Iran did not immediately reply to Trump’s fresh threats or comment on negotiations. But a senior Iranian official told The Associated Press over the weekend that Iran was not ready to hold new face-to-face talks with U.S. officials and that the country would not hand over its enriched uranium to the United States.
On Saturday, Iranian officials said no ships would be allowed to pass through the strait, through which 20% of the world’s oil flows, as long as the U.S. military blockade remained in effect.
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Trump’s announcement that U.S. negotiators are heading back to the Middle East and his renewed threats to destroy Iranian infrastructure come after a chaotic back-and-forth between Washington and Tehran over the weekend. Iran had announced the strait would reopen after Israel and the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon reached a 10-day truce. Iran reversed course after Trump said the U.S. blockade would “remain in full force.”
The U.S. and Iran continue to clash on several key issues. Trump reiterated in his call with MS NOW on Sunday that Iran “cannot have a nuclear weapon, and they’ve agreed to that.”
The U.S. has demanded Iran completely stop its uranium enrichment, proposing in recent negotiations that it suspends all nuclear activity for 20 years. Iran rejected it, underscoring its right to enrichment. Iran has called on the U.S. to lift its crippling sanctions.
Akayla Gardner contributed to this report.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
Erum Salam is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW, with a focus on how global events and foreign policy shape U.S. politics. She previously was a breaking news reporter for The Guardian.