‘We’re more inclined to go there … you know why? Because the field marshal is doing a great job,’ he says
washington
United States President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Iran talks could resume in Pakistan over the next two days, according to an interview with the New York Post.
“You should stay there, really, because something could be happening over the next two days, and we’re more inclined to go there,” he said.
“It’s more likely, you know why? Because the field marshal is doing a great job,” he said, referring to Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of the Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir.
Continuing his praise for the military chief, Trump said: “He’s fantastic, and therefore it’s more likely that we go back there. Why should we go to some country that has nothing to do with it?”
Negotiating teams from the US and Iran could return to Islamabad this week to resume talks to end the war, sources earlier told Reuters on Tuesday, after the collapse of weekend negotiations prompted Washington to impose a blockade on Iranian ports.
While the US blockade drew angry rhetoric from Tehran, signs that diplomatic engagement might continue helped calm oil markets, pushing benchmark prices below $100 on Tuesday.
The highest-level talks between the two adversaries since the 1979 Islamic Revolution ended in Islamabad without a breakthrough at the weekend, raising doubts over the survival of a two-week ceasefire that still has a week to run.
But a source involved in the talks said on Tuesday both countries could return as early as the end of this week, and that a proposal had been shared with Washington and Tehran to resend their delegations. “No firm date has been set, with the delegations keeping Friday through Sunday open,” a senior Iranian source said.
A US official said there was continued engagement and forward motion on trying to get to an agreement. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also said efforts were still underway to resolve the conflict.
US President Donald Trump said Iran had been in touch on Monday and wanted to make a deal, adding that he would not sanction any agreement that allowed Tehran to possess a nuclear weapon.
