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The president Donald Trump announced this Sunday on his social network Truth Social that his representatives are heading to Islamabad, Pakistan, to resume negotiations with Iran this Monday night, amidst escalating tensions that threaten to collapse the fragile ceasefire in place.
The announcement comes a day after Trump accused Iran of having fired in the Strait of Hormuz at a French ship and a British freighter, describing the incident as "a complete violation of our ceasefire agreement."
Trump sternly warned of the consequences of a diplomatic failure: "We are offering a very fair and reasonable deal, and I hope they accept it because if they don't, the United States will destroy every power plant and every bridge in Iran. The time of being the nice guy is over!"
The leader also noted that the closure of the Strait of Hormuz announced by Tehran is irrelevant to Washington, given that the United States has already imposed its own naval blockade since April 13.
"Iran recently announced that it was closing the Strait, which is strange because our blockade has already closed it. They are helping us unknowingly, and they are the ones losing with the closure: 500 million dollars a day. The United States is not losing anything," Trump wrote.
The president added that numerous ships are currently heading to ports in Texas, Louisiana, and Alaska to load fuel, and he attributed this situation to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which, he said, always wants to "play tough."
Trump closed his message with a historic threat: "If you do not accept the agreement, it will be an honor for me to do what needs to be done, something that other presidents should have done with Iran in the last 47 years. It is time for the Iranian killing machine to come to an end!"
This second round of negotiations comes after the failure of the first, held in Islamabad from April 10 to 12, during which both parties were unable to reach an agreement after 21 hours of direct talks.
On that occasion, the American delegation, led by Vice President JD Vance along with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, demanded the complete dismantling of the Iranian nuclear program and a twenty-year moratorium on uranium enrichment.
Iran, for its part, offered only a five-year pause and claimed 270 billion dollars in compensations, positions that turned out to be incompatible.
At the end of that round, Vance was emphatic: "The bad news is that we haven't reached an agreement, and I think that's bad news for Iran much more than for the United States."
The ceasefire that brought an end to Operation Epic Fury —a joint military campaign by the United States and Israel that began in late February and destroyed over 5,000 Iranian military targets, including nuclear facilities in Natanz, Isfahan, and Fordow— was agreed upon on April 7 and 8, with a duration of two weeks, expiring approximately on April 22.
With the deadline about to expire and Tehran yet to confirm its participation in the new round, the negotiations this Monday in Islamabad appear to be the last opportunity to avoid a resumption of the conflict.
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