Pakistan and Qatar have dispatched envoys to Iran, officials and diplomats said on Friday, as mediators intensified efforts to prevent a monthlong cease-fire between Washington and Tehran from collapsing.
Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, who has played a central role in his country’s mediation efforts, led a delegation that landed in Tehran, Iran’s capital, on Friday evening, according to the Pakistani military. The high-profile visit appeared to signal that diplomatic efforts were picking up speed amid looming fears of a return to outright war.
It remained unclear, however, how far the United States and Iran were from any kind of agreement. A spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry, Esmaeil Baghaei, said on Friday that “deep and extensive” differences remained between the two sides.
“For now, our focus is on ending the war,” he said, according to IRNA, Iran’s state news agency. But, he cautioned, “diplomacy takes time.”
Similarly, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Friday that there had been “some progress” but that diplomats were “not there yet.”
“I hope we get there,” he added, speaking during a trip to Sweden. “The president would prefer to do a good deal.”
Negotiations between the United States and Iran have been deadlocked for weeks over Iran’s nuclear program and control of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical route for global shipments of oil and gas and one of the conflict’s central pressure points.
Qatar also sent a team of officials to Iran to help broker an agreement between Washington and Tehran, according to two diplomats with knowledge of the mediation efforts. It was unclear when the Qatari delegation traveled to Tehran. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive details.
The decision to dispatch the Qatari team, which was reported by Reuters, was made in coordination with the United States, the diplomats added. Qatar has previously played a key role as a back channel with Iranian officials, including helping to broker a cease-fire last year between Israel and Iran.
The shuttle diplomacy has unfolded under mounting pressure from President Trump, who said this week that he had postponed a “very major attack” against Iran after Gulf leaders asked for more time to pursue an agreement over Iran’s nuclear program.
U.S. officials have voiced cautious hope about the potential of a deal, but warned that diplomacy remained fragile. On Friday, Mr. Rubio said that U.S. officials were in “constant communication” with Field Marshal Munir, with Pakistan as the primary mediator in the talks.
He added that the “core pillars of any sort of agreement” included the issues of the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium.
Mr. Trump has vowed to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, and some of the discussions so far have revolved around whether Iran would agree to suspend enrichment or close nuclear facilities.
Mr. Baghaei, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman, said this week that Tehran had received Washington’s latest responses and was reviewing them. But he also said on Friday that the current talks were narrowly focused on ending the war.
“At this stage, there will be no discussion about issues related to nuclear topics,” he said. He added that the United States had made demands on that issue repeatedly, but that Iran had also held to its position.
“We have the right to peaceful use of nuclear energy,” he said, according to IRIB, Iran’s state broadcaster.
As Mr. Trump and his administration alternated between expressing optimism and threats, Iran appeared to be tightening its grip on the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has tried to blockade the waterway since the early days of the war, throttling maritime traffic and rattling global energy markets.
Iran has been in talks with Oman on a potential system to charge fees for vessels passing through the strait, an idea that would allow Tehran to maintain leverage over the waterway.
Mr. Rubio said on Thursday that any Iranian move to require vessels to pay tolls “would make a diplomatic deal unfeasible.”