The ceasefire talks between Iran and the US, scheduled to take place on Friday in Pakistan, have reportedly hit a roadblock. As Israel continues to bomb Lebanon, Iran has denied that its negotiating team has reached Islamabad for talks, according to reports.
Reports, citing Fars News Agency, claimed that Iran has “no plans to attend Islamabad peace talks with the US until Israel ceases hostilities in Lebanon and establishes a ceasefire.
Fars News quoted, “Until a ceasefire is established in Lebanon, Iran has no plan to participate in peace negotiations in Islamabad with the American side.”
Has The Iranian Delegation Arrived In Pakistan?
Reports say that the Iranian side responded to reports claiming that the delegation from Tehran had already arrived in Pakistan.
Fars News trashed a Wall Street Journal report that claimed an Iranian delegation was in Islamabad to negotiate with Washington.
“The Wall Street Journal claimed a few minutes ago in a news report that an Iranian delegation has entered Islamabad to start negotiations with Washington, which is false,” Fars News said.
Another state connected News agency – Tasnim News Agency – claimed that “negotiations are suspended.” It added that no negotiating team from Iran has arrived in Islamabad.
BREAKING: Iranian state media denies an Iranian delegation has arrived in Islamabad for Saturday’s talks, rejecting a Wall Street Journal report of their arrival and restating Iran has “no plans to attend peace talks with the American side until a ceasefire is established in…
— The Hormuz Letter (@HormuzLetter) April 9, 2026
“As long as the US doesn’t fulfill its commitment to the ceasefire in Lebanon and the Zionist regime continues its attacks, negotiations are suspended,” the news agency said.
NewsX, however, could not independently verify these claims. Most reports from the international press claim that the negotiating team has already reached Pakistan. Some experts say that Iranian semi-official news agencies denying the talks happening in Pakistan is aimed at distracting enemy countries, who can sabotage the talks by attacking the negotiators.
Is the Strait Of Hormuz Open Or Closed?
A fragile two-week ceasefire between the US and Iran showed further strain on Friday, a day before they are to negotiate in Pakistan, as Washington accused Tehran of breaching promises on the Strait of Hormuz and Israel struck Lebanon with attacks that Iran has claimed violate the truce.
There was no sign Iran was lifting its near-total blockade of the strait, which has caused the worst-ever disruption to global energy supplies. Tehran cited Israel’s ongoing attacks on Lebanon, which included the heaviest strikes of the war on Wednesday, as a key sticking point.
US President Donald Trump said in a social media post late Thursday that Iran was doing a “very poor job” of allowing oil to go through the strait. “That is not the agreement we have!”
In a separate post, he said oil would start flowing again, without saying what actions the US might take.
In the first 24 hours of the ceasefire, which Trump announced on Tuesday, just a single oil products tanker and five dry bulk carriers sailed through the strait, which typically carries a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas flows and 140 ships a day before the war.
Israel Continues To Bomb Lebanon
Israel’s military said early on Friday it had struck 10 launchers in Lebanon that fired rockets toward northern Israel on Thursday evening, and that Iran-allied armed group Hezbollah launched a missile at Israel, triggering air sirens.
The missile was intercepted, according to the Times of Israel. Hezbollah said it had targeted Israeli military infrastructure in the northern city of Haifa.
The US and Israel have said the latest ceasefire does not include Lebanon, which Israel invaded last month – in parallel with the war on Iran – to root out Hezbollah.
But Iran and Pakistan, which acted as mediator, say Lebanon was explicitly part of the deal. Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, expected to head the Iranian delegation opposite U.S. Vice President JD Vance, said on social media that Lebanon and the rest of Iran’s “axis” of regional allies were inseparable parts of any ceasefire.
In a defiant statement, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said on Thursday that Iran would exact retribution for the war.
“We will certainly not leave unpunished the criminal aggressors who attacked our country. We will undoubtedly demand compensation for every single damage inflicted,” he said in the statement.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Zubair Amin is a Senior Journalist at NewsX with over seven years of experience in reporting and editorial work. He has written for leading national and international publications, including Foreign Policy Magazine, Al Jazeera, The Economic Times, The Indian Express, The Wire, Article 14, Mongabay, News9, among others. His primary focus is on international affairs, with a strong interest in US politics and policy. He also writes on West Asia, Indian polity, and constitutional issues. Zubair tweets at zubaiyr.amin
