No headway in Middle East peace efforts as US and Iran refuse to yield

Hopes of a breakthrough in negotiations between Iran and the US faded further on Sunday, amid a deepening sense of deadlock in the nearly two-month-long conflict despite intense regional diplomatic activity. Washington and Tehran appear unwilling to moderate rhetoric or make concessions, and there are no negotiations scheduled that might bring the war to a definitive end. On Sunday, Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, returned to Pakistan for a second consecutive day of talks with mediators after a brief trip to Oman for discussions there. Araghchi described his Pakistan trip on Saturday as “very fruitful” but signalled scepticism over Washington’s intentions. “Have yet to see if the US is truly serious about diplomacy,” he said on X . On Saturday, Donald Trump announced that he had cancelled a visit to Pakistan by his envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. The two men were to take part in a second round of talks with Iran that had been tentatively scheduled for this weekend. Speaking in Florida, before being rushed out of the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington after a gunman fired shots at his security detail, Trump said the visit involved too much travel and expense for what he considered an inadequate Iranian offer. The cancellation came after Iran said it would not be attending any direct talks while the US blockaded all shipping to or from the Islamic Republic. …