From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, April 21, 2026
Iranian media says Tehran will not attend Islamabad talks, citing ‘excessive demands’
Nava Freiberg is The Times of Israel's deputy diplomatic correspondent.
Iran has officially informed the US that it will not attend talks in Pakistan, believing they would be “a waste of time,” semi-official Iranian news agency Tasnim reports, citing Iranian sources.
“The Iranian negotiating team has informed the American side — through the Pakistani intermediary — that it will not be present in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Wednesday, and that there is currently no prospect of participating in negotiations either,” the Farsi language report reads.
The sources cite Washington’s “failure” to extend the two-week ceasefire to include Israeli fighting with Hezbollah in Lebanon, “excessive” American demands in the negotiations, and imposition of a naval blockade on the Strait of Hormuz as reasons for the decision.
“In messages exchanged over the past several days, the Americans did not back down from their excessive demands… and no meaningful progress was made in the exchanged messages. For this reason, Iran has ultimately announced today that, under these circumstances, attending the negotiations would be a waste of time,” the report reads.
The Times of Israel Community.