Trump to hold talks on Iran with security team: US media

WASHINGTON (AFP): US President Donald Trump will hold talks on the Iran war on Monday with his top security advisors, US media reported, as negotiations between the rival parties seemed to reach an impasse.

Tehran’s top diplomat blamed Washington on Monday for the failure of talks in Pakistan this month – the first and only round of negotiations in a bid to strike a deal to end the conflict that has engulfed the Middle East and strangled the global economy.

Barak Ravid, global affairs correspondent for US media outlet Axios, reported that Trump was expected to hold a meeting with his top national security and foreign policy team on Monday to discuss the next steps.

ABC News quoted two unidentified US officials as saying that Trump would meet with his key security advisors on Iran, adding that a new deal proposed by Tehran to resolve the conflict fell short of Washington’s red lines.

That deal centred on reopening the Strait of Hormuz and ending a US naval blockade of the vital waterway, with nuclear negotiations postponed for a later stage, Axios reported.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi’s visit to Islamabad had fanned hopes for fresh negotiations with Washington at the weekend until Trump scrapped a planned trip by envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.

Trump told Fox News after calling off his emissaries’ trip that, if Iran wanted talks, “they can come to us, or they can call us.”