US-Iran talks face uncertainty as blockade expands and tensions persist across Middle East

[0:00] the white house has announced plans to send a delegation to islamabad for talks with iran's [0:05] foreign minister this weekend the meetings are expected to be exploratory in nature [0:10] with president trump dispatching two of his close advisors to lead the discussions [0:15] it comes shortly after u.s defense secretary pete hegseth confirmed the u.s blockade of the [0:21] strait of hormuz was being expanded to target iranian linked ships in any ocean mike hannah [0:28] reports from washington dc another day into this extended ceasefire and finally it appears there [0:36] is movement on the u.s side the president has decided to dispatch special envoy whitkoff and [0:43] jared kushner back to islamabad the iranians want to talk they want to talk in person and so the [0:49] president is as i've said many many times to all of you always willing to give diplomacy a chance so [0:54] steve and jared will be heading to pakistan tomorrow to hear the iranians out we hope progress will be [1:00] made and we hope that positive developments will come from this meeting earlier the defense [1:05] secretary said there had been an intensification of the blockade of iranian ports and vessels [1:11] he confirmed a third aircraft carrier group had been sent to the region [1:15] the first time three carriers have been in the same theater of operation in 23 years [1:20] he also said the action against iranian linked shipping had gone in his words global just this [1:27] week we seized two iranian dark fleet ships in the indo-pacific region that had left iranian ports [1:34] before the blockade went into effect they thought they'd made it out just in time they did not we [1:41] seized their sanctioned ships and we will seize more our blockade is growing and going global we're [1:51] enforcing the blockade across the board against any ship of any nationality that is transiting to or from [1:58] an iranian port or territory we're closely tracking vessels of interest headed towards iran and those [2:06] moving away from iran that were outside the blockade area these talks in islamabad will be slightly [2:13] different from the last failed session in the pakistan capital then the u.s delegation was led by [2:20] the vice president this time jd vance will remain in washington but the white house says that he and the [2:26] secretary of state marco rubio will travel to islamabad and join the talks should the invoice [2:33] report movement to a more substantive rather than exploratory position mike hannah al jazeera at the [2:41] white house all right let's go live to tehran and the white house where we begin now with our chief [2:46] u.s correspondent alan fisher alan uh steve wickhoff and jared cushan are being sent back to islamabad what [2:52] more do we know well i think the key phrase from caroline levitt was we want to hear the iranians [2:59] out the white house say that the iranians approach the united states that they have something [3:04] substantive to discuss and so the americans want to hear exactly what may well be on the table [3:10] the fact that jd vance isn't going suggests that these are just exploratory talks and if there is [3:15] something significant substantive there then he and the secretary of state marco rubio will head [3:21] towards alamabad and try and tie up a final deal but of course there are many areas of dispute between [3:28] the two countries not least three you can think of off the top of your head first of all donald trump [3:33] has often said iran cannot get a nuclear weapon not now not ever there is the question over who runs [3:40] the strait of hormuz and whether or not it can ever be closed by the iranians again in the future [3:46] and then there is something that's important to the united states they say it's important to their [3:50] allies in the region and that is iran's support for proxies around the area so those things have [3:56] to be discussed and have to be sorted out before there can be any sort of deal but of course if there's [4:02] going to be a deal and donald trump says he's wanting the right deal the correct deal a proper deal [4:08] rather than one that's rushed into then they have to start talking somewhere and it seems like [4:13] islamabad this weekend is the place to start what is interesting that in the last couple of hours here [4:19] in washington dc a fairly senior republican roger wicker he is the chairman of the senate armed services [4:25] committee so quite a big deal he says the time for negotiation is done effectively you cannot trust [4:31] any deal that the ayatollah or his successors will make and they should restart the bombing campaign [4:38] right now donald trump isn't quite ready to do that he's willing to give some time to the [4:42] discussions but clearly his patience will not last forever and there has to be something significant [4:48] on the table if jd vance is to fly to islamabad and there's to be an end to this war all right we [4:54] watch and see alan fisher chief u.s correspondent joining us from the white house thank you we'll be [5:00] live to tehran in a moment but first let's get the view from islamabad where the iranian delegation [5:05] led by foreign minister abbas urachi has landed osama bin jived is in the pakistani capital following [5:11] developments abbas urachi was welcomed by the pakistani foreign minister as well as the pakistani [5:18] chief of defense forces uh field marshal asim manir uh there have been a number of phone calls ahead of [5:24] the visit between the iranians and the pakistanis including both civilian and the military leadership in [5:30] this conversations that we've had with a number of sources cautious optimism is the word we keep hearing [5:35] uh from pakistani sources who say that just the fact that they are coming back to islamabad [5:42] is an indication that there is some movement although the positions remain pulled apart [5:48] there is still the blockade of the strait of humus by the united states in place which according to [5:52] iranians is not acceptable the iranians previously indicated they do not want to negotiate with steve [5:58] whitkoff and jared kushner who according to them were not very fruitful negotiators when they met them [6:05] in geneva but it appears that there is some melting of the ice there is a thaw that the pakistanis have [6:11] been able to bring in and they're hopeful that this will result in something now the clarity with [6:16] which you've been hearing uh the u.s government say that they are coming in for face-to-face talks we [6:20] have not heard yet uh from the pakistanis or the iranians so it will be a wait and see game again on how [6:26] much agreement there is what are the points that they're willing uh to agree to let go and what are [6:32] the red lines that they're not willing to compromise on i asked the pakistani information minister and [6:38] about the hope that he has for a possible second round and he said well because all lines of [6:43] communication are open because no site has rejected the pakistani offer for a second round there is [6:49] still hope and not just of a second round but pakistanis want to use this opportunity for lasting peace [6:55] in the region osama bin javed al-azira islamabad iran's foreign ministry affairs spokesperson ismail [7:03] bagai has taken to x to say we arrive in islamabad pakistan for an official visit foreign minister [7:10] irachi will be meeting with pakistani high-level officials in concert with their ongoing mediation [7:17] and good offices for ending an american-imposed war of aggression and the restitution of peace in our [7:23] region no meeting is planned to take place between iran and the united states iran's observations would [7:30] be conveyed to pakistan well al-migdad al-ruhaid's live for us in tehran now and al-migdad what does [7:36] this tell us about tehran's willingness to further talks with the view of reaching a peace deal yeah let [7:44] me start by this latest statement from ismail bagai who is a spokesperson for the foreign ministry he made it [7:51] clear and ruled out any kind of his expectations of next round of talks at least for now and instead [8:00] he made it clear that there is no bland meetings with the united states at the moment instead the [8:07] position of iran's and tehran here will be conveyed through pakistan the positions definitely have been [8:16] made it clearly in the past few days in a unified message that what we could describe by the position [8:25] here in in tehran same in position same in their stance over the past few days they will negotiate [8:33] under they will not negotiate under pressure they will not negotiate under this blockade by the united [8:40] state over the state over the strait of hormus and also they will gun they will not negotiate uh uh [8:46] under threat under the rhetoric threat uh imposed by the uh president trump this what we have been [8:52] hearing in the past few days uh especially from mazoud bizashkian who is the president of the uh islamic [8:58] republic of iran uh at the same time we are seeing a diploma a diplomatic effort uh being uh uh forward being [9:07] moving forward by the isma by the foreign minister abbas arakji he's right now is in islamabad speaking [9:14] that this uh he's focused on uh coordination with his neighbors and he's uh he's he will be landed uh [9:21] hours hours uh ahead in moscow and oman as he described as a coordination with his neighbor [9:28] and not for a direct talk with a united state in islam uh abad uh instead they are linking any direct [9:36] talk uh as uh by the same conditions and and and and and conditions that will be must be met [9:44] imposed especially in imposed the blockade over the strait of hormus and also they are [9:52] leaving the the door open for diplomacy at least for this at this moment al-migdad al-ruhay joining us [9:58] live from tehran thank you the emir of qatar sheikh tamim bin hamad al-thani has received a phone call [10:06] from u.s president donald trump on friday the emir stressed the need to de-escalate tensions in the [10:12] region and support peaceful solutions the two leaders reviewed the latest regional developments [10:18] the ceasefire agreement between the u.s and iran they also discussed the repercussions of the [10:24] situation on maritime security and global supply chains senator is a senior fellow at the center for [10:31] international policy where his work focuses on u.s iran relations he says the uncertainty [10:36] surrounding the talks reflects the deep mistrust between tehran and washington both sides have [10:43] a lot of political pressure on them and managing the political pressure is itself a challenge so [10:52] neither side wants to be seen that it is caving into pressure that it is coming into these position [10:57] these talks from a position of weakness arguably the iranians have a bigger burden in this regard [11:05] because they were in the middle of negotiations twice with the united states when the united states [11:09] launched uh united states and israel launched surprise military attacks against them and especially [11:17] whitkoff and jared kushner being the envoys that are now reportedly being dispatched iran has a [11:23] very bad experience with jared kushner and steve whitkoff that they are the ones who iran was in the [11:28] middle of negotiations with last june when israel attacked iran was in the middle of negotiations [11:32] with in february when they attacked so they had previously made clear that they did not want to [11:38] negotiate with them and trump dispatched jd vance which marked the first kind of uh negotiations at the [11:44] vice presidential level between the u.s and iran and since the 1979 irani revolution so this time [11:50] you know if jd vance or if whitkoff and kushner are going it seems you know the iranians are saying [11:56] they're not going to negotiate and i think if it's them it's probably more likely that they will not [12:01] meet directly publicly at least