{"id":208380,"date":"2026-04-21T04:41:27","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T04:41:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/us-iran-negotiations-on-shaky-ground-days-before-ceasefire-expires-usa-today\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T04:41:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T04:41:27","slug":"us-iran-negotiations-on-shaky-ground-days-before-ceasefire-expires-usa-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/us-iran-negotiations-on-shaky-ground-days-before-ceasefire-expires-usa-today\/","title":{"rendered":"US-Iran negotiations on shaky ground days before ceasefire expires – USA Today"},"content":{"rendered":"

The U.S.-Iran ceasefire deal is days away from expiring and it remains unclear whether the two sides will meet before then to continue negotiations.\u00a0
Vice President JD Vance<\/a> will reportedly<\/a> head to Pakistan for peace talks on Tuesday, a day before the ceasefire expires on Wednesday. The White House has not confirmed when negotiations are supposed to happen, though President Donald Trump<\/a> said on Monday afternoon that his team will strike a deal “relatively quickly.” At the same time, he said he is “under no pressure” to make a deal and would not be rushed into one.\u00a0
“I\u2019m not going to let them rush the United States into making a Deal that is not as good as it could have been,” Trump said in the Truth Social post.<\/a> “I read the Fake News saying that I am under ‘pressure’ to make a Deal. THIS IS NOT TRUE! I am under no pressure whatsoever, although, it will all happen, relatively quickly!”\u00a0
Meanwhile, Iranian leaders are bristling<\/a> at the conditions for talks set by the Trump administration.
“Trump<\/a>, by imposing a siege and violating the ceasefire, seeks to turn this negotiating table \u2212 in his own imagination \u2212 into a table of surrender or to justify renewed warmongering,” Mohammad B. Ghalibaf, Iran\u2019s speaker of Parliament, said in a statement Monday afternoon<\/a>, in an apparent reference to the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports that saw U.S. forces seize an Iranian cargo ship.\u00a0
Ghalibaf hinted Iran would be ready to return to military action if the ceasefire is not extended.\u00a0
“We do not accept negotiations under the shadow of threats, and in the past two weeks, we have prepared to reveal new cards on the battlefield,” Ghalibaf said.
Michael Loria
Another U.S. carrier strike group appears headed for the Middle East as the United States continues its naval blockade of Iranian ports.
The U.S. Naval Institute, a nonprofit that covers the Navy, reported the USS George H.W. Bush was located in the southern Indian Ocean<\/a> off the coast of Madagascar.\u00a0
Updated reporting on the group\u2019s location comes about a week after the Naval Institute reported the carrier group was headed to the Middle East to assist in the blockade.\u00a0
The institute reported the Navy vessels opted to go around Africa rather than take typical routes through the Mediterranean and Red seas to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait off the coast of Yemen, where Iran-backed Houthis are active.\u00a0
Pentagon officials declined to comment on the carrier group\u2019s earlier reported movements. USA TODAY has reached out for comment following the Naval Institute update on the group\u2019s location.\u00a0
Also located in the area are the USS Gerald R. Ford, in the Red Sea near the Suez Canal, and the USS Abraham Lincoln and the Tripoli Amphibious Ready Group in the Arabian Sea, according to the Naval Institute.
Michael Loria
U.S. Rep. Yassamin Ansari, D-AZ, is demanding answers from Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth over strikes on civilians in Iran that have killed around 1,700 people, including some 250 children.
“The administration\u2019s threats and actions have moreover damaged our credibility and standing globally, undermining the moral clarity it has historically sought to project,” Ansari said in an open letter to Hegseth<\/a>. “How does the Department plan to take accountability, including through amends for victims, for the widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure resulting from its operations, particularly in light of credible reports of extensive damage to residential homes and the loss of civilian life?”
The Arizona Democrat born to Iranian parents fleeing the Islamic Revolution cited data compiled by the Human Rights Activists News Agency, a group that monitors human rights violations in Iran.\u00a0
Among instances of civilian killings, Ansari cited the strike on a school at the outset of the war that left 168 children dead<\/a> and noted there were at least 12 incidents of strikes that killed over 10 civilians in a single attack. Civilian sites hit by strikes include UNESCO World Heritage Sites, places of worship, desalination plants and apartment buildings, according to the letter.
Over the course of the war, the Human Rights Activists agency has recorded 1,701 civilian deaths and there are 700 deaths under review.
The Pentagon declined to comment to USA TODAY, but said it plans to “respond directly” to the letter’s authors.
Michael Loria
President Donald Trump said “thank you very much” to Iranian leaders Monday afternoon, saying they have “forced” oil tankers to come to the United States for oil.\u00a0
“The Iranian leadership has forced hundreds of Ships toward the United States, mostly Texas, Louisiana, and Alaska, to get their Oil,” the president said. “Thank you very much!”
U.S. Energy Information Administration data<\/a> shows the country\u2019s net exports for the week of April 10 were over 6,000 barrels, up from about 3,300 on Feb. 27, the day before Trump and ally Israel launched the war.
“What this means is that U.S. oil companies and refiners are doing financially well. However, this likely translates to elevated costs for U.S. customers in the long run,” Ramanan Krishnamoorti, an oil energy expert and professor of petroleum engineering at the University of Houston, told USA TODAY. “So no relief for the weary, even when the war ends.”
Among sites seeing increasing tanker traffic are Corpus Christi, Texas, and the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, said Krishnamoorti, adding many of the tankers are coming from Japan and Korea through the Panama Canal. East Asia has long relied on oil from the Middle East and has been hit hard by the war.
Michael Loria
The United Arab Emirates, the Gulf state located off the Strait of Hormuz, has faced the greatest number of strikes from Iranian missiles and drones, the country said<\/a>.
Citing data from the Gulf Research Center, the country\u2019s embassy in the United States said the Emirates had faced 2,819 attacks from Iran. That\u2019s more than twice as many fired at Israel with 1,357.
Military bases located in the Emirates serve as critical hubs for foreign troops. Al Dhafra Air Base outside Dubai is a key juncture for U.S. Central Command.
The Gulf Research Center, a think tank based in Saudi Arabia, could not be reached for comment.
Michael Loria
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad B. Ghalibaf, one of the country\u2019s top negotiators, blasted President Trump for attempting to turn the negotiating table “into a table of surrender.”
“Trump, by imposing a siege and violating the ceasefire, seeks to turn this negotiating table \u2014 in his own imagination \u2014 into a table of surrender or to justify renewed warmongering,” Ghalibaf said in a statement Monday afternoon<\/a>.
The parliament speaker added Iran was ready to retaliate militarily if the ceasefire is not extended.
“We do not accept negotiations under the shadow of threats, and in the past two weeks, we have prepared to reveal new cards on the battlefield,” said Ghalibaf, who was one of Iran’s top officials present for earlier talks with U.S. officials in Pakistan.\u00a0
Bart Jansen
The Pentagon updated the number of servicemembers wounded in the war on Iran to 415<\/a>.
The total includes 271 from the Army, 63 from the Navy, 62 from the Air Force and 19 from the Marines.
More than half the wounded \u2013 212 \u2013 were servicemembers on active duty, 121 reserves and 82 National Guard members. The previously reported number of deaths in the war remained at 13<\/a>.
Michael Loria
Over 60 people were arrested on Capitol Hill at an anti-Iran war protest<\/a> hosted by a group of veterans on Monday.
“We are veterans and military families, demanding an end to the war on Iran,” a group member declared<\/a> while standing before some 130 people in military fatigues inside the Cannon House Office Building rotunda. “We demand that Congress not authorize one cent more to this war. We demand that Donald Trump bring back all U.S. military personnel and stop these illegal and immoral attacks on the Iranian people.”
The protest was hosted by About Face: Veterans Against the War, a veterans organization that formed in the wake of the Iraq war. Throughout Trump\u2019s second administration, the group has been calling on veterans to ignore illegal orders from the White House, including deploying to U.S. cities<\/a> to help with immigration enforcement.
United States Capitol Police said 66 people were arrested in connection with the demonstration for “illegally protesting inside the Cannon House Office Building.”
“Demonstrations are not allowed inside Congressional Buildings, so when they started to protest and refused to stop, we began arresting them,” Capitol Police said in a statement, adding the group entered the building legally.
Kathryn Palmer
U.S. Central Command said in a post to X<\/a> that U.S. forces have directed 27 vessels to turn around or return to an Iranian port since the blockade in the Strait of Hormuz began last week.
The U.S.-led blockade, which began April 13, applies to all maritime traffic at Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz. The area amounts to 21,000 square miles along the Iranian coastline \u2212 a space roughly 87% the size of West Virginia \u2212 according to a calculation by USA TODAY<\/a>, based on a 12 nautical mile stretch of territorial water.
Kathryn Palmer
President Donald Trump on Monday afternoon said he is “under no pressure” to make a deal to end the joint U.S.-Israeli war with Iran as he criticized Democrats for belittling the Trump administration’s accomplishments on the war.
The president accused Democrats, who have largely opposed the war in Congress, of “doing everything possible to hurt the very strong position we are in with respect to Iran.”
“I\u2019m not going to let them rush the United States into making a Deal that is not as good as it could have been,” Trump said in the Truth Social post.<\/a> “I read the Fake News saying that I am under \u201cpressure\u201d to make a Deal. THIS IS NOT TRUE! I am under no pressure whatsoever, although, it will all happen, relatively quickly!”
In a previous post<\/a>, Trump wrote the United States will form a deal that will be “far better” than the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). That deal, signed by former President Barack Obama, lifted international sanctions on Iran in exchange for Tehran placing limits on its nuclear program. Trump pulled out of the nuclear deal during his first term in 2018.
Kathryn Palmer
Vice President JD Vance is expected to head to Islamabad, Pakistan for a second round of peace talks with Iran on Tuesday, according to reports from The New York Times<\/a> and CNN.
It’s a day later than what President Donald Trump announced over the weekend, adding to a day of mixed messages and uncertainty over details of the negotiations. It remains unclear whether Iran will participate in the discussions. USA TODAY has reached out to the White House for comment.
The White House told CNN there is no formal word on timing, telling the outlet: \u201cWe expect the delegation to be on the road soon but unclear when.\u201d
Kathryn Palmer
Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian took to social media to criticize the Trump administration’s handling of possible peace negotiations this week, though did not expressly confirm or deny whether Iran will attend the talks.
“Honoring commitments is the basis of meaningful dialogue,” Pezeshkian said on X<\/a>. “Deep historical mistrust in Iran toward U.S. gov conduct remains, while unconstructive & contradictory signals from American officials carry a bitter message; they seek Iran’s surrender. Iranians do not submit to force.”
Kathryn Palmer and Francesca Chambers
The second round of talks between Israel and\u00a0Lebanon\u00a0are slated to take place in Washington, DC, an Israeli official told USA TODAY.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to a 10-day ceasefire last week, which went into effect on Friday, April 16.
The talks \u2013 details of which are not yet confirmed \u2013 will be the first between the two nations since the cessation in fighting began. Israel has been fighting against Hezbollah in Lebanon<\/a> since early March, after Hezbollah attacked Israel in response to the killing of Iran’s former supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, on Feb. 28 in a joint US-Israeli airstrike.
Kathryn Palmer
President Donald Trump is refuting comments made by his administration’s chief energy official over rising gas prices, as spiking costs squeeze markets and pocketbooks and threaten the upcoming summer travel season.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a new interview with CNN on Sunday that gas prices may not drop below $3 per gallon until next year<\/a>.
When asked about the projection in a phone interview with The Hill<\/a> on Monday, April 20, Trump said: “I think he\u2019s wrong on that. Totally wrong.”
The president added that gas prices will fall after the end of the Iran war \u2212 a refrain he and other top administration officials have repeated for weeks since the conflict began on Feb. 28.
Kathryn Palmer
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei\u00a0said in a weekly press briefing on Monday that Iran has no plans to attend the next round of peace negotiations in Islamabad, according to multiple<\/a> media<\/a> reports<\/a> translating his comments.
Baghaei added that “no decisions” have been made regarding the peace talks, further casting doubt over the country’s position on the peace talks slated to begin in Pakistan.
President Donald Trump announced the renewed negotiations in a social media post on Sunday and tapped Vice President JD Vance to once again lead the American delegation in Islamabad. The fragile ceasefire is approaching its Wednesday expiration date.
Baghaei is quoted by Reuters<\/a> as saying Washington has shown it was “not serious” about pursuing the\u00a0diplomatic process\u00a0and Tehran would not change its clearly stated demands. The outlet reported Baghaei\u00a0added that Iran did not believe in deadlines or ultimatums when safeguarding national interests.
Contributing: Reuters.<\/em><\/p>\n

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