Washington, Apr 22 (PTI) US President Donald Trump is willing to grant a three-to-five-day extension to the ceasefire with Iran to give it more time to present a unified proposal to end the seven-week war, local media reported on Wednesday.
The New York Post reported that Trump told its reporter that peace talks with Iran could start again as soon as Friday, calling it “possible.” Trump issued the statement in a text message to the outlet, saying the talks could begin within the next “36 to 72 hours.” Hours after threatening to restart the bombing of Iran on Tuesday morning, the US President extended the ceasefire to allow the “fractured” leadership in Tehran to come up with a “unified proposal”.
On Wednesday, unnamed US officials told local media outlets that Trump was open to giving Iranian negotiators a short window to propose an end to the war.
“Trump is willing to give another three to five days of ceasefire to allow the Iranians to get their shit together,” one US source briefed on the matter told Axios. “It is not going to be open-ended,” the media outlet reported.
Axios reported that US officials first saw the divisions after the first round of Islamabad talks, when it became clear IRGC commander Gen Ahmad Vahidi and his deputies had rejected much of what Iran’s own negotiators had discussed.
The split became public last Friday when Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi announced the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, but the IRGC refused to implement it and began publicly attacking him, Axios reported.
In the following days, Iran gave no substantive response to the latest US proposal and refused to commit to a second round of talks in Pakistan. PTI SKU RD RD RD
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