It remains unclear whether US-Iran peace talks will take place one day before Trump’s last term ends

Iranian state TV on Tuesday dismissed reports suggesting the first low-level delegation had arrived in Pakistan’s capital ahead of potential peace talks with Trump administration officials.

“Since Saturday, many reports have been circulated about the ‘departure’ or ‘arrival’ of the Iranian delegation to Pakistan, even announcements of the time of the meeting as ‘Monday afternoon’ or ‘Tuesday morning’ by international and regional media – all of which are incorrect,” state TV said.

The report then repeated the words of the Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, who said on Monday: “We do not accept negotiations under the guise of threats.”

“Continuing participation in the negotiations depends on a change in the behavior and positions of the American people,” said a state TV report.

President Trump said late Monday that getting uranium from Iran would be a “long time” and “difficult” after last year’s US strikes on Tehran’s nuclear facilities.

“Operation Midnight Hammer was the complete and total extermination of the Nuclear Dust sites in Iran,” he wrote on his Truth Social forum, adding: “Therefore, the excavation will be a long and difficult process.”

Mr. Trump often uses the term “nuclear dust” to refer to Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium, which the United States accuses Iran of accumulating to use in a nuclear bomb. But he has sometimes used it to refer to material left over from US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities in June last year.

Mr. Trump has said that most of Iran’s enriched uranium will eventually be transferred to US territory, despite Iran’s State Department opposing any such plans.

Israeli officials say Tehran has stepped up efforts to acquire a nuclear weapon since the end of the 12-day war last June, which was launched by Israel and included the US bombing of three nuclear sites, including an enrichment facility.

Speaking on John Fredericks radio, President Trump predicted on Monday that Iran will negotiate with the US, but “if they don’t, they will see problems that have never been seen before.”

He reiterated that he believes the war in Iran is “very close to being over.”

Mr. Trump said his Vice President JD Vance, senior ambassador Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner will travel to Pakistan for another round of US-Iran peace talks, as the two-week ceasefire between the two countries ends this week. It is not clear whether Iran plans to send a delegation to Islamabad.

The speaker of Iran’s parliament, Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, cast doubt on the upcoming talks with the US on Monday, saying: “We do not accept talks under the shadow of threats.”

“Trump, by enforcing the siege and breaking the ceasefire agreement, wants to turn this negotiating table – in his opinion – into a table of surrender or justification for renewing the war,” said Ghalibaf to X.

“For the past two weeks, we have prepared to reveal new cards on the battlefield.”

Ghalibaf was among the Iranian officials who met with Vice President JD Vance, President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and special envoy Steve Witkoff earlier this month for unsuccessful direct talks in Pakistan.

Less than 48 hours this weekend, President Trump came out saying that Iran has “he agreed to everything,” including working with the US to remove its enriched uranium, warning that if Iran doesn’t sign the US-backed deal, “the whole country explodes.”

The president’s rapid exchange of messages, revealed on the phone with individual reporters and on Truth Social, comes in about two weeks. ceasefire the war with Iran is entering its final days, and as the status of negotiations with Iran is uncertain.

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Only the day after the threat that Iran would be “exploding” unless the regime signs a US-backed deal, the president on Monday said he was in no rush to reach a deal with Tehran.

“Democrats are doing everything they can to undermine the very strong position we are on regarding Iran,” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social, noting that Democrats “like to say I promised 6 weeks to defeat Iran.”

The president emphasized that from a military perspective, it is “much faster” than six weeks to defeat Iran. Nevertheless, he said, “I will not let them rush the United States into making a deal as bad as it could be.”

“I read Fake News that I am under ‘pressure’ to make a Deal,” he wrote. “THIS IS NOT TRUE! I’m under no pressure, although, everything will happen, relatively quickly! Time is not my enemy, the only important thing is that finally, after 47 years, we straighten out the MESS that other Presidents allowed to happen because they didn’t have the Courage or Foresight to do what needed to be done about Iran.”