Copy in clipboard...
Tehran receives Pakistan’s special message to Ayatollah Khamenei
Contradictory US positions complicate negotiations: Baqaei
Pakistan’s interior minister was in Tehran on Sunday in a fresh bid to restart negotiations between Iran and the US, delivering a message from the country’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif addressed to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei.
The message was handed over during a meeting between visiting Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Tehran.
The two sides exchanged viewpoints on the latest developments concerning the ongoing diplomatic efforts aimed at ending the US-Israeli war of aggression against Iran.
There were no details on the contents of the message. Pakistani authorities have said Islamabad, with support from regional countries including Qatar, Turkey and Egypt, has been working to help bridge differences between the United States and Iran and encourage efforts aimed at reducing tensions and ensuring the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
Talks between Iran and the US are at an impasse due to the US excessive demands; however, the mediator Pakistan is trying to revive the negotiations which aim to produce a memorandum to end the joint US-Israeli aggression against Iran, end a blockade on Iran’s ports, and secure the release of frozen Iranian assets.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said on Sunday that the main challenge facing the negotiations is the shifting US positions and the contradictory statements issued by its officials.
"The main problem in negotiations with this US administration is that we have to constantly deal with shifting positions, red lines, and contradictory statements from various American officials. This issue has made the negotiation process very difficult and complicated," Baqaei told CNN on Sunday.
However, he said that exchange of messages between the two sides continues through intermediaries.
He went on to say that while numerous unresolved matters remain between the two parties, the core issue is the need for the United States to recognize Iran's rights — especially its right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes, as permitted under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Baqaei emphasized that Tehran insists on the removal of US sanctions and the release of its frozen assets, maintaining that the ongoing restrictions on those assets stand out as one of the most significant unresolved issues in the negotiations.