Iran President Says Diplomacy Key, Pakistan Tells Trump US Blockade Hurdle To Talks

2 min readApr 20, 2026 06:21 PM IST

As the US-Israel Iran war continued for about two months, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Monday that every rational and diplomatic path should be used to reduce tensions with the U.S., but added that vigilance and distrust in interactions with Washington were an “undeniable ⁠necessity”.

Pezeshkian also said the US blockade showed ‌that Washington ⁠was moving toward “repeating previous patterns and betraying diplomacy”, according to state TV.

The two-week ceasefire between Iran and the US is set to expire on Wednesday, with US representatives set to reach Islamabad for Iran negotiations on Monday.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei was quoted as saying by Tasnim news that Pakistan is currently the only official mediator in the diplomatic process and added that Tehran is not intending to take part in negotiations so far.

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Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump ⁠told Pakistan’s army chief ‌Asim Munir that he would consider Munir’s advice on ⁠the ⁠US blockade of ⁠Iran’s ‌ports being a hurdle ‌to peace talks with ‌Iran when the two spoke by phone, a Pakistani ⁠security source told Reuters.

Both US and Iran continued to be at loggerheads over the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran tightened control over maritime transit. In retaliation, US continued to blockade Iranian ports and recently took control over a vessel trying to get past the American blockade.

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