A renewed diplomatic effort is underway to revive talks between the United States and Iran amid a two-week ceasefire agreed last week after nearly six weeks of fighting in the US-Israeli war over Iran.
The ceasefire, which expires on April 22, has created a small window for negotiations to end the war, which has killed more than 4,000 people across the Middle East, the majority in Iran and Lebanon.
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The first round of talks were held in Islamabad on Saturday under Pakistani mediation, but no agreement or consensus was reached between Tehran and Washington.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is on tour this week, including to Saudi Arabia and Turkey to drum up support for the process and prevent a return to full-scale war.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump says the war is “very close to being over” and has hinted that a second round of talks could resume within days, possibly in the Pakistani capital.
Here’s what we know about the latest mediation efforts:
What happened in the first round?
The first round of high-level talks took place in Islamabad on April 11 and 12 and was the most significant direct engagement between the US and Iran in decades.
Mediated by Pakistan, the talks lasted for more than 20 hours and included both indirect and direct exchanges between the delegations led by US Vice President JD Vance and senior Iranian officials.
According to reports, the discussions focused on several key issues, including Iran’s nuclear program, sanctions relief, Iran’s frozen assets and control of the Strait of Hormuz.
The talks concluded without any resolution or memorandum of understanding, with Vance claiming that Iran decided “not to accept our conditions”, adding that the US needed to see a “fundamental commitment” from Tehran not to develop nuclear weapons.
Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, leader of Tehran’s delegation, said it took a “forward-looking” initiative, but the US failed to gain his delegation’s confidence in the talks.
What do we know about the next round of possible talks?
American and international media reports suggest that the possibility of a second round is increasing, which could happen within a few days.
On Wednesday, the AP news agency, citing unnamed regional officials, reported that Washington and Tehran had “agreed in principle” to extend the ceasefire to allow diplomatic efforts.
However, Reuters quoted a US official as saying that Washington has not formally agreed to an extension of its ceasefire with Iran. The US official said, “Continuous talks are going on between the US and Iran to reach an agreement.”
Meanwhile, world leaders have given separate statements over the past week about a ceasefire and the possibility of further talks.
On Tuesday, US President Trump suggested that talks could resume within a few days. “You should really be there, because something could happen in the next two days, and we are more than willing to go there (Islamabad),” he told a New York Post reporter in Islamabad.
However, Pakistan Prime Minister Sharif began a four-day visit to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey on Wednesday to drum up support for talks, making it unlikely that talks will be held in the time frame suggested by Trump.
On Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he was optimistic about talks despite the obstacles.
“We are making necessary suggestions and taking initiatives to reduce tensions, extend the ceasefire and continue negotiations. There can be no negotiations with clenched fists,” Erdogan said.
Although reports, including Trump’s own comments, suggest that Islamabad would be a possible host, no announcement has been made.
What are the main sticking points in the conversation?
nuclear program
The most complex issue remains Iran’s nuclear program. In particular, the US and Israel are pushing for a complete ban on uranium enrichment, and have accused Iran of working towards building nuclear weapons, while providing no evidence for their claims. In March 2025, the US Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, testified to congress That the US “continues to assess that Iran is not developing nuclear weapons”.
Iran insists that its enrichment efforts are for civilian purposes only. It is a signatory to the 1970 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).
In 2015, the US was a signatory to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) under then US President Barack Obama. In that agreement, Iran promised to limit its uranium enrichment to 3.67 percent and comply with inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions.
However, in 2018, during his first term, Trump withdrew the US from the JCPOA, despite the IAEA saying that Iran had complied with the agreement up to that point.
strait of hormuz
Access and control over the vital waterway linking the Gulf to the Arabian Sea remains a major issue. One-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply is routed through the Strait of Hormuz in peacetime. Since the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran in late February, shipping through the route has declined by 95 percent as Iran has threatened to target tankers. During the conflict, Iran has allowed passage of some ships it considers friendly, as well as other ships that pay tolls.
The US wants free passage through the waterway, while Iran insists on its sovereignty over the strait, saying all “non-hostile” ships can pass through.
Furthermore, Iranian officials insist on retaining the right to impose tolls on ships passing through the strategic strait even after the war ends.
Moving further, Trump imposed a naval blockade of Iranian ports on Monday, creating another hurdle for prospects of resuming talks.
lebanon
A key demand from Iran is that Israel end its offensive against Iran’s ally Hezbollah in Lebanon. Tehran said the ceasefire agreed last week also included the war in Lebanon, but both the US and Israel have rejected it. Trump has called Israel’s attacks on its neighbor “an isolated skirmish”, even though Hezbollah entered the war in defense of Iran.
Pakistan PM Sharif’s initial social media post announcing the ceasefire also included Lebanon. However, following that announcement, Israel launched its most widespread attacks since March, when fighting with Hezbollah began, and struck more than 100 targets across the country in just one day – Wednesday – last week.
Hezbollah is Tehran’s most powerful regional ally and a central part of the “Axis of Resistance”, a network of armed groups aligned with Iran against Israel in the Middle East, including Yemen’s Houthis and a host of armed groups in Iraq.
While Israel and Lebanon held direct talks in Washington on Tuesday, the first formal meeting between the two countries, Israel says it will not stop its attacks on Hezbollah.
