Iran has rules out holding another round of peace talks with the United States in Pakistan, after American Navy fired shots on an Iranian cargo vessel and later seized it Gulf of Oman, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
Addressing a news conference in Tehran on Monday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said that Iran has no plans regarding a new round of talks with the US.
The US is not learning from its past experiences, and this will never lead to good results, Esmaeil Baqaei said.
“We cannot forget US attacks on us during previous negotiations. It seems that America is not serious at all,” he said, adding Americans are playing the game of blaming Iran.
Esmail Baghaei maintained that if the US and Israel wanted to start new aggression, its armed forces will respond accordingly.
Addressing his weekly press briefing, Esmaeil Baqaei said that the United States was not serious about pursuing diplomacy, citing what it called "violations" of their two-week ceasefire. "While claiming diplomacy and readiness for negotiations, the US is carrying out behaviours that do not in any way indicate seriousness in pursuing a diplomatic process," he added.
He said a US attack on an Iranian cargo ship early Monday, the US naval blockade on Iranian ports, and delays in implementing a ceasefire in Lebanon were all "clear violations of the ceasefire".
Esmaeil Baqaei said they have informed the Pakistani mediators about their decision.
Iran has been at war with Israel and the United States since February 28 when strikes killed supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, triggering a conflict that has engulfed the region.
Tehran and Washington have since held a round of negotiations which failed to culminate in a deal to end the war. It took place against the backdrop of a fragile two-week ceasefire which began on April 8.
US President Donald Trump said Sunday he had ordered US negotiators to travel to Pakistan on Monday to hold another round of talks, but Iran has yet to confirm its attendance.
"As of now, while I am at your service, we have no plans for the next round of negotiations, and no decision has been made in this regard," said Baqaei.
Key sticking points include Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium and the status of the strategic Strait of Hormuz, which has been largely closed since the outbreak of the war.
"Regarding the issue of transferring enriched uranium, neither during this period of negotiations nor before has transferring it to the United States been discussed," Baqaei said. "It was never raised as an option for us," he added.
Iran launches drone attacks on US warships
Iran has launched drone attacks on US warships enforcing a naval blockade of the country, hours after American forces fired on an Iranian cargo ship and seizing it.
Tasnim news agency reported that Iran had sent drones in the direction of US military ships after its vessel was seized. Iran claimed that the US attacked and seized its cargo vessel Touska in the Gulf of Oman, calling it a ceasefire violation and warning retaliation.
Within an hour of US President Donald Trump's announcement that a US destroyer opened fire and took control of an Iranian-flagged cargo vessel in the Gulf of Oman after it allegedly tried to evade a US naval blockade, Iran has confirmed the incident.
Iran’s Hazrat Khatam al-Anbiya military headquarters issued a statement and said that the US violated the ceasefire by attacking its commercial ships. It also said that the navigation system was disabled.
It warned that the Iranian Armed Forces will “soon respond to and retaliate against this armed piracy.”
Soon after the warning, Tasnim News agency, semi-official news agency in Iran associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, also carried another statement that claimed that Iran has launched drone attacks on American warships after the incident. State TV also reported that Iranian Navy launched drones towards the American warships.
The statement was carried by Tasnim News Agency. It read: “The aggressive America, by violating the ceasefire and committing maritime piracy, attacked one of Iran’s commercial ships in the waters of the Sea of Oman by firing upon it and disabling its navigation system by deploying several of its terrorist marines on the deck of the mentioned vessel. We warn that the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran will soon respond to and retaliate against this armed piracy by the US military."
No Iran planning for talks
Iran is not currently planning to attend talks with the United States, state media said, after President Donald Trump ordered US negotiators to travel to Pakistan on Monday, just days before a ceasefire in the Middle East expires.
The ongoing US blockade of Iranian ports has been a significant sticking point, an issue further complicated by an American destroyer on Sunday firing on and seizing an Iranian ship that tried to evade it.
Tehran said it would retaliate with Tasnim news agency reporting that Iran had sent drones in the direction of US military ships after its vessel was seized.
State broadcaster IRIB on Sunday cited Iranian sources as saying "there are currently no plans to participate in the next round of Iran-US talks".
The Fars and Tasnim news agencies had earlier cited anonymous sources as saying "the overall atmosphere cannot be assessed as very positive", adding that lifting the US blockade was a precondition for negotiations.
State-run IRNA meanwhile pointed to the blockade and Washington's "unreasonable and unrealistic demands", saying that "in these circumstances, there is no clear prospect of fruitful negotiations".
Iran and the United States, along with Israel, are just days away from the end of the two-week ceasefire that halted the Middle East war, ignited by surprise US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28.
There has so far been only a single, 21-hour negotiating session held in Islamabad on April 11 that ended inconclusively, though groundwork for fresh talks continued afterwards.
"We're offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL, and I hope they take it," Trump said in a post on Sunday, while also renewing his threats against Iran's infrastructure if a deal is not made.
- US fires on Iranian ship -
Trump has been under pressure to find an off-ramp since Tehran moved early in the war to choke off the Strait of Hormuz.
The vital waterway is a conduit for a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas in peacetime, and its closure has hammered the global economy and roiled markets.
Having failed to force it open again, Trump countered with a US naval blockade on Iranian ports in an attempt to cut off Tehran's oil revenues.
On Sunday, he announced that a massive Iranian-flagged cargo ship "tried to get past our Naval Blockade, and it did not go well for them."
A US destroyer warned the ship to stop and then forced it to by "by blowing a hole in the engineroom", Trump said, adding: "Right now, US Marines have custody of the vessel."
Trump said the Iranian-flagged ship, Touska, is under US Treasury sanctions "because of prior history of illegal activity."
The ISNA news agency later cited a spokesperson for Iran's central command centre as warning that "the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran will soon respond and retaliate against this armed piracy and the US military".
Tasnim news agency reported Tehran had sent drones in the direction of US military ships after it "attacked" and seized Touska.
Iran had briefly reopened the strait on Friday in recognition of an Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire in Lebanon, but closed it again the following day in response to the United States maintaining its blockade.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards warned that any attempt to pass through the strait without permission "will be considered cooperation with the enemy, and the offending vessel will be targeted".
Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei on Sunday said the blockade was "a violation" of the ceasefire and illegal collective punishment of the Iranian people.
Iran executes two Israeli spies
Iran executed two men on Monday convicted of having links to Israel's spy agency, the judiciary said, the latest in a string of executions since the outbreak of war with Israel and the United States.
"The death sentences of Mohammad Masoom-shahi and Hamed Validi were carried out at dawn today," the judiciary's Mizan Online website reported.
It said the two men were "members of a spy network linked to Mossad", Israel's intelligence agency, but did not say when they were arrested.
- Oil prices bounce back on Iran war escalation -
Oil prices surged Monday on a re-escalation of hostilities in the Middle East war after Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz at the weekend, just a day after reopening it, citing the United States' blockade of its ports.
However, lingering hopes that a deal to end the seven-week crisis continued to support equities, even as Tehran said it was not currently planning to attend peace talks.
- Syria foiled Hezbollah attack -
Syria's interior ministry said Sunday that security forces had thwarted a cross-border attack in the southern Quneitra province by a cell linked to Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah group, which denied the accusation.
In a statement, Syrian officials said they foiled a "sabotage plot" with hidden rocket launching equipment in a civilian vehicle, which was linked to Hezbollah and "aimed to destabilise the region".
The area borders the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
- US negotiators going to Pakistan -
Trump said US negotiators will be in Pakistan Monday to resume talks on ending the war with Iran, as he again threatened to destroy its power plants and bridges if no deal is reached.
Trump did not say who would lead the delegation, but a White House official said it was Vice President JD Vance, who led the last set of talks that failed to reach an accord.
Trump said in a social media post he was offering Iran "a reasonable deal" but if Tehran refuses, "the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran. NO MORE MR. NICE GUY!"
- Lebanon PM to Paris -
French President Emmanuel Macron will on Tuesday meet with Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam in Paris, his office announced, a day after a French peacekeeper was killed in Lebanon and amid a fragile 10-day truce between Israel and Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.
- Israel warns 'full force' -
Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz said his military will use "full force" in Lebanon -- even during the ongoing ceasefire -- should Israeli troops face any threat from Hezbollah.
Lebanon's military said meanwhile it has reopened a road and bridge between the city of Nabatieh and Khardali that was damaged by Israeli strikes in the south.
- Iranian airport reopens -
Iran will resume international flights on Monday from Mashhad airport in the country's northeast, its civil aviation authority said.
- Turkey hopes for extension -
Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Sunday he was "optimistic" that a two-week ceasefire between Iran and the United States that expires on Wednesday, would be extended, allowing more time for talks between the sides.–Agencies