Iran's chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf reported progress in the peace process with the United States (US), but at the same time warned that a final agreement remains far away, Agence France-Presse reported, BTA reported.
The influential speaker of the Iranian parliament, who, together with US Vice President J.D. Vance, participated in the talks held on April 11 and 12 in Islamabad, gave a long television interview yesterday.
"We are still far from concluding the debates," Ghalibaf said. He reported that "progress has been made in the negotiations," but added that "many differences remain and some fundamental points have not yet been resolved."
Ghalibaf specified that the disagreements concern Iran's nuclear program and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
The talks in the Pakistani capital were the highest-level meeting between Iran and the United States since the Iranian Revolution in 1979, AFP notes.
"We emphasized that we have absolutely no trust in the United States," the speaker of the Iranian parliament made it clear.
Ghalibaf assured that Iran agreed to the two-week ceasefire, which came into effect on April 8, only because it was requested by the United States.
"We won on the ground, the enemy did not achieve any of its goals, and Iran also has control of the Strait of Hormuz," he summed up.
Earlier yesterday, Trump announced that he had had "very good talks" with Tehran, Reuters notes.
At the same time, he warned Tehran not to blackmail Washington with threats to keep the Strait of Hormuz closed.
Neither side gave details about the state of the negotiations yesterday - just days before the expiration of the fragile ceasefire in the US-Israeli war against Iran on Wednesday, April 22, according to Agence France-Presse. The conflict, now in its eighth week, has killed thousands in Iran, spread to Lebanon and sent oil prices soaring by effectively closing the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's crude oil trade passed before the war.
According to Reuters sources, the US has offered Islamabad a 20-year freeze on Iran's nuclear activities, while it has asked for a period of between three and five years.