{"id":6145,"date":"2026-04-19T09:36:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T09:36:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/04\/19\/iran-us-still-far-from-breakthrough-amid-strait-of-hormuz-impasse\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T09:36:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T09:36:21","slug":"iran-us-still-far-from-breakthrough-amid-strait-of-hormuz-impasse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/04\/19\/iran-us-still-far-from-breakthrough-amid-strait-of-hormuz-impasse\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran, US still \u2018far\u2019 from breakthrough amid Strait of Hormuz impasse"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><em>Tehran is \u2018fully prepared\u2019 for US to resume hostilities at any moment, says Iran\u2019s parliament speaker Ghalibaf.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>Iran and the United States have made progress in negotiations but are still a long way from a deal, according to Iran\u2019s parliament speaker and chief negotiator \u2013 amplifying concerns about a possible return to war when their ceasefire is set to expire on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>In a nationally televised address on Saturday night, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said that despite \u201cprogress\u201d with the US, \u201cmany gaps and some fundamental points remain\u2026 we are still far from the final discussion\u201d.<\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 3 items<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/economy\/2026\/4\/18\/as-oil-prices-plunge-below-91-after-weeks-a-new-hormuz-crisis-emerges\">As oil prices plunge below $91 after weeks, a new Hormuz crisis emerges<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 2 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/4\/18\/pakistan-pm-army-chief-wrap-up-key-trips-in-push-for-more-us-iran-talks\">Pakistan PM, army chief wrap up key trips in push for more US-Iran talks<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 3 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/4\/18\/displaced-lebanese-return-as-israeli-shelling-violates-ceasefire-in-south\">Displaced Lebanese return as Israeli shelling violates ceasefire in south<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>On Sunday, Iran\u2019s President, Masoud Pezeshkian, said that US \u2060President \u2060Donald Trump cannot justify depriving Tehran of what he called its \u2018nuclear rights\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTrump says Iran \u2060cannot make use of its nuclear \u2060rights, but doesn\u2019t say \u2060for what crime. \u2060Who is he to deprive a nation \u200cof its rights?\u201d Pezeshkian was quoted as \u200csaying by the Iranian Student News Agency.<\/p>\n<p>The future of Iran\u2019s nuclear programme and the Strait of Hormuz are key sticking points in the negotiations.<\/p>\n<p>The latest comments from the political leadership came after Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/4\/18\/iran-reasserts-control-of-hormuz-strait-as-trump-warns-against-blackmail\">reimposed restrictions<\/a> on the Strait of Hormuz, less than 24 hours after reopening it. The reversal, it said, was due to the continuing naval blockade of Iranian ports by the US.<\/p>\n<p>Ghalibaf, one of Iran\u2019s top negotiators, called Washington\u2019s blockade \u201cignorant\u201d and \u201cfoolish\u201d, saying Tehran would not allow others to transit the strait if its own ships were blocked.<\/p>\n<p>He also said Iranian forces are \u201cfully prepared\u201d for the US to resume hostilities at any moment.<\/p>\n<p>Al Jazeera\u2019s Tohid Asadi, reporting from Tehran, said Iranian officials are using the strait, through which 20 percent of globally traded oil normally transits, \u201cas a pressure point\u201d in negotiations, calling it perhaps the \u201cmost important bargaining chip\u201d.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"start-dropping-bombs-again\">\u2018Start dropping bombs again\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>Mediators have been pushing for a second round of US-Iran peace talks, after a first round in Islamabad <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/4\/12\/us-and-iran-fail-to-reach-peace-deal-after-marathon-talks-in-pakistan\">ended on April 12 with no deal<\/a>. The White House had said another round would likely be held in Islamabad. But Iran\u2019s deputy foreign minister said on Saturday that <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/liveblog\/2026\/4\/19\/iran-war-live-tehran-says-no-date-set-for-us-talks-hormuz-strait-closed\">no date could be set<\/a> before the two sides agree on a \u201cframework of understanding\u201d, accusing Washington of maintaining a \u201cmaximalist\u201d stance.<\/p>\n<p>Donald Trump gave a series of mixed remarks on Saturday, saying Iran \u201cgot a little cute\u201d on the Strait of Hormuz and that the US would not be \u201cblackmailed\u201d. The president added that US and Iranian officials remained in contact and negotiations were \u201cworking out really well\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier in the day, Trump said the US would \u201chave to start <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/video\/newsfeed\/2026\/4\/18\/trump-says-us-will-start-dropping-bombs-again-if-no-iran-deal-is-reached\">dropping bombs again<\/a>\u201d if no deal was reached by Wednesday, when the ceasefire is due to end.<\/p>\n<p>Al Jazeera\u2019s John Holman, reporting from Washington, DC, said Trump was likely trying to frame the latest setback in the Strait of Hormuz as \u201ca bump in the road rather than anything definitive\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat we don\u2019t have so far is whether there\u2019s going to be a second round in the negotiations, as was thought just a day or two ago,\u201d said Holman.<\/p>\n<p>Abbas Aslani, a senior fellow at the Centre for Middle East Strategic Studies in Tehran, said Iran is facing a \u201cdual track\u201d of negotiations and pressure from the US.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe first track was negotiations, but Iran has been saying that if the US is genuinely seeking an agreement, why are they engaging in a naval blockade, why are they adding sanctions, and why are they intensifying their military presence in the region?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are no signs of extension of these agreements, and nobody\u2019s talking about extending this ceasefire,\u201d he told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tehran is \u2018fully prepared\u2019 for US to resume hostilities at any moment, says Iran\u2019s parliament speaker Ghalibaf. Iran and the United States have made progress in negotiations but are still a long way from a deal, according to Iran\u2019s parliament speaker and chief negotiator \u2013 amplifying concerns about a possible return to war when their &#8230; <a title=\"Iran, US still \u2018far\u2019 from breakthrough amid Strait of Hormuz impasse\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/04\/19\/iran-us-still-far-from-breakthrough-amid-strait-of-hormuz-impasse\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Iran, US still \u2018far\u2019 from breakthrough amid Strait of Hormuz impasse\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6146,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6145"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6145\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}