Iran Rejects Reviving US Talks as Trump Threatens to Annex Hormuz

1 articles · Updated · Ynetnews · Aug 16

Iran said no decision has been made on resuming talks with the United States, dismissing message exchanges via Pakistan and Qatar as non-negotiations even as Nechirvan Barzani offers to revive a back channel.
Axios reported Barzani, the Kurdistan Region president, helped the Trump administration reach IRGC commander Ahmad Vahidi in early May after U.S. officials doubted whether Iran’s formal negotiators spoke for those in control.
That channel produced encrypted exchanges and a U.S. push for secret direct talks, but the effort collapsed when Iranian officials refused to meet in Iraqi Kurdistan for fear Israeli intelligence could track or target them.
The impasse has hardened around Hormuz after Trump said he would soon declare the strait U.S. territory and inflict severe economic damage, while Tehran replied that only Iran would decide whether it is opened or closed.
A senior adviser to Vahidi said on Iranian state TV that Tehran should prolong the war until a new U.S. president takes office, underscoring how far both sides remain from renewed negotiations.