Mediators have achieved progress in efforts to get the United States and Iran back to negotiations and avert an all-out war in the Middle East, two regional officials said Monday, with a pause in attacks coming after a period of rapidly escalating tensions.
Background
The comments came after neither the U.S. nor Iran reported carrying out any attacks for three straight days — a respite after about two weeks of sustained bombardments that had led to increasing fears of a return to all-out war.
The two regional officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive regional talks, said mediators led by Qatar and Pakistan were working to bridge the gap between Washington and Tehran to return to an interim ceasefire deal that had been largely undermined by recent exchanges of fire.
US and Iran Positions
U.S. President Donald Trump is “giving talks some space. He’s giving it a little bit of room,” Mike Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told Fox News.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Esmail Baghaei, said during a news conference in Tehran Monday that mediators were conveying messages but there were no direct negotiations.
Iran is an ally of Russia in its war against Ukraine, helping Moscow build up its drone expertise.
Original reporting: KTSA News/Talk (San Antonio) — read the source article.
