April 25, 2026
Juan Cole
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – According to the pro-government Tasnim newspaper, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has begun a trip to Islamabad, Musqat and Moscow. Iran appears to be attempting to widen negotiations beyond Pakistan, feeling that Field Marshall Asim Munir is well-meaning but is captive to Washington and may lack the independence necessary to be a third-party mediator.
Juan Cole
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – According to the pro-government Tasnim newspaper, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has begun a trip to Islamabad, Musqat and Moscow. Iran appears to be attempting to widen negotiations beyond Pakistan, feeling that Field Marshall Asim Munir is well-meaning but is captive to Washington and may lack the independence necessary to be a third-party mediator.
Nevertheless, Araghchi spoke with
Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Friday before setting out for
Islamabad, where he arrived Friday evening.
It is unclear whether he will be willing to negotiate while there with Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, Trump’s envoys. Iran has complained that Kushner and Witkoff stabbed them in the back in late February as they were negotiating with Washington through Oman, since in the midst of the talks and of major Iranian concessions, Netanyahu and Trump abruptly launched an attack on them. The Omani foreign minister has also intimated that Witkoff and Kushner were not knowledgeable enough to recognize how big Iran’s nuclear concessions were, and saw the February talks as a failure. That led to the war.
Sharq Daily, a reform-minded newspaper, says that reports that Speaker of the Parliament Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf had resigned as the chairman of the negotiating team are false.
Yaman Shamsai, who heads the Parliament’s communications and media office, denied these allegations to Sharq: “Mr. Ghalibaf has not resigned from anything, and of course, a new round of negotiations has not been set, such that he or someone else would be [named] the head of the Iranian delegation. The rumors are only trying to roil the public mind, and Mr. Ghalibaf is earnestly engaged in his activities.”
The report was carried by Iran International, a notorious mouthpiece for Saudi and Israeli disinformation about Iran. Some Iranians on social media have speculated that the false report was put out in order to split the Iranian leadership and undermine public confidence in it.
Fars News reports that some payments made to Iran in cash by ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz have been deposited in Iran’s Central Bank. Fars says that the report refutes earlier speculation that Iran was being paid in cryptocurrency. The wire service alleges that the tolls are based on the type and quantity of cargo and on the degree of risk. The tolls help pay, the pro-regime news service maintains, for providing security to ships that are permitted to pass through the Strait.
It is unclear whether he will be willing to negotiate while there with Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, Trump’s envoys. Iran has complained that Kushner and Witkoff stabbed them in the back in late February as they were negotiating with Washington through Oman, since in the midst of the talks and of major Iranian concessions, Netanyahu and Trump abruptly launched an attack on them. The Omani foreign minister has also intimated that Witkoff and Kushner were not knowledgeable enough to recognize how big Iran’s nuclear concessions were, and saw the February talks as a failure. That led to the war.
Sharq Daily, a reform-minded newspaper, says that reports that Speaker of the Parliament Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf had resigned as the chairman of the negotiating team are false.
Yaman Shamsai, who heads the Parliament’s communications and media office, denied these allegations to Sharq: “Mr. Ghalibaf has not resigned from anything, and of course, a new round of negotiations has not been set, such that he or someone else would be [named] the head of the Iranian delegation. The rumors are only trying to roil the public mind, and Mr. Ghalibaf is earnestly engaged in his activities.”
The report was carried by Iran International, a notorious mouthpiece for Saudi and Israeli disinformation about Iran. Some Iranians on social media have speculated that the false report was put out in order to split the Iranian leadership and undermine public confidence in it.
Fars News reports that some payments made to Iran in cash by ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz have been deposited in Iran’s Central Bank. Fars says that the report refutes earlier speculation that Iran was being paid in cryptocurrency. The wire service alleges that the tolls are based on the type and quantity of cargo and on the degree of risk. The tolls help pay, the pro-regime news service maintains, for providing security to ships that are permitted to pass through the Strait.
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