This photo taken on April 19, 2026 shows a woman walking past a banner featuring Iran's late supreme leaders Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (L) and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (C) next to newly elected supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, in Tehran. (AFP)
Iran's top diplomat blamed Washington on April 27 for the failure of talks after landing in Russia as part of a whirlwind diplomatic tour, with direct negotiations between the warring parties seemingly at an impasse.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi made the remarks in Saint Petersburg, where he is expected to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, having sandwiched a trip to Oman in between visits to main mediator Pakistan over the past few days.
Islamabad played host to the first and only round of unsuccessful talks between Washington and Tehran, and Araghchi's visit had fanned hopes for fresh negotiations over the weekend, until U.S. President Donald Trump scrapped a planned trip by his envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
"The U.S. approaches caused the previous round of negotiations, despite progress, to fail to reach its goals because of the excessive demands," Araghchi said on April 27.
After calling off his emissaries' trip, Trump told Fox News that if Iran wanted talks, "they can come to us, or they can call us,” though he has said the cancellation does not signal a return to hostilities.
In a sign that backchannel efforts were ongoing, the Fars news agency said Iran had passed "written messages" to the Americans via Pakistan spelling out red lines, including nuclear issues and the Strait of Hormuz.
Fars news agency said the messages were not part of formal negotiations, however.
US media outlet Axios, citing a U.S. official and two other sources with knowledge of the matter, reported on April 26 that Iran had sent a new proposal to end the war centered on reopening the Strait of Hormuz and ending a U.S. naval blockade there, with nuclear negotiations postponed for a later stage.
The ceasefire in the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran has so far held, but its economic shock waves have continued to reverberate globally.
Iran has blockaded the strait, cutting off flows of oil, gas and fertilizer and sending prices soaring, raising fears of food insecurity in developing countries.
In response, the U.S. has imposed a blockade of Iranian ports in the waterway and beyond.
Trump faces domestic pressure as fuel prices rise following Iran's closure of Hormuz, with midterm elections due in November. Polls show the war is unpopular among Americans.
The subject of the strait was on the agenda during Araghchi's trip to Oman, which lies on the other side of the waterway from Iran.
"The safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz is an important global issue. Naturally, as the two coastal countries of this strait, we must speak with each other so that our common interests are secured," Araghchi said from Saint Petersburg.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards, however, have said they have no intention of lifting their market-shaking blockade, saying control of the Hormuz "and maintaining the shadow of its deterrent effects over America... is the definitive strategy" of Tehran.
