Iran's president stresses importance of diplomacy while noting distrust of U.S


Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian speaks during a visit to the shrine of the leader of Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, in southern Tehran, Iran, January 31, 2026. Iran's Presidential website/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS

DUBAI, April 20 (Reuters) - ⁠Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Monday that ⁠every rational and diplomatic path should be ‌used to reduce tensions with the U.S., but added that vigilance and distrust in interactions with Washington were an "undeniable necessity", according ​to the state news agency ⁠IRNA.

A two-week ceasefire between ⁠Iran and the U.S. is set to expire on ⁠Wednesday, ‌with U.S. representatives set to reach Islamabad for Iran negotiations on Monday while Tehran ⁠has yet to announce whether it will ​send a ‌delegation to Pakistan.

Iranian state TV quoted an unnamed ⁠informed source ​as saying there were no plans for a second round of negotiations due to the U.S.' "excessive and irrational" ⁠demands as well as its changing ​stances.

The adversaries are at loggerheads over the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran tightened control over maritime transit as ⁠the U.S. continues to blockade Iranian ports and on Sunday took custody of a vessel trying to get past the American blockade.

Both Iran and the ​U.S. have accused each other ⁠of violating the ceasefire. Pezeshkian said the U.S. blockade ​showed that Washington was moving ‌toward "repeating previous patterns and betraying ​diplomacy", according to state TV.

(Reporting by Dubai Newsroom; Editing by Toby Chopra and Kevin Liffey)

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