Iran-US negotiation impasse continues. Although neither the US nor Iran are in favor of resuming hostilities, due to which the conditional ceasefire continues, the negotiation process is failing. Despite this, behind-the-scenes negotiations and offers to each other continue.

Axios The online periodical, referring to two anonymous informed sources, writes that Iran offered the US to unblock the Strait of Hormuz and end the war, moving the negotiations on Tehran’s nuclear program to a later stage. According to the publication, diplomacy has reached an impasse, and there is no unified opinion within the leadership of Iran regarding the possibility of making concessions on the issue of the nuclear program. “Iran’s proposal would have allowed to bypass that problem on the way to a faster conclusion of the deal,” the journalists note. “However, lifting the blockade and ending the war would deprive US President Donald Trump of leverage in further negotiations aimed at getting Iran to move its stockpiles of enriched uranium abroad and stop enriching it.” According to Axios sources, Trump intends to hold a meeting with the national security and foreign policy team on the issue of Iran on April 27. During the meeting, deadlocked negotiations and possible further steps will be discussed.

Pan-Arab Al Mayadeen according to the TV channel, the program proposed by Tehran looks like this:

• First stage: agreement on the cessation of war and the provision of security guarantees for Iran and Lebanon.
• Second stage: issues related to the management of the Strait of Hormuz.
• Third stage: Iran’s nuclear program.

According to the publication, Tehran refuses to discuss the last point until an agreement is reached on the previous two.

On April 26 to Fox News in an interview, Donald Trump made it clear that he intends to continue the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, due to which Iran’s oil exports have stopped. He hopes that this will force Tehran to make concessions in the coming weeks. Trump also announced that American envoys will no longer go to Pakistan for negotiations on Iran.

“If they want, we can talk, but we will not put people on the road for 18 hours for the meeting,” the US president summed up. A day ago, he canceled the visit of his envoys Steven Wittkoff and Jared Kushner to Islamabad. On the same day, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also left Pakistan. However, today IRI Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is on a visit to Moscow.

According to mass media, in Moscow he will discuss regional issues, including the Iranian-American conflict. Dmitry Peskov, press secretary of the Russian President, confirmed that Aragchi will also have a meeting with Vladimir Putin to discuss the progress of negotiations and the prospects of a ceasefire. Iran’s Foreign Minister Araghchi announced today that negotiations with the US have reached a dead end due to exaggerated demands and wrong approaches.

“Wrong approaches and exaggerated demands by the US have led to the fact that the previous round of negotiations, despite the recorded progress, could not achieve the set goals,” Araghchi said.

Russian analyst Vladimir Yevseyev 168.amtold that the difficult confrontation continues, none of the parties wants to make a big concession.

According to him, the main issue of the negotiations is the future fate of the enriched uranium, regarding which there were various proposals in the past, and now the US has made some proposals, offering to transfer it to another country.

“Tehran, most likely, before possible agreements on the nuclear issue, wants to get certain guarantees, that is the reason why a proposal consisting of three stages has been presented.

It is possible that the Iranian Foreign Minister’s visit to Moscow is directly related to all of this. I would like to remind that sometimes the issue of transporting enriched uranium to Russia was on the agenda of discussions, and Russia was ready to accept it. I think it is no coincidence that one of Iran’s main negotiators is visiting Russia during these discussions. Another important issue is that the US wants Iran to stop enriching uranium for 20 years, and Iran is not ready for this either. One of the problematic negotiation issues between the parties is the unblocking of Iranian assets. It is clear that the parties have set themselves the task of maintaining their own political red lines and “face”, but there is no war either desire to continue,” said Vladimir Yevseyev.

However, he believes that in case of failure, the US may try to use other pressure mechanisms.

“However, it should also be taken into account that domestic political developments are expected in the United States in the coming months, which limits the possibility of the US president’s long-term planning. Understanding this in Iran, they are trying to build their tactics,” he said.

Speaking from the South Caucasus, the analyst said that as long as the current situation continues, the South Caucasus will continue to be in a predictable geopolitical environment.

“Nevertheless, Iran’s tougher stance gives caution to all its neighbors, including Baku and Yerevan in the South Caucasus direction. It is still difficult to ignore Iran’s positions,” said Vladimir Yevseyev.

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