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ISLAMABAD — <\/span>Attempts at ceasefire talks between the United States and Iran<\/a> fell flat after Tehran\u2019s top diplomat left Pakistan and President Donald Trump’s envoys stayed away after he told them not to travel to Islamabad.<\/p>\n The U.S. president indicated the ball was now in Iran\u2019s court. <\/p>\n \u201cIf they want to talk, all they have to do is call!!!\u201d Trump said on social media.<\/p>\n The negotiations were meant to follow historic face-to-face talks earlier this month between the U.S., led by Vice President JD Vance, and Iran, led by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf. <\/p>\n But Iranian officials have questioned how they can trust the U.S. after its forces started blockading Iranian ports<\/a> in response to Iran’s grip on the Strait of Hormuz<\/a>.<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi left Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital, on Saturday evening, two Pakistani officials told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.<\/p>\n Araghchi went on to Oman, on the other side of the Strait of Hormuz<\/a> and a country that had mediated peace talks in the past. He said he would return to Pakistan again on Sunday before heading to Russia, Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported.<\/p>\n \u201cShared Iran\u2019s position concerning workable framework to permanently end the war on Iran. Have yet to see if the U.S. is truly serious about diplomacy,\u201d Araghchi said on social media about his talks in Pakistan about what he called Iran\u2019s red lines for negotiations.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, another ceasefire \u2014 between Israel and the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant Hezbollah group<\/a> \u2014 was shaken on Saturday as each side fired at the other and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu<\/a> ordered the military to \u201cvigorously attack Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.”<\/p>\n Last week, Trump announced an indefinite extension of the ceasefire<\/a> with Iran. It has paused most fighting, but the economic fallout is growing<\/a>, two months into the war as global shipments of oil, liquefied natural gas, fertilizer and other supplies are disrupted<\/a> by the near-closure of the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n Both sides have continued to make military threats. Iran\u2019s joint military command on Saturday warned that \u201cif the U.S. continues its aggressive military actions, including naval blockades, banditry, and piracy\u201d it will face a \u201cstrong response.”<\/p>\n Even before Saturday\u2019s developments, Iran\u2019s foreign ministry said any talks would be indirect and that Pakistani officials would act as go-betweens. <\/p>\n Trump later told journalists that within 10 minutes of him canceling the trip to Pakistan of his envoys \u2014 Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner \u2014 that Iran had sent a \u201cmuch better” proposal. He did no elaborate but stressed that one of his conditions is that Iran \u201cwill not have a nuclear weapon.\u201d<\/p>\n Contentious points in talks also include Iran\u2019s enriched uranium<\/a> and the Strait of Hormuz standoff, as well as concerns about Iran\u2019s missile program and its support for armed proxies in the region.<\/p>\n Tehran has noted that indirect talks with the U.S. last year and early this year over its nuclear program, the issue long at the center of tensions, ended with Iran being attacked by the U.S. and Israel, adding to its wariness.<\/p>\n The price of Brent crude oil,<\/a> the international standard, is nearly 50% higher than when the war began because of Iran’s grip on the strait, through which a fifth of the world\u2019s oil passes in peacetime.<\/p>\n Iran attacked three ships last week, while the U.S. maintains a blockade on Iranian ports. Trump has ordered the military to \u201cshoot and kill\u201d small boats<\/a> that could be placing mines<\/a>.<\/p>\n Also Saturday, Iran resumed commercial flights from Tehran\u2019s international airport for the first time since the war began with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Feb. 28. Flights were scheduled to depart for Istanbul, Oman\u2019s capital of Muscat and the Saudi city of Medina, according to state-run television.<\/p>\n Since the war began, at least 3,375 people have been killed in Iran and at least 2,496 people in Lebanon, where the Israel-Hezbollah fighting resumed two days after the Iran war started. Also, 23 people have been killed in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Fifteen Israeli soldiers in Lebanon, 13 U.S. service members in the region and six U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon have been killed.<\/p>\n Trump announced Thursday that Israel and Lebanon had agreed to extend a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah by three weeks. Hezbollah has not participated in the Washington-brokered diplomacy.<\/p>\n But Israel struck southern Lebanon on Saturday, killing at least six people it said were Hezbollah militants, and several rockets and drones were launched at Israel from Lebanon.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Magdy from Cairo. Associated Press writers Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel; Bassem Mroue in Beirut; and Will Weissert in Washington contributed to this report.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n