Iran's speaker says US negotiations have progressed but far from final deal

Iran's parliamentary speaker said on the night of Saturday, April 18, that progress had been made in negotiations with the United States to end the war, but added the sides were still far from an agreement.

"We are still far from the final discussion," Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who is also one of Iran's negotiators, said in a national televised address, adding: "We made progress in the negotiations, but there are many gaps and some fundamental points remain."

Iran also said it had been "victorious in the field" during weeks of war and had only agreed to a temporary truce with the US because its demands had been met, the Iranian parliamentary speaker said on Saturday.

The two-week ceasefire is set to end on Wednesday unless it is renewed, with a permanent deal that mediators, including Pakistan, are pushing to get over the line still not finalized and progress on key sticking points still uncertain.

"We were victorious in the field," Speaker Ghalibaf said in a national televised address, adding the US had not achieved its goals and Iran controlled the strategic Strait of Hormuz maritime transit route. "If we accepted the ceasefire, it was because they accepted our demands," he said, referring to the US.

"The enemy's every effort was to impose its demands on us, and it is important that we register our rights, so this is where negotiation is a method of struggle."

Ghalibaf and his delegation held closed-door talks in Islamabad with US Vice President JD Vance on April 11, in the highest-level Iran-US contacts since before the 1979 Islamic revolution.

The talks did not result in a final deal, and officials have signaled that mediations are continuing, though Iran's deputy foreign minister said on Saturday no date had been set for a new round of talks.

Le Monde with AFP