Trump says Iran deal to be signed ‘today’: Report

Trump on Monday said that a deal with Iran will be signed “today”, according to Fox News reporter Maria Bartiromo, but warned that if no deal was signed, he would "blow up every single power plant and bridge in Iran."

It was not immediately clear what timeframe he was referring to with the "today" remark, as it is unclear when the call with Bartiromo took place, the Turkish state-backed Anadolu News agency claimed citing the Fox News report.

Iran has neither confirmed Trump’s claim nor its decision to join the talks in Islamabad.

Pakistani sources told the New York Post that Tehran was "willing for a second round" as the Middle East country was reviewing its earlier defiance due to Islamabad’s mediation efforts with the US for lifting the latter’s naval blockade on Iranian ports.

However, "no decision has been taken about" it, the Pakistani source said.

With a two-week ceasefire set to expire, the senior Iranian official said Tehran was "positively reviewing" its participation but no final decision had been made. The comments conveyed a clear change of tone from earlier statements ruling out attendance and pledging to retaliate for US aggression.

Adding to the uncertainty, a source told Reuters that Vice President JD Vance was still in the US, denying reports that he was already on his way to Pakistan's capital Islamabad for talks.

Trump earlier told with the New York Post that Vance and the US delegation were on their way to Islamabad for the second round of talks.

The ceasefire had appeared in jeopardy after the US said it had seized an Iranian cargo ship that tried to run its blockade and Tehran vowed to retaliate.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday that Washington had shown it was "not serious" about pursuing the diplomatic process, and that Tehran would not change its demands.

The US was hoping to start negotiations in Pakistan shortly before the ceasefire expires, with sweeping security preparations under way in Islamabad, but Baghaei said the US was "insisting on some unreasonable and unrealistic positions".

A Pakistani security source said Pakistan's key mediator, Field Marshal Asim Munir, had told US President Donald Trump the blockade was an obstacle to talks, and that Trump had promised to consider the advice.

Trump announced the two-week ceasefire with Iran on 7 April, and has not specified when precisely it ends.

A Pakistani source involved in the talks said it would expire at 8pm US time on Tuesday, which would be midnight GMT or 3:30am Wednesday in Iran.

Asked over the weekend about the chance of an extension, Trump replied: "I don't know. Maybe not. Maybe I won't extend it. But the blockade is going to remain."

The US has maintained its blockade of Iranian ports, while Iran lifted and then reimposed its own blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which typically handles roughly one-fifth of the world's oil and liquefied gas supply.

Oil prices rose around 5% as traders remained fearful that the ceasefire would collapse. Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz was at a virtual standstill with just three crossings in the space of 12 hours, according to shipping data.