US President Donald Trump on Sunday (local time) again praised Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir, calling them “very extraordinary men”.
In a post on Truth Social, he said: “They are very special men and they keep thanking me for saving 30 to 50 million lives in what would have been a terrible war with India. I always appreciate hearing – the amount of humanity they talk about is beyond comprehension.”
His remarks came after a US and Iranian delegation held talks for more than 21 hours in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. The talks took place on April 10 after Tehran and Washington agreed to a two-week ceasefire to end the six-week conflict.
Read also | US Iran War Ceasefire Talks LIVE: Trump threatens to ‘finish’ Iran.
Ceasefire negotiations between the US and Iran
The talks marked the first direct meeting between Washington and Tehran in more than a decade and the highest-level talks since the Islamic revolution in 1979, Reuters reported.
On Sunday, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency accused the US of failing to reach an agreement, citing Washington’s “excessive” demands. According to media reports, although agreement was reached on several issues, the main points of difference remained the Strait of Hormuz and the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.
In a Truth Social post, Trump wrote: “The meeting with Iran started early this morning and lasted all night – almost 20 hours. I could go into great detail and talk about much that was gained, but only one thing matters – IRAN IS NOT WILLING TO GIVE UP ITS NUCLEAR AMBITIONS!”
What did the US say about the failed negotiations?
Vice President JD Vance, who led the US delegation of special envoy Steve Witkoff, and Jared Kushner noted that Tehran refused to accept Washington’s terms. He added: “The bad news is that we didn’t get a deal, and I think that’s bad news for Iran much more than it is for the United States of America.” Vance also added that the Islamic Republic has decided not to accept Washington’s terms and that Washington needs to see a “fundamental commitment” from Tehran not to develop nuclear weapons.
Read also | ‘US failed to gain confidence of Iranian delegation’: Iran’s chief negotiator
Iran’s response to failed negotiations
On the other hand, the Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, revealed in a post on X the reason why the talks failed. Ghalibaf noted that while Tehran presented forward-looking initiatives, Washington failed to gain the confidence of the Iranian delegation given the experience of the previous two wars.
Reports indicate that Tehran’s Foreign Ministry said no one expected an agreement with the US to be reached in a single meeting. Esmaeil Baghaei, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said: “Naturally, we should not have expected from the beginning to reach an agreement in a single meeting. Nobody had such an expectation.” However, he expressed confidence that contacts between the Islamic Republic and Pakistan and other allies will continue.
Trump praises Prime Minister Pak, the field marshal
This is not the first time that Trump has praised Shehbaz Sharif and Asim Munir. In December of last year, Trump said: “The leader of Pakistan and a highly respected general — he’s a field marshal — and also the prime minister of Pakistan said that President Trump has saved 10 million lives, maybe more.
Read also | Trump praises ‘great people’ Asim Munir, Shehbaz Sharif
Trump has frequently praised Pakistan’s leadership after crediting the US president for ending the India-Pakistan conflict that erupted in May last year after India launched Operation Sindoor in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that left 26 people, mostly tourists, dead. After India launched precision strikes targeting terror infrastructure across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), the two nuclear-armed neighbors were engaged in a four-day military conflict.
Trump, eyeing the Nobel Peace Prize in 2025, has said on several occasions that the India-Pakistan war was one of many he helped stop. While India has consistently denied any interference by the US or any other country, Sharif and Munir thanked Trump for his efforts.
