Iran War Live Updates: Cease-Fire Nears End, and It’s Unclear if Peace Talks Will Resume

A police officer walks past a billboard regarding the United States and Iran negotiations, outside a media facilitation center in Islamabad, Pakistan, Saturday, April 11, 2026. Anjum Naveed/AP

Iran War Live Updates: Cease-Fire Nears End, and It’s Unclear if Peace Talks Will Resume

NY Times-April21st2026

Elian Peltier Tyler Pager Farnaz Fassihi Erika Solomon and Aurelien Breeden

Here’s the latest.

Pakistan said it was ready for the next round of talks between the United States and Iran, but it remained unclear when Iranian or American officials would even show up as time was running out on their two-week cease-fire. Vice President JD Vance had been expected to leave for Pakistan but delayed his departure.

Tehran denounced American threats and President Trump suggested that he did not want to extend the truce without a longer-term agreement. Mr. Vance was staying in Washington to attend additional policy meetings, a White House official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss potential scheduling.

Iran has not publicly confirmed its participation in more talks. Iran’s lead negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said on Monday that Iran would not attend under “the shadow of threats” — an apparent reference to Mr. Trump’s vow to target Iranian power plants and civilian infrastructure if a deal isn’t reached.

In private, two senior Iranian officials said that an Iranian delegation was making plans to travel to Pakistan on Tuesday and to resume talks. The Iranian officials said that Mr. Ghalibaf would attend negotiations with the United States if Mr. Vance were there.

On Tuesday evening local time, Pakistani officials said that Iran had not confirmed its participation. Ataullah Tarar, Pakistan’s information minister, said it was “critical” for Iran to do so before the cease-fire ends. Thousands of security officers were deployed in Islamabad, the capital, ahead of the possible talks.

Speaking to CNBC on Tuesday, Mr. Trump expressed optimism about potential talks but said that the U.S. military stood ready to bomb Iran again if no deal was struck with the Iranian government. “We don’t have that much time,” he said.

Even if the sides return to the negotiating table, many sticking points remain — on Iran’s nuclear program, for instance, or on the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic conduit for oil and gas. The threat of Iranian attacks has throttled shipping traffic through the strait, prompting an American blockade of Iranian ports that the U.S. Navy says has forced 28 ships to turn around.

Here’s what else we are covering:

Energy: Oil prices rose and stocks faded on Tuesday as uncertainty clouded the possibility of peace talks.
Tanker: The U.S. military stopped and boarded a sanctioned ship in the Indo-Pacific region that was carrying oil from Iran overnight, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.
China: Xi Jinping, China’s top leader, called for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz — the first time he has done so — underscoring the war’s impact on Chinese economic interests.