Iran state TV says no official response yet to Trump ceasefire claim

Iranian lawmaker Mahmoud Nabavian said on Wednesday that Iran made a strategic mistake by allowing the nuclear issue to be discussed in talks in Pakistan, saying it emboldened the United States to make further demands.

“In the Pakistan negotiations, we made a strategic mistake. We should not have put the nuclear issue up for negotiation,” Nabavian, a member of parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, told state-affiliated SNN.

“By doing so, the enemy became bolder,” he added.

Nabavian said the United States demanded that Iran’s 60% enriched material be removed and blocked for 20 years, demands he said Tehran did not accept.

President Donald Trump plans to give Iran a limited timeframe to present a unified proposal to revive diplomatic negotiations, CNN reported on Wednesday, citing two sources familiar with internal discussions.

The administration does not want to indefinitely extend the ceasefire and does not want to give Iran time to drag out talks further, the report cited the sources as saying.

The president was wary of extending the initial ceasefire beyond the Wednesday deadline, the sources added, according to the report. Trump wants a deal finalized as soon as possible, and had hoped the pressure of a deadline would force the Iranians to the table before the ceasefire expired.

The Virtual Embassy Tehran urged US citizens to leave Iran immediately after the country’s airspace partially reopened on Tuesday.

In a security alert, the embassy said US citizens should monitor local media for updates and consult commercial carriers for flights out of Iran.

It added that Americans could also depart by land through Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey and Turkmenistan.

“Good news” on a second round of talks between the United States and Iran could come as soon as Friday, the New York Post reported on Wednesday, citing President Donald Trump and Pakistani sources.

The report cited sources in Islamabad as saying that mediation efforts with Tehran had renewed the possibility of more peace talks within the next 36 to 72 hours.

Asked about this possible breakthrough, Trump told the Post in a text message: “It’s possible! President DJT.”

Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said on Wednesday that it fired a drone at an Israeli post in southern Lebanon in retaliation for what it described as Israeli violations of the 10-day ceasefire.

The Israeli military said Hezbollah had violated the ceasefire by launching “a hostile aircraft” toward Israeli soldiers operating in the area.

Israel said the aircraft was intercepted by its air force and did not cross into Israeli territory.