(Web Desk): Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations Amir-Saeid Iravani responded to US President Donald Trump’s ceasefire extension, stating that there will be no talks with the US until the blockade is lifted.

“The United States must halt its ‘violation of the ceasefire’ before any new round of negotiations,” the ambassador told Iranian media outlet Shargh, according to Al Jazeera.

“As soon as they lift the blockade, the next round of negotiations will be held in Islamabad,” the ambassador said, adding, “Iran is prepared for any scenario.”

“We have not been the initiator of military aggression. If they seek a political solution, we are ready. If they seek war, Iran is ready for that as well,” he said.

Iranian spokesperson criticises US ‘lack of good faith’

In an interview with the BBC, Spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry Esmaeil Baghaei said Iran entered the first round of talks with seriousness and goodwill, but lashed out at Washington for repeatedly shifting positions, maintaining its naval blockade, and taking hostile actions that undermine the diplomatic process, reported Iran’s semi-official Tasnim News Agency.

He said Iran’s delegation to the first round of Pakistani-mediated talks with the US had gone to Islamabad “with good faith and sense of seriousness, but you have a negotiating party that has shown its lack of seriousness, lack of good faith”.

“They’re changing their position frequently,” he said.

According to Tasnim, he pointed to “flip flops, threats of war crimes,” referencing US President Donald Trump’s social media posts and recent interviews where he threatened to “knock out every single power plant, and every single bridge” if Iran did not accept what he called the US’s offer of a “very fair and reasonable deal”.

Asked whether Iran had agreed to attend a new round of talks in Islamabad and then changed its decision, Baghaei said, “We never said we were going and then reneged our commitments – as is the habit of the United States.”

Three ships hit by gunfire in Strait of Hormuz

At least three container ships were hit by gunfire ​in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, maritime security sources ‌and the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said.

Iran has imposed restrictions on ships using the strait, first in retaliation for the US-Israeli bombardment of the ​country, and then in response to a US blockade of Iranian ports.

​A Liberia-flagged container ship sustained damage to its bridge after ⁠being hit by gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades northeast of Oman.

The UKMTO ​said the master of the vessel reported being approached by an IRGC ​gunboat. The vessel, it said, was subsequently fired upon. All crew members were safe and there was no fire or environmental impact due to the incident.

Maritime security ​sources said that three people were onboard that gunboat.

The master of the Greek-operated container ​ship also reported that no radio contact was made before the incident and ‌that ⁠the vessel had been initially informed that it had permission to transit the Strait of Hormuz.

The UKMTO later said that a second container vessel had been fired upon about eight nautical miles west of Iran. ​The Panama-flagged vessel was not damaged ​and its ⁠crew members are safe.

Maritime security sources said that a third container ship was fired upon about eight ​nautical miles west of Iran while transiting outbound of ​the Strait ⁠of Hormuz. The Liberia-flagged vessel, which was not damaged had stopped in the water. Its crew are safe, the sources said.

IRGC ready to unveil ‘surprises’

The IRGC said it is prepared to deliver new achievements and “surprises”, warning of responses to any renewed act of aggression, according to Iran’s semi-official Tasnim News Agency.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the IRGC described itself as a force ready to deploy new capabilities in the battlefield against an aggressive and untrustworthy enemy, reported Tasnim.

The statement said the Iranian nation takes pride in the IRGC’s comprehensive strategic capabilities, alongside other branches of the Armed Forces, noting that their missile and drone strikes have left the Israeli and US forces strained and weakened.

According to Tasnim, referring to the current phase described as a “silence in military confrontation,” the IRGC stressed the need for vigilance and monitoring of the enemy’s behaviour during negotiations and the ceasefire” period.

Additionally, Al Jazeera reported that the IRGC Navy seized two vessels and transferred them to Iran’s coast, stating that “disrupting order and safety in the Strait of Hormuz is considered a red line for Iran”.

Similarly, Mehr News Agency reported that a Greek ship named Euphoria was targeted by the IRGC and is now stranded off the coast of Iran.

UN chief welcomes US ceasefire extension with Iran

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has welcomed an announcement by the US to extend the ceasefire with Iran, his spokesman said on Tuesday.

“This is an important step toward de-escalation and creating critical space for diplomacy and confidence-building between Iran and the United States,” Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.

The statement came after US President Donald Trump said that Washington would extend its ceasefire with Iran to allow time for Tehran to prepare a “unified proposal” following a request by Pakistani officials.

Dujarric said the UN encourages all parties to refrain from actions that could undermine the ceasefire and engage constructively in negotiations to reach “a sustainable and lasting” resolution.

Noting that Guterres fully supports Pakistan’s efforts to facilitate continued dialogue, Dujarric expressed hope that these diplomatic efforts would help establish the conditions necessary for a “comprehensive and durable resolution” to the conflict.

Trump’s announcement came as a US delegation led by Vice President JD Vance was expected Tuesday to travel to Islamabad for a second round of face-to-face talks with Iran, though the trip was delayed.

The negotiations would have followed an initial round of high-level engagement in Pakistan earlier this month, which ended without a breakthrough.

The ceasefire, initially announced earlier this month, had been set to expire on Wednesday.

Trump declares Iran ceasefire extension with peace talks in doubt

US President Donald Trump said he would indefinitely extend the ceasefire with Iran to allow for further peace talks, although it was not clear on Wednesday if Iran or Israel, the US ally in the two-month war, would agree.

Trump said in a statement on social media that “Upon the request of Field Marshal Asim Munir, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, of Pakistan, we have been asked to hold our attack on the Country of Iran until their leaders and representatives can come up with a unified proposal.”

Pakistan’s leaders have hosted peace talks in Islamabad to end a war that has killed thousands of people and shaken the global economy.

But even as he announced what appeared to be a unilateral ceasefire extension, Trump also said he would continue the US Navy’s blockade of Iran’s trade by sea, considered an act of war by Iran.

There was no response from senior Iranian officials early on Wednesday to Trump’s announcement, although some initial reactions from Tehran suggested Trump’s comments were being treated sceptically.

Tasnim News Agency, affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, said Iran had not asked for a ceasefire extension and repeated threats to break the US blockade by force. An adviser to Iran’s lead negotiator, the speaker of parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said Trump’s announcement carried little weight and may be a ploy.

Trump’s wartime rhetoric has veered between extremes. In an expletive-filled threat against Iran only two weeks ago, he promised that a “whole civilisation will die tonight”, while at other times he has appeared keen to end the violence and market uncertainty.

With his announcement, Trump again pulled back at the last moment from his threats to bomb Iran’s power plants and bridges. United Nations Secretary General António Guterres and others have condemned those threats, noting international humanitarian law forbids attacks targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure.

In a separate Truth Social post, Trump has claimed that Iran is “collapsing financially” and “wants the Strait of Hormuz open immediately” as they are “starving for cash!” He has also claimed that the military and the police are “complaining that they are not being paid.”

In a separate post, Trump stated that by opening the Strait, Iran could make “$500 million dollars a day,” claiming that they “only say they want it closed because I have it totally BLOCKADED (CLOSED!), so they merely want to ‘save face’.”

He added that there can “never be a deal with Iran” unless the US “blow(s) up the rest of their Country, their leaders included!”

Trump slammed Elliot Kaufman, a Wall Street Journal Editorial Board member, for his editorial piece titled “The Iranians Take Trump for a Sucker.”

In response to the Op-Ed, Trump claimed that he gave the Iranians a “Country in tatters”, saying that the US had destroyed their navy, air force, anti aircraft, radar systems and their nuclear laboratories and storage facilities, referring to the June 2025 attacks during Operation Midnight Hammer.

He went on to criticise former US president Barack Obama for giving Iran “$1.7 Billion Dollars in ‘Green’ Cash,” and “Hundreds of Billions of Dollars in order to help them on their way to a Nuclear Bomb.”

The US and Israel began the war on February 28 with aerial bombardments of Iran, and one of the first strikes in Iran killed over 170 people, many of whom were children. The conflict quickly spread to Gulf states that host US military bases and to Lebanon after Hezbollah launched retaliatory strikes against the Israeli attacks on its territory.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has for decades sought to oust Iran’s leadership, but Trump has given shifting and sometimes contradictory rationales for joining Israel to launch the war and how he foresees it ending, stirring confusion in global markets.

US stock futures rose, the dollar wavered, and oil prices turned lower on Wednesday after Trump’s announcement.

More than 5,000 civilians have been killed across the region and hundreds of thousands displaced so far, mostly in Iran and Lebanon due to US-Israeli strikes on civilian infrastructure, and the war has led to the virtual closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital chokepoint in global energy markets between Iran and Oman, sending oil prices soaring and fears that the global economy could enter a recession.

Iran has repeatedly exploited its ability to control the passage of oil tankers and other ships in the strait in response to US and Israeli attacks.

Trump said in his statement he was willing to extend the ceasefire because “the Government of Iran is seriously fractured, not unexpectedly so,” a reference to US-Israeli assassinations of some of the country’s leaders in the war’s first weeks, including the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has been succeeded by his son.

A few hours before his announcement, Trump had told the CNBC news channel that he was not inclined to continue the temporary truce and the US military was “raring to go.”

Those comments came as tentatively scheduled peace talks in Islamabad seemed on the verge of falling apart: US Vice President JD Vance, whose presence has been requested by the Iranians, had planned to return to Pakistan on Tuesday, but a White House official said he had not yet departed Washington and was taking part in additional policy meetings.

Before Trump’s latest announcement, a senior Iranian official told Reuters that Iran’s negotiators had been willing to attend another round of talks if the US abandoned a policy of pressure and threats, and rejected negotiations aimed at surrender.

Iran has condemned the US Navy intercepting and seizing two commercial Iranian ships at sea as part of its blockade, the second earlier on Tuesday, with its foreign ministry accusing the US of “piracy at sea and state terrorism.” The US, joined by multiple other countries, has condemned Iran for impeding freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.

Hours after extending the ceasefire, Trump doubled down on the US blockade, saying in a social media post that lifting it would undermine any chance of a peace deal “unless we blow up the rest of their Country, their leaders included.”

A first session of talks 10 days ago produced no agreement, with much of the focus on Iran’s stockpiles of highly enriched uranium.

Trump claims he wants to take the uranium out of Iran to prevent the country from enriching it further to the point where it could develop a nuclear weapon. Iran says it has only a peaceful civilian nuclear program and a sovereign right to continue that as a signatory of the nuclear weapons non-proliferation treaty.