The Iranian delegation faced urgent security threats on Monday while en route to Islamabad, Pakistan, for ceasefire negotiation talks with the United States, Hezbollah-affiliated media outlet Al-Mayadeen reported.
Professor Mohammad Marandi, who accompanied the delegation, told the Lebanese news outlet that they were warned of a potential attack on their aircraft, prompting heightened caution during and after the visit. On the way back to Tehran after talks ended, the group took an alternative route "after confirming that the delegation was under attack," Marandi said.
London-based anti-regime outlet Iran International has described Marandi as the regime's "government mouthpiece," who had a close relationship to former supreme leader Ali Khamenei.
"We don't trust the United States," Marandi told Al-Mayadeen on Tuesday, "and we are also being very busy preparing ourselves for the next round of war."
Iran "always knew the United States was deceitful," he continued, adding that the regime is bolstering its military capabilities "while we are at the negotiating table," the Lebanese news outlet reported.
Negotiating teams from the US and Iran could return to Islamabad this week, four sources said on Tuesday, days after the highest-level talks between the two countries since the 1979 Islamic Revolution ended in the Pakistani capital without a breakthrough.
US, Iran negotiating teams could return to Islamabad this week after talks stall - report
On Monday, US President Donald Trump said Iran had called that morning and that "they'd like to work a deal." Reuters could not immediately verify the assertion.
US Vice President JD Vance said that the previous peace talks between the US and Iran, which took place over the weekend, had ended as a result of the Iranian team’s lack of approval to cut a deal, and that it’s up to Iran to take the next step in negotiations on Monday evening.
Among the slew of issues at stake last weekend was the Strait of Hormuz, a major transit point for global energy supplies that Iran has effectively blocked, but the US has vowed to reopen, as well as Iran's nuclear program and international sanctions on Tehran.
During the negotiations, the US made clear that it would need to take possession of the enriched uranium Iran has in its possession, and that mechanisms would need to be put in place to ensure that Iran would be unable to enrich uranium again, Vance said.
Reuters contributed to this report.