Iran's Last-Minute Reversal: Ghalibaf Confirms Second Islamabad Talks as Ceasefire Expires; Trump 'Expects to Be Bombing'

After days of refusing to negotiate "under threat," Iran's leadership abruptly reversed course late April 21, confirming it would send a delegation to a second round of Pakistan-mediated talks in Islamabad even as the two-week ceasefire expired; Trump warned he "expects to be bombing" without a deal, while Iran declared it was negotiating "with finger on trigger."

April 21–22, 2026 crystallised the central paradox of the Iran war ceasefire: both sides were simultaneously threatening maximum force and consenting to maximum diplomacy. Through most of April 21, Iran's position appeared definitive. Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei had been explicit since April 20: Tehran had "no plans for the next round of negotiations" and did "not believe in deadlines or ultimatums." Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the chief Iranian negotiator, said Iran would not sit at a "table of surrender" and had "new cards on the battlefield" yet to be deployed. Iranian state television broadcast that "no delegation from Iran has visited Islamabad… so far." IRGC commander Ahmad Vahidi was reportedly pushing hard within the regime against resuming talks, arguing the Touska seizure had made the conditions for negotiation impossible. The United States had also seized a second vessel, the M/T Tifani — a sanctioned tanker previously caught smuggling Iranian crude through the Asia-Pacific — in a separate operation, deepening the sense that Washington was using the ceasefire period to degrade Iran's economic lifeline. Trump accelerated the pressure. In a CNBC "Squawk Box" interview, he stated: "I expect to be bombing because I think that's a better attitude to go in with." Speaking to reporters at the White House, he confirmed the ceasefire expired "Wednesday evening Washington time" and said extension was "highly unlikely." He stated he was "ready to go" if no deal materialised and accused Iran of violating the ceasefire "multiple times." His Truth Social messaging — which had undermined the first-round talks by overstating Iranian concessions — continued to frame events in maximalist terms. Pakistan's mediators did not stop working. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's team, backed by Field Marshal Asim Munir and Deputy PM Ishaq Dar, maintained a back-channel that neither Washington nor Tehran was willing to acknowledge publicly. Pakistan's information minister, Attaullah Tarar, told reporters Tuesday that Iran had "not yet formally confirmed" attendance — while simultaneously, regional officials were receiving private signals that a delegation was being assembled. The reversal came late Tuesday. Iran's leadership — following what diplomatic sources described as an intense internal debate — confirmed it would dispatch a team to Islamabad. The confirmation was enough for Washington: nine US military aircraft were tracked landing in Pakistan with personnel and equipment, and the White House confirmed that VP JD Vance, Steve Witkoff, and Jared Kushner would depart for Islamabad. Pakistani mediators received word that both Vance and Ghalibaf would lead their respective delegations upon arrival early Wednesday. Yet Iranian state TV's headline as delegations were boarding was still framed with caution: no official had "visited Islamabad so far," a formulation designed to preserve hardliner face domestically while not blocking actual movement. Iran's internal divide was in plain sight. Ghalibaf — a pragmatist by IRGC standards — had been the architect of Iran's negotiating posture throughout: willing to engage, but framing every concession as evidence of strength rather than coercion. The IRGC's Vahidi represented a faction that saw the talks as legitimising American aggression and argued Iran's military position remained intact despite the "Twelve-Day War" airstrikes, the blockade, and the Touska seizure. The decision to attend Round 2 was Ghalibaf's win — but the IRGC's public messaging ("finger on trigger," "new cards") was designed to signal to the domestic audience that the regime had not blinked. On the ground, the Strait of Hormuz remained virtually closed to commercial shipping for the fourth consecutive day. Oil prices hovered above $115 a barrel. The ceasefire — which the BBC noted had "broadly held" despite violations on both sides — expired at midnight GMT on April 22 (3:30 am in Tehran) without either a renewal or a formal declaration of resumption of hostilities. Trump had not restarted bombing. Iran had not fired ballistic missiles. The second Islamabad round was the thread holding the conflict back from its next escalatory phase. Regional powers watched the thread closely. Saudi Arabia issued its first public statement since the war began, saying it "strongly encourages" both parties to "seize the moment" and reach an agreement. Egypt and Jordan echoed calls for ceasefire extension. Gulf states had been quietly supplying US carrier groups with logistical support while simultaneously keeping back-channels to Tehran open — a dual-track that the Wall Street Journal called "strategic hedging at its most extreme." Al Jazeera's diplomatic correspondent summarised the situation bluntly: the second round of Islamabad talks was the last diplomatic door before a resumption of the most intense US-Iran military confrontation since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. If those talks failed, Trump had made clear what came next.