Iran Denies Ceasefire Extension Talks

PHOTO CAPTION: People walk near a billboard depicting Iran's late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on a street in Tehran, Iran, August 3, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS

DUBAI, Aug. 12 — Iran and the United States are not discussing an extension of their ceasefire because Tehran does not consider the agreement to have had a defined start date, a senior Iranian source told Reuters on Wednesday.

The comments followed a report by Turkey’s Anadolu news agency, citing Pakistani government sources, that Tehran and Washington had agreed to extend a 60-day ceasefire under an interim agreement signed in June.

That agreement called for an “immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts,” but it quickly broke down. President Donald Trump said the deal was “over” on July 7, while Iran’s Foreign Ministry declared it “suspended” a week later.

“There is no talk of an extension because, from Iran’s perspective, there is no period that began and therefore nothing to extend,” the senior Iranian source told Reuters. “The United States violated the interim agreement 48 hours after it was reached and withdrew from it a few days later.”

The 60-day period in the agreement referred instead to an extendable timeframe during which Iran and the United States were expected to negotiate a final deal limiting Tehran’s nuclear program and lifting U.S. sanctions.

Several conditions, including a ceasefire in Lebanon, free navigation in the Gulf and waivers allowing Iran to sell its oil, were viewed as necessary before that further negotiating period could begin.

The senior Iranian source said discussions through mediators were focused instead on whether the United States would return to the interim agreement and establish a timeframe for carrying out its commitments.

“There has been absolutely no progress on this issue,” the source said.

(Source: Reuters)