By Steve Holland, Enas Alashray and Mubasher Bukhari
WASHINGTON/CAIRO/ISLAMABAD, April 21 (Reuters) - Iran said on Tuesday it had still yet to decide whether to attend last-ditch peace talks with the United States, after U.S. forces boarded a huge Iranian oil tanker at sea with just a day left before the ceasefire runs out in the war in the Gulf.
President Donald Trump said he hoped to reach a "great deal" to end the war, but he did not want to extend the ceasefire, and said the U.S. military was "raring to go" if negotiations were not successful.
Vice President JD Vance, due to lead the U.S. delegation, had yet to board a flight for Islamabad, where the centre of the city has been locked down and a luxury hotel has been cleared out to host the talks.
A White House official said Vance would participate in additional meetings in Washington on Tuesday.
IRAN ACCUSES U.S. OF PIRACY
By the evening on Tuesday, the spokesperson for Iran's foreign ministry, Esmaeil Baghaei, told state television Iran had still yet to decide whether to attend.
He described the boarding of the tanker, as well as the seizure of a separate cargo ship on Sunday, as "piracy at sea and state terrorism", which he said called into question Washington's seriousness in negotiating.
"The aggression against Iranian ships and the continued pressure indicate the continuation of the opposing side's contradictory behaviour," Baghaei said.
Pakistan's Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said in a post on X that Pakistan was still waiting for Iran's reply to its invitation: "Pakistan as the mediator is in constant touch with Iranians and pursuing the path of diplomacy and dialogue."
TRUMP SAYS MILITARY IS 'RARING TO GO'
Asked about the possibility of extending the truce, Trump told CNBC: "I don't want to do that. We don't have that much time."
"I expect to be bombing because I think that's a better attitude to go in with," he added. "But we're ready to go. I mean, the military is raring to go."
Iranian government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said: "We do not want to be attacked again, but if such attacks occur, we will definitely respond more firmly than before," according to the state news agency IRNA.
U.S. SAYS IT BOARDS TANKER 'WITHOUT INCIDENT'
The U.S. military said its forces had boarded a tanker under sanctions for trading with Iran, the Tifani, in an operation that took place "without incident".
The vessel last reported its position on Tuesday morning as near Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean, according to MarineTraffic tracking data. It was close to fully loaded with 2 million barrels of crude and had signalled Singapore as its destination.
"As we have made clear, we will pursue global maritime enforcement efforts to disrupt illicit networks and interdict sanctioned vessels providing material support to Iran — anywhere they operate," U.S. Central Command said.
Iranian officials have publicly cited a U.S. blockade of their ships as a reason not to negotiate.
On social media, Trump said Iran had carried out numerous violations of the ceasefire, without giving further details. He told CNBC that the blockade had been a success and the U.S. was in a strong position to end up with a "great deal".
OIL PRICES RISE AGAIN
The precise timing of the ceasefire's end has been a source of confusion. Trump initially announced it would last two weeks from the evening of Tuesday, April 7 in Washington. But he said this week that it runs until the evening of Wednesday, April 22, effectively giving it an extra 24 hours.
A Pakistani source involved in the talks also said it would expire at 8 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, which is 3:30 a.m. Thursday in Iran.
Iran has largely blocked off the Strait of Hormuz that controls access to the Gulf to all ships but its own. It had announced last week that it would reopen the strait, but reversed that decision on Saturday after Trump refused to lift his blockade of Iranian ports.
That has left the strait closed and the world deprived of the 20 million barrels of oil that typically crossed it each day.
A first session of talks 10 days ago produced no agreement and Tehran had been ruling out a second round after the U.S. refused to end its blockade and seized an Iranian cargo ship. Trump has threatened to attack Iran's civilian infrastructure if no deal is done.
Still, a Pakistani source involved in the discussions told Reuters there was momentum for talks to resume and Vance was still expected in Islamabad.
Wall Street stocks turned mostly lower, while global equities dipped as optimism over peace talks faded. Oil prices climbed about 3%.
IRAN NUCLEAR PROGRAMME A CRUCIAL ISSUE
Trump wants an agreement that would prevent further oil price rises and stock market shocks, but has insisted Iran cannot have the means to develop a nuclear weapon. He wants Iran to give up its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, which can, if further enriched, be used for a nuclear warhead.
Tehran hopes to exploit its control of the strait to strike a deal that averts a restart of the war and lifts sanctions, while retaining more of its nuclear programme, which it says is for peaceful purposes.
Thousands have been killed by U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran and a parallel Israeli bombing campaign and invasion of Lebanon.
The war has caused a historic shock to global energy supplies, and fears that the global economy could be pushed to the brink of recession.
Pakistan has been preparing to host the talks despite the uncertainty. Nearly 20,000 security personnel have been deployed across Islamabad, officials said.
(Reporting by Reuters bureaus; Writing by Martin Petty and Kevin Liffey; Editing by Stephen Coates, Raju Gopalakrishnan, Peter Graff and Alison Williams)
