Iran foreign ministry spokesperson Ismail Baqaei told Shafaqna on 20 April that Iran "does not confirm" ceasefire-extension speculation and that "message exchanges continue"1. He also said a Pakistani delegation was expected in Tehran rather than in Islamabad, a venue shift that moves the mediation's centre of gravity.
The channel has moved from a US-facing triangular format, which ran through the Islamabad talks under Vice President JD Vance, to a direct Iran-Pakistan bilateral carried by Pakistan Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir. Diplomacy now runs through a serving soldier, in Tehran, without Washington in the room. Baqaei's denial directly contradicted the wire-service reporting that had cited regional officials on an in-principle two-week extension, the same reporting the oil market priced as authoritative on Friday.
For European foreign ministries tracking the process, the Tehran venue alters the process operationally. Text drafted in Tehran and carried by Munir does not pass through a US interagency. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt's statement that the US had not formally requested the extension is consistent with that absence; the United States is being briefed on the process rather than running it. A counter-view from Pakistani diplomats is that Islamabad's dual-track, mediating in Tehran while Pakistani F-16s reinforce Saudi airspace, is the pragmatic posture of a state with hard stakes on both sides of the Gulf. That is plausible. It is also a posture Washington used to occupy by default.
