In brief
- Iran’s negotiating team has arrived in Pakistan for peace talks with the United States on ending the war in the Middle East.
- Peace demands have been laid out by Iran including the unblocking of assets and a ceasefire in Lebanon.
Iran’s delegation has touched down in Islamabad, ready to engage in peace discussions with the United States. However, Iran has made it clear that specific preconditions must be addressed before progress can be made, putting the planned meetings in Pakistan under a cloud of uncertainty.
Just recently, US President Donald Trump announced a temporary ceasefire, spanning two weeks, in the six-week-long conflict in the Middle East. This announcement came on the cusp of a critical deadline, beyond which Trump had issued dire warnings about potential devastation to Iran’s culture and heritage.
This ceasefire has effectively paused the aerial bombardments by the US and Israel targeting Iran. Nevertheless, it hasn’t resolved Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz—a move that has severely disrupted global energy supplies. Moreover, the ceasefire has not eased tensions between Israel and the Hezbollah forces supported by Iran in Lebanon.
Iran’s parliamentary speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said on X that Washington had previously agreed to unblock Iranian assets and to a ceasefire in Lebanon, and added that talks would not start until those pledges are fulfilled.
Iranian state media reported that Qalibaf arrived in Islamabad on Friday local time and the delegation includes senior political, military and economic officials, including Iran’s foreign minister, defence council secretary, central bank governor and several members of parliament.
While there was no immediate comment from the White House on the Iranian demands, Trump said in a social media post that the only reason the Iranians were alive was to negotiate a deal.
“The Iranians don’t seem to realise they have no cards, other than a short term extortion of the World by using International Waterways. The only reason they are alive today is to negotiate!” he said.
US vice president JD Vance, who will lead the US delegation, said he expected a positive outcome as he headed to Pakistan, but added: “If they’re going to try to play us, then they’re going to find the negotiating team is not that receptive.”
Iran has been unable to obtain tens of billions of dollars of its assets in foreign banks, mainly from exports of oil and gas, due to US sanctions on its banking and energy sectors.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, in a national address on Friday night, laid out the stakes of the talks.
“The permanent ceasefire is the next difficult phase, which is to resolve the complicated issues through negotiation. This, as called in English, is a make-or-break phase,” Sharif said.
Israeli fighting with Hezbollah continues
Israel and the US have said the campaign against militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon is not part of the agreed ceasefire.
Lebanon’s presidency said Lebanon and Israel held a telephone call between their ambassadors in Washington on Friday. It said the call was part of efforts to secure a ceasefire and launch negotiations, adding that the two sides agreed to hold a first meeting on Tuesday at the US state department under US mediation.
Israel launched the biggest attack of the war hours after the ceasefire was announced, killing more than 350 people in surprise strikes on heavily populated areas, Lebanese authorities said.
Israeli strikes continued across southern Lebanon on Friday. One strike on a government building in the city of Nabatieh killed 13 members of Lebanon’s state security forces, President Joseph Aoun said in a statement.
Hezbollah said in a statement on its Telegram channel that it fired rocket salvos at northern Israeli towns in response.
Lebanese authorities say at least 1,953 people have been killed in Israeli strikes since 2 March.
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