A DELEGATION OF top Iranian officials has arrived in Islamabad ahead of ceasefire talks with the United States in the Pakistani capital, Iranian state television reported.
The delegation was led by Iranian parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, along with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and other security and economic officials, state broadcaster IRIB said on its website. It reiterated Iran’s position, however, that talks would only begin if Washington accepts Iran’s preconditions.
Ghalibaf earlier set a ceasefire in Lebanon, where Israel has attacked militant group Hezbollah, and the “release of Iran’s blocked assets” as conditions for the start of negotiations with the US delegation led by vice president JD Vance.
Official sources say the Islamabad talks will cover sensitive points, including Iran’s nuclear enrichment and the free flow of trade through the Strait of Hormuz.
Since the two-week ceasefire started, US president Donald Trump has voiced displeasure at Iran’s handling of the strategic strait, which was meant to be reopened. Tehran has in turn reacted angrily to Israeli attacks in Lebanon, insisting that it too falls under the agreement.
Trump posted on his Truth Social network today that Iran has “no cards” in the talks “other than a short-term extortion of the World by using International Waterways”.
Pakistani prime minister Shehbaz Sharif thanked both sides for agreeing to meet, but said the talks will be hard work.
“A temporary ceasefire has been announced, but now an even more difficult stage lies ahead: the stage of achieving a lasting ceasefire, of resolving complicated issues through negotiations,” he said in a televised speech.
“This is that stage which, in English, is called the equivalent of ‘make or break’.”
Israel-Lebanon talks
Meanwhile, Lebanon’s presidency said today that a meeting would be held with Israel in Washington next week to discuss a ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war and the potential start of negotiations between the neighbours.
A presidency statement said that a first telephone call was held this evening between the Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors to Washington and the US ambassador to Lebanon, who was in the United States.
“During the call, it was agreed to hold the first meeting next Tuesday at the State Department to discuss declaring a ceasefire and the start date for negotiations between Lebanon and Israel under US auspices,” the statement added.