Amid disputes and distrust, direct US-Iran talks begin in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The United States and Iran began face-to-face talks in Pakistan on Saturday, days after declaring a fragile two-week ceasefire as a war that has killed thousands and shaken global markets enters its seventh week. The White House confirmed the direct nature of the talks, a rare example of high-level engagement between the U.S. government and the Iranian government. Iran’s state-run news agency said trilateral talks, including Pakistan, had begun after Iran’s preconditions, including a reduction in Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon, were met. A senior official in the Shehbaz government told PTI that “formal direct negotiations between Iran and the United States officially started on Saturday evening after Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif held separate meetings with the US and Iranian delegations.” The U.S. delegation, led by Vice President Vance, and the Iranian delegation, led by Knesset Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, are discussing how to move forward with a ceasefire already frayed by deep divisions and threats from ongoing Israeli attacks against Hezbollah in Lebanon. Vance, accompanied by special envoy Steve Witkoff and President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, arrived in Islamabad hours after Qalibaf. Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir received the two delegations at the Nur Khan Air Base in Rawalpindi, which was damaged by Indian attacks during Operation Sindoor. Iranians wore black to mourn Ayatollah Khamenei and others killed in the war.

Officials from China, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Qatar facilitate talks in Islamabad

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is also a member of the delegation. The most direct U.S. contact since Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution came in September 2013, when President Barack Obama called newly elected President Hassan Rouhani to discuss Iran’s nuclear program. The most recent highest-level meeting was between Secretary of State John Kerry and his counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif during negotiations on the plan. Iran doubled down on parts of its previous proposal, with its delegation telling Iranian state television that it had raised some ideas for the plan as “red lines” in its meeting with Sharif. These include compensation for losses caused by the U.S.-Israeli attack that triggered the war on February 28. Officials in the region said that officials from China, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Qatar came to Islamabad to indirectly facilitate the talks, reflecting the high stakes. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive issue.