US-Iran working to finalize deal as Iranian president arrives in Pakistan – National
Iran’s president arrived in Pakistan on Tuesday to hold talks with officials who were mediating talks between Tehran and Washington on a permanent end to the Middle East war, as disagreements emerged over what had been agreed so far and violence erupted again in Lebanon.
President Masoud Pezeshkian’s visit to Islamabad comes as technical teams work on the details of the agreement following high-level talks in Switzerland on Monday led by US Vice President JD Vance and Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf.
In Tehran, the capital of Iran, the spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Esmail Baghaei told reporters that there is no visit planned for the UN watchdog – International Atomic Energy Agency – to inspect the Iranian nuclear sites that were bombed by the United States last year. Earlier, Vance said the Swiss negotiators won an agreement for inspectors to visit the sites.
The IAEA has been in and out of Iran since Israel’s 12-day war in 2025, but has not been granted access to the bomb enrichment facilities targeted by the US at the time.
Meanwhile, violence erupted again in southern Lebanon when Israeli soldiers opened fire and killed two people. The reports of violence came after two days of calm following a ceasefire on Saturday. Any renewal of heavy fighting could threaten broader diplomatic talks, as Iran has demanded a comprehensive deal in Lebanon be part of any comprehensive deal.
The president of Iran is visiting Islamabad for the first time since the start of the war
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and other senior officials received Pezeshkian upon his arrival in Islamabad amid tight security, according to Pakistani state media. Television footage showed Pezeshkian hugging Zardari and Sharif as they welcomed him.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also joined the delegation in Islamabad.
The first visit of the president of Iran since the conflict began with the attack of the US and Israel on Iran on February 28.
Pezeshkian and Sharif were to hold a joint news conference after their talks.
In the first talks, which marked the beginning of a 60-day process seeking to reach a permanent agreement to end the war in Iran, Iran and the US agreed to create a “de-confliction cell” to deal with the war in Lebanon between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group. The US said the negotiators had discussed “ways” to ensure that the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil shipping route that Iran successfully blockaded during the war, remains open.
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Before his meetings in Pakistan, Pezeshkian warned that “the success of the negotiations depends on full commitment to the agreed obligations and their precise implementation.”
“Progress along this line will be measured by actual adherence to accepted commitments,” he wrote in X. “Statements outside of the agreed text are not helpful in moving the negotiations forward.”
Iran says the talks are focused on sanctions relief, nuclear issues and more
Iran suggested that the ongoing talks in Switzerland led to the creation of some discussion groups, including those focused on sanctions relief, nuclear issues, reconstruction and monitoring, according to the IRNA news agency.
The report quoted Kazem Gharibabadi, the deputy minister of foreign affairs leading the technical negotiations, saying that the countries involved should also build a communication channel through the Strait of Hormuz and the war in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah.
It is not clear whether the deconfliction cell that will be created will be enough to stop the fighting between the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah and Israel, which holds part of Lebanon and insists that it must be able to attack terrorists who attack in the north of Israel.
Israeli soldiers opened fire and killed two men in the southern Lebanese city of Nabatiyeh al-Fawqa on Tuesday, the National News Agency of Lebanon reported, saying that the two were near a bulldozer that was repairing a road.
Separately, the organization said that Israeli soldiers fired on civilians near the town of Hadatha when they were going to bury them accompanied by Lebanese soldiers.
There was no immediate comment from Israel.
Differences in Iran’s use of unfrozen currency
After high-level talks in Switzerland, Vance said that if Iran’s financial assets were not frozen, they would be used to buy American-grown food.
Vance said the US and Qatar would get approval for the process, but if Iranian money is available as sanctions are lifted, “it will go to buy American soup, American corn and American wheat for the benefit of the Iranian people.”
However, Iran has no current need for US crops and Baghaei said on Tuesday that Tehran’s decisions on what to import would depend on “quantity and quality.”
“It is interesting that the philosophy and the purpose of the war, which was the destruction of Iranian civilization and the fall of Iran, has become rich in American farmers,” Baghaei said in Tehran.
Iran’s ambassador to Geneva, Ali Bahreini, also questioned Vance’s contention that the US and Qatar would have to approve how Iran uses unfrozen funds.
“Iran is the only country that decides what to do with those goods,” he told reporters.
Netanyahu raises new questions about Lebanon’s ceasefire
Mediators in Pakistan and Qatar said the cell would involve the Lebanese government and would “ensure compliance with the cessation of military operations in Lebanon,” but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu raised new questions Monday, saying his forces “still have complete freedom of action to prevent any direct or imminent threat to them or the residents of the north.”
Israel and Hezbollah are not signatories to the US-Iran deal, and Netanyahu has vowed to keep his troops in southern Lebanon until any threat to Israel is eliminated. Hezbollah has refused to stop the attack unless Israel is willing to withdraw.
When asked about Netanyahu’s comments, US President Donald Trump said “we will look into it,” adding that the situation “will be resolved.”
The main road south from Beirut was congested on Tuesday as people displaced from southern Lebanon returned to their homes. Among them was Hawraa Nour El-Din, from the village of Khirbet Selm.
“We don’t want the negotiations to be done by the government,” he said. “We want Iran to negotiate with us, and we come back victorious, whether everyone likes it or not.”
No Israeli airstrikes or bombings have been reported since Sunday, a day after the ceasefire agreement was reached, and Hezbollah has not claimed any attacks in the long-standing ceasefire since the latest Israeli-Hezbollah war broke out on March 2.
Lebanon and Israel planned another round of direct talks in Washington on Tuesday, which were expected to focus on developing a plan for Israel’s withdrawal.
