Hopes for US-Iran talks revived as Pakistan military chief visits Tehran – National
Pakistan’s military chief is expected to meet with Iranian officials in Tehran on Thursday in hopes of extending a deal that has halted the nearly seven-week standoff between Iran, the US and Israel.
It remains unclear whether intense negotiations can lead to a lasting deal as the two-week ceasefire passes the halfway mark.
The war in Iran has killed thousands of people and boosted world markets by disrupting the flow of oil.
The meeting comes as US President Donald Trump announced that the leaders of Israel and Lebanon will talk later on Thursday about ending hostilities between Israel and the Iran-backed terrorist group Hezbollah in Lebanon.
If it happened, the conversation was the first time that the leaders of the two countries had spoken directly in more than 30 years.
Both the Israeli and Lebanese governments have refused to confirm any discussion. Meanwhile, Hezbollah and Israeli forces continued their cross-border attacks on Thursday.
The White House has said that any further talks on Iran are likely to take place in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, although no decision has been made on whether to resume talks.
A fragile cease-fire, which halted fighting last week, remains in place despite the blockade of US warships in Iranian ports and Iranian threats to target regional ports across the Red Sea.
Pakistan has emerged as an important mediator after holding direct talks between the US and Iran in Islamabad that officials say have helped ease tensions between the two sides.
Arbitrators are seeking a new round before the end of the dispute expires next week.
The war has shaken markets and shaken the global economy as shipping has been disrupted and airstrikes have torn apart military and civilian infrastructure across the region.
Oil prices fell amid hopes of an end to the war, and US stocks on Wednesday surpassed records set in January.
Trump said Israel and Lebanon are expected to talk later on Thursday about a ceasefire, but did not specify which leaders would speak.
Officials in Netanyahu’s office and the Lebanese government declined to confirm a potential discussion.
The Israeli minister said Netanyahu will speak with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Thursday.
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“Today the prime minister will speak for the first time with the president of Lebanon, after so many years of complete cessation of dialogue between the two countries,” said Gila Gamliel, the minister of science and technology in Israel, told Army Radio on Thursday morning.
Gamliel, who was at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday night regarding negotiations with Lebanon, is part of Israel’s security cabinet.
He said the talks “will hopefully ultimately lead to prosperity and prosperity” between the two countries.
Lebanon and Israel held their first direct talks in decades on Tuesday in Washington following more than a month of war between Israel and Hezbollah-backed Iran.
But Israel and Hezbollah exchanged fire across the border on Thursday, with Hezbollah targeting towns in northern Israel with rockets and drones.
Israeli fire directed at southern Lebanon is intense, especially in the cities of Tire, Nabatieh, and the strategic city of Bint Jbeil near the border with Israel.
Israel and Lebanon have been at war since Israel’s founding in 1948, and Lebanon remains divided over negotiations with Israel.
On Thursday, Aoun said Lebanon wants a cease-fire but that Israeli forces must first withdraw from southern Lebanon as an “important step” to allow Lebanese troops to deploy along the border and dislodge Hezbollah.
Israeli troops have moved deep into southern Lebanon to create what officials have called a “security zone,” which Netanyahu said would extend at least 8 to 10 kilometers (5 to 6 miles) into Lebanon to avoid threats from short-range rockets and tank-launched missiles.
US, Iran are making progress, officials say
Even though the US blockade of Iranian ports and renewed Iranian threats undermine the ceasefire agreement, regional officials reported progress, telling the Associated Press that the United States and Iran had a “basic agreement” to extend it to allow more communication.
They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
But while mediators worked for peace, tensions flared.
The commander of Iran’s joint military command, Ali Abdollahi, has threatened to freeze trade in the region if the US does not lift its military embargo, and a newly appointed military adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has said he does not support extending the ceasefire.
Mediators seek consensus
Mediators are seeking agreement on three key issues that stalled direct talks last weekend – Iran’s nuclear program, the Strait of Hormuz and compensation for wartime damages, according to a regional official involved in the mediation efforts.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said Iran is open to discussing the type and level of its uranium enrichment, but his country “based on its needs, must be able to continue enriching,” Iranian state media reported.
The war has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, more than 2,100 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in the Gulf Arab countries. Thirteen US service members were also killed.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Trump administration would increase economic pain in Iran with new economic sanctions on countries that do business with it, calling the move the “financial equivalent” of the bombing campaign.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif arrived in Qatar on Thursday as part of a regional tour aimed at discussing the ongoing US-Iran peace process, his office said.
China wants the Strait of Hormuz to be reopened
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said a window of peace had opened when he spoke with his Iranian counterpart, who told him about the latest developments in Iran-US talks and Tehran’s consideration of the next step, according to a statement from China’s Foreign Ministry.
Wang told Araghchi that the situation has reached a critical point between war and peace, and said that Iran’s sovereignty, security and legal rights should be respected as a country in the Strait of Hormuz, while freedom of movement and safety in this road should be guaranteed.
Since the start of the war, Iran has restricted maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil transits in peacetime.
Tehran’s effective closure of the strait has sent oil prices skyrocketing, driving up the cost of fuel, food and other basic goods away from the Middle East, and the US has responded with a blockade of Iranian shipping.
The US Central Command said on Wednesday that no ships had passed the blockade since it was imposed two days earlier, and that 10 merchant ships were complying with the directive of the US military to turn around and enter Iranian waters.
The embargo is aimed at forcing Iran, which has exported millions of barrels of oil, mainly to Asia, since the war began on February 28.
Much of it is likely to be carried by so-called dark assets that evade sanctions and oversight, providing the money that has been essential to keeping Iran running.
