US-Iran peace talks begin in Islamabad through Pakistani mediators
Dekho ... Munir ney 'Courier service' ki fauz banai hae
Ceasefire talks between the United States and Iran are under way in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad – the first direct in-person talks between Washington and Tehran since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Inside, the convention centre in Islamabad is a wedding-banquet style spread of biryani, kebabs and gulab jamun, along with gourmet coffee blended from Brazilian and Ethiopian beans.
“We did the branding [‘Brewed for Peace’] just for the day,” one person manning the stall said.
Outside the hall, musicians played folk songs on a small stage. “I’m bored out of my mind,” one journalist said, declining to be named. Another offered a similar assessment: “There’s not much to do here.”
Earlier in the day, a senior Iranian source told Reuters the US had agreed to release frozen assets held in Qatar and other foreign banks, an assertion swiftly denied by a US official.
Trump says Iran 'LOSING BIG' as talks kick off
US President Donald Trump says Iran is "LOSING BIG" in the conflict as talks in Islamabad kick off.
In a lengthy Truth Social post, Trump claims members of the media "love saying that Iran is 'winning' when, in fact, everyone knows that they are LOSING and LOSING BIG".
He then goes on to repeat assertions his administration has made during the conflict:
"Their Navy is gone,
... their Air Force is gone, their Anti Aircraft apparatus is nonexistent,
Radar is dead, their Missile and Drone Factories have been largely obliterated along with the Missiles and Drones themselves and, most importantly, their longtime
'Leaders' are no longer with us, praise be to Allah!"
Even if indirect, this is a significant moment
It was hard to imagine in these six weeks of war, given how far apart the two sides stand on key issues
Moreover, there is deep mistrust.
If this leads to face-to-face talks that would be a tangible and historic results.
What we're watching for is whether by the end of this process, these talks deliver an extended ceasefire, any form of agreement, or even a promise to keep talking.
Media persons \were taken through multiple checkpoints and escorted by armed police into the centre of Islamabad’s diplomatic area: the red zone.
The convention centre is surrounded by billboards emblazoned with the US, Iranian and Pakistan flags and the words "Islamabad talks", the centre full of journalists who have travelled from around the world to cover them.
Large screens fill the centre’s auditorium broadcasting television stations from around the world covering the news from Islamabad.
Rarely has Pakistan found itself at the heart of such significant international diplomacy.
Trump's favourite Field Marshal Munir (honoured after humiliation meted by Indian forces during Operation Sindoor) plays two games --
his attire says it all.
In suit he received J D Vance but was in military outfit to receive Iranian delegation.
(Does this resemble Rahul Gandhi's T-shirt ? )
 | |
Pakis shuttle and Indian Sickular gang play cheer leaders
The choice of Islamabad as the venue for US-Iran peace talks has drawn sharp criticism.
British political commentator and writer David Vance was blunt: “The fact that Pakistan, which I consider to be a terrorist state, somehow positioned itself as a neutral arbitrator — I find that very strange. If they wanted a neutral arbitrator, it could have been India.”
Vance went further: “I’m very distrustful of these talks. It’s being held in the wrong place and on the wrong principles.
Welcome to human world's biggest dilemma of circa 2026.
A rogue nation is hosting the most crucial Peace Summit of the new century. Pakistan is a country well known as one that plays hide and seek with Terror and FATF norms !!
The Islamic regime has suffered crippling international sanctions for decades. It's demanding the lifting of all US and international sanctions as part of any deal.
On Friday, the speaker of parliament, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, said an estimated $120bn (£89bn) of frozen Iranian assets must be released before negotiations begin.
This, he said, was one of two previously agreed measures (the other being a ceasefire in Lebanon).
But the 7 April statement from Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announcing the two-week ceasefire said nothing about the release of frozen assets. It's not clear what agreement Qalibaf was referring to.
Among the conditions Tehran laid out to Sharif were the Strait of Hormuz, the release of Iran's blocked assets, the payment of war reparations, and a ceasefire to be enforced across the region, according to Iranian state TV.
Iran is also demanding a ceasefire in Lebanon, where Israeli attacks on Iran-backed Hezbollah militants have killed nearly 2,000 people since the start of fighting in March.
Israel and the US have said the Lebanon campaign is not part of the Iran-US ceasefire.
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