Iranian delegation arrives in Pakistan for historic Peace talks with the US delegation led by Vice President J D Vance.
The Iranian delegation includes Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who has recently emerged as a prominent figure in the Iranian government.
He is heading the delegation, but in his recent posts on X, he has expressed Iran’s distrust of the US.
There were also unconfirmed reports during the recent war that the US administration was considering Ghalibaf as a potential partner and possibly even a future leader.
Another figure is Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, a key player in the Iran-US nuclear negotiations over Iran’s long-disputed nuclear programme. Iran Speaker Qalibaf also has posted a photo on X of him looking at portraits of children killed in a US missile strike on a school.
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| source: aljazeera.com |
Notably, a preliminary US military investigation into the strike said outdated intelligence likely led the US to bomb the school.
The February 28 strike killed over 165 people, many of them children, in the opening hours of the conflict.
The Iranian team's arrival comes after US President Donald Trump said the only reason Iranians "are alive today is to negotiate". US Vice President Vance said he is "looking forward to negotiations".
But he has warned that if Iranians "try to play us"; America won't be receptive. Earlier, Iran's parliament speaker also said a ceasefire in Lebanon was must "before negotiations begin".
Israel has meanwhile agreed to start formal peace talks with Lebanese representatives during talks in Washington next week but says they will not discuss a ceasefire with Hezbollah.
The US will be looking for two things out of the many things from the meeting with Iran.
One is to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapons system.
And the other, more recent desire by the Trump administration, is to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to international shipping.
Antonio Guterres says the talks in Pakistan offer an opportunity for “de-escalation and the prevention of a return to hostilities”, according to his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric. He also said that the UN chief’s personal envoy Jean Arnault, who is currently in Tehran, will remain “in the region to support diplomatic efforts”.
Iran's 10-point proposal, which Trump described as "a workable basis on which to negotiate" includes a demand for international recognition of its enrichment rights.
Trump's own 15-point plan reportedly demands that Iran "end all uranium enrichment on Iranian soil". But asked about this earlier this week, Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth merely said Iran would "never had a nuclear weapon or the capability to get a path to one".
Iran's network of regional allies and proxies – Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, Hamas in Gaza and an assortment of militias in Iraq – has given Tehran regional clout, allowing Iran to exercise what is often called "forward defence" in its long-running disputes with Israel and the United States.
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| Blogger in Delhi |
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.
Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf also said an estimated $120bn (£89bn) of frozen Iranian assets must be released before negotiations begin.
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