Vance in Pakistan for talks as impasse looms over Lebanon
Updated ,first published
US Vice President J.D. Vance flew to the Pakistani capital Islamabad on Saturday for high-stakes talks aimed at ending a six-week war with Iran, despite Tehran’s insistence that talks cannot begin without ceasefire commitments in Lebanon.
When the talks began, Reuters reported that the United States agreed to release frozen Iranian assets held in banks in Qatar and elsewhere. An unnamed Iranian source said that the United States will release $6 billion in frozen funds.
The US delegation, led by Vance and including President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner, arrived in Islamabad after a refueling stop in Paris. The Iranian delegation, led by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqir Galibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, arrived on Friday.
Galibaf said on channel X that Washington had previously agreed to lift the blockade on Iranian assets and establish a ceasefire in Lebanon, where Israeli attacks on Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants have killed nearly 2,000 people since the start of hostilities in March. He said that negotiations will not start until these promises are fulfilled.
The Reuters source, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue, said that unfreezing assets is “directly linked to ensuring safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz” and that this is expected to be an important issue in the talks.
The source welcomed the move as a sign of “seriousness” in reaching an agreement with the US at talks in Islamabad.
$6 billion was first frozen in 2018. He was planned to be released in 2023 as part of the prisoner swap between the US and Iran, but his release was blocked by then US president Joe Biden after the attacks of the Palestinian militant group Hamas against Israel on October 7, 2023.
The USA did not make any public statement on the issue.
While Israel and the United States say that the Lebanon conflict is not part of the ceasefire, Tehran insists.
Galibaf also said Iran was ready to reach a deal if Washington presented what he described as a real deal and gave Iran its rights, Iranian state media reported.
The White House did not immediately comment on Iran’s demands, but Trump shared on social media that the only reason the Iranians survived was to negotiate a deal.
“The Iranians do not seem to realize that they have no other cards than short-term usurpation of the world using the International Waterways. The only reason they survive today is to negotiate!” he said.
Speaking on his way to Pakistan, Vance said he expected a positive outcome. “If they try to play us, then they’re going to find that the negotiating team isn’t that receptive,” he said, adding that Trump had given the team “some pretty clear instructions.”
Sources in Islamabad said preliminary talks were held separately by Pakistani officials with advanced teams from both sides.
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency said there were 70 members from Tehran, including technical experts in the economic, security and political fields, as well as media personnel and support staff. A Pakistani government source said about 100 members of the US advance team were in the city.
“We are very positive,” said another Pakistani source close to the discussions. When asked whether the negotiations will end on Saturday, the source said: “It is too early to say. There are instructions to close a deal or withdraw. That is why they are not in a hurry. These talks were not held on time.”
Islamabad was under an unprecedented lockdown ahead of the talks, with thousands of paramilitary personnel and army troops on the streets.
“We have implemented multi-layered security for this event based on coordination, intelligence and continuous monitoring for zero disruption and complete control,” Talal Chaudhry, Pakistan’s deputy interior minister, told Reuters.
In another development, China is preparing to transfer its shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles, known as MANPAD, to Iran, according to CNN, citing unnamed US intelligence sources.
The network said there were indications that Beijing was trying to route shipments through third countries to conceal their origin. The U.S. State Department, the White House and the Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
Trump announced a two-week ceasefire in the war on Tuesday, halting American and Israeli airstrikes on Iran.
But this did not end Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which has caused the largest ever disruption to global energy supplies, or calm the parallel war between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Clashes continue in Lebanon
Israeli ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter and his Lebanese counterpart Nada Hamadeh Moawad will hold talks in Washington on Tuesday, Israeli and Lebanese officials said.
The Lebanese presidency said the two had a telephone conversation on Friday and agreed to declare a ceasefire and set a date for the start of bilateral talks under the mediation of the United States. However, Israel’s embassy in Washington said the talks would be the beginning of “formal peace talks” and that Israel refused to discuss a ceasefire with Hezbollah.
Israeli attacks continued in southern Lebanon on Friday. President Joseph Aoun said in a statement that 13 members of the Lebanese state security forces were killed in the attack on the government building in the city of Nabatieh.
Hezbollah said in a statement on its Telegram channel that it fired salvoes of rockets at towns in northern Israel in response. Lebanese officials said that hours after the ceasefire was declared, Israel launched the biggest attack of the war and killed more than 350 people in surprise attacks on populated areas.
Tehran’s agenda in the talks also includes demands for major new concessions, including an end to sanctions that have crippled its economy for years and recognition of its authority over the Strait of Hormuz, aimed at collecting tolls and controlling access in what would mark a major shift in regional power.
The key point of Hormuz
While Iran’s ships passed through the Bosphorus without encountering any obstacles on Friday, other countries’ ships were stuck inside.
Shipowners have shown no sign of a meaningful recovery in traffic on the strategic waterway since the start of the ceasefire, as shipowners await clarification of the status of the waterway. Ship tracking data shows a Russian-flagged supertanker passed through the strait late Thursday, but this was a rare example.
Energy supply disruptions increased inflation and slowed the global economy; Even if negotiators manage to reopen the Bosphorus, the impact is expected to last for months.
The ongoing blockage continued to put pressure on oil prices. U.S. crude oil fluctuated between losses and gains throughout the session as traders opened weekend positions to remain neutral ahead of Saturday’s talks. Prices settled below $97 ($137) per barrel.
The tough tone taken by Iranian leaders ahead of the talks follows the defiant message given by Iran’s new Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei on Thursday.
Khamenei, who has not yet appeared in public since taking over from his father, who was killed on the first day of the war, said Iran will demand compensation for all wartime damages.
“We will definitely not leave the murderous attackers who attacked our country unpunished,” he said.
Although Trump declared victory and weakened Iran’s military capabilities, the war failed to achieve many of the goals it initially set: depriving Iran of the ability to attack its neighbors, dismantling its nuclear program, and making it easier for its people to overthrow their governments.
Iran still has missiles and drones capable of hitting its neighbors and a stockpile of more than 400 kilograms of uranium enriched to near the level needed to make a bomb. Faced with a popular uprising just months earlier, religious rulers resisted the onslaught with no signs of organized opposition.
Reuters, Bloomberg
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