From Battlefield to Bargaining Table: US and Iran Meet Face-to-Face in Islamabad for Historic War Talks

President of the United States of America, Donald Trump, will send a delegation to Islamabad to conduct discussions with Iran; the delegation will be headed by Vice President JD Vance together with the Middle East Special Envoy, Steve Witkoff, and President’s Adviser Jared Kushner, where the first discussion will take place tomorrow morning. This follows a ceasefire declared by President Trump two weeks after a military offensive was waged against Iran. The operation against Iran began in the early hours of February 28 with a combined US-Israeli airstrike. President of Iran, Masoud Pezeshkian, stated that his country would participate in the discussion after speaking to Pakistan's Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif; Iran's delegation will be led by Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of the parliament.

Ceasefire Frays Over Lebanon

Despite the ceasefire agreement, there are still pockets of fighting that disrupt the stability of the area, especially in Lebanon, where the Israelis have carried out attacks against Hezbollah targets, resulting in the death of 182 people in one day alone—the highest number of casualties in one day since the start of the war between Israel and Hezbollah, thus causing 1,739 deaths and 5,873 injuries in just over five weeks. The Iranians denounced the attack and called it a breach of the ceasefire deal, with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi saying that “the whole world is watching and asking whether the United States will keep its promise.” The Israeli office of the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, confirmed that the ceasefire with Iran does not apply to their battle against Hezbollah in Lebanon. Vice President Vance, then in Hungary, advised the Iranian delegation that sabotaging the peace talks over Lebanon would be “foolish.”

Hormuz Strait Shapes Peace Terms

It is noteworthy to mention that the strategic Strait of Hormuz continues to play a vital role in the negotiations process. For example, according to some reports released by Iranian media, Iran managed to block this strait almost completely. Consequently, the blockade that Iran introduced after the February 28 bombings has severely interrupted oil supplies. However, the White House revealed that traffic through the strait increased recently. At the same time, Iran's IRGC Navy promised to introduce other transit routes to avoid sea mines because of the agreement reached between Iran and the United States to open the strait. Finally, Israel raised the demand to open the Strait of Hormuz when agreeing to the ceasefire.