Iran demanded a truce in Lebanon and the release of its blocked assets on Friday as US Vice President JD Vance warned Tehran not to “play” Washington, casting doubt on planned ceasefire talks in Pakistan.
Despite the temporary truce struck between the foes, deep disagreements remain as to the way forward in negotiations aimed at transforming the fragile ceasefire into a lasting peace deal.
“If the Iranians are willing to negotiate in good faith, we’re certainly willing to extend the open hand,” Vance told reporters before taking off for Pakistani capital, Islamabad, from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.
But “if they’re going to try to play us, then they’re going to find the negotiating team is not that receptive”, he said.
Iran’s parliament speaker shortly thereafter put forward two measures he said “must be fulfilled before negotiations begin”: a ceasefire in Lebanon and the release of Iran’s blocked assets.
Both had been “mutually agreed upon between the parties” but had “yet to be implemented”, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf wrote on X.
Official sources say the talks in Islamabad will cover several sensitive points, including Iran’s nuclear enrichment and the free flow of trade through the Strait of Hormuz.
Since the ceasefire took effect, US President Donald Trump has voiced displeasure at Iran’s handling of the strategic strait, which was meant to be reopened, while Tehran has reacted angrily to Israeli attacks in Lebanon, insisting that it too falls under the agreement.
Trump posted on his Truth Social network on Friday that Iran has “no cards” in the talks “other than a short-term extortion of the World by using International Waterways”.
While Pakistan had said the discussions would start on Friday, Vance is not expected to arrive until Saturday.
In Islamabad, all routes leading to the Serena Hotel, the expected venue for the talks, were blocked off with heavy security, while a large banner and digital signs along the expressway heralded the “Islamabad Talks”.
– ‘Pure noise’ –
One 30-year-old resident of Tehran told AFP he was sceptical negotiations would be successful, describing most of what Trump says as “pure noise and nonsense”.
“He wants to manipulate the Islamic Republic into getting a deal. I think that was his intention, if you can say there is an intention.”
A fifth of the world’s oil and vast quantities of natural gas and fertiliser pass through the Strait of Hormuz in peacetime, but only a small number of vessels have crossed since the truce was announced earlier this week.
The two-week ceasefire was agreed to allow time for negotiations aimed at ending a conflict that has already killed thousands and plunged the global economy into turmoil.
“I am scared of the war starting again, and at the same time I’m scared of the regime staying”, Tehran resident Sheida told AFP, withholding her last name out of concern for her safety.
– Parallel talks –
An Israeli strike, one of multiple on the southern Lebanese city of Nabatiyeh on Friday, killed 13 State Security personnel, the agency said.
The Israeli military said that Iran-backed Hezbollah had meanwhile fired around 30 projectiles from Lebanon into its territory over the course of the day.
Hezbollah said that it had targeted Israel’s Ashdod naval base with missiles “in response to the enemy’s violation of the ceasefire and its repeated attacks on Beirut”.
On Wednesday Israel carried out its heaviest strikes on Lebanon since Hezbollah entered the Middle East war, killing more than 300 people.
Afterwards, Trump told NBC News that Israel was “scaling back” strikes in Lebanon and that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had assured him its attacks would become more “low-key”.
A Western diplomat said on condition of anonymity that there was ongoing “pressure from European states, Gulf states and Egypt on Israel to prevent renewed Israeli airstrikes on Beirut after ‘Black Wednesday’”.
Israel’s army reported Friday that more than 4,300 Hezbollah sites had been “dismantled” in Lebanon since the start of the war.
Washington has said the Lebanese front will be dealt with under separate talks next week, although neither Israel nor the Lebanese government have publicly confirmed these talks.
The UN’s World Food Programme warned Friday that food insecurity was on the rise in Lebanon with prices surging and supply chains disrupted.
AFP
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