BETTER sense prevailed as latest reports suggest the United States and Iran have agreed to halt recent hostilities in the Gulf and renew talks regarding their dispute over the Strait of Hormuz, raising hopes of saving an interim peace deal that was under pressure from days of tit-for-tat strikes. Axios quoted an American official as saying that technical talks are slated to continue on all areas of the MoU. A reference to the 14-point Islamabad memorandum of understanding that was agreed on June 17 under which the Strait would be reopened for traffic. Both sides will stand down for now and vessels can move freely.
The tit-for-tat strikes threatened the interim peace agreement besides slowing progress on technical level talks that are supposed to lead to a comprehensive accord in sixty days. The latest escalation followed US allegations that Iran was behind attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. Washington responded with strikes on Iranian military targets, prompting retaliatory missile and drone attacks by Tehran against US facilities in Bahrain and Kuwait. The violations of the deal are regrettable as it was signed at the highest level by the presidents of the United States and Iran after exhaustive backdoor negotiations. There is, of course, an impression that the two sides are persisting with their hard stances to make the accord acceptable to their people and squeeze maximum concessions during technical level talks. However, frequent and serious violations are a tricky business, can trigger wider and deeper conflict and raise questions about sincerity and commitment of the leadership of the two countries. The frequent violations are all the more unfortunate as the MoU envisages bodies, platforms and mechanisms to forestall deviations. The very fact that the two sides continue to exchange strikes is reflective of the fact that relevant provisions of the deal have not yet been activated. What for the high level monitoring committee and deconfliction cell are if they are not utilized to prevent hostilities and ensure respect for ceasefire? Pakistan deserves credit for its persistent efforts aimed at salvaging the peace process despite various odds and challenges thrown by different actions and statements by the two sides. Alarmed by resumption of hostilities, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar held a series of telephone conversations with the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Iran, besides separately speaking with British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper and the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas. Dar assured them that Pakistan would continue efforts for peace and stability in the region and asked all parties to abide by the ceasefire as per true spirit of the MoU. Pakistan is doing its best but it is also responsibility of other influential members of the international community as well as multilateral organizations like the United Nations and European Union to play their part in stabilizing the situation as uncertainty and ceasefire violations badly affect global commercial trade and prices of oil, which have started coming down after weeks of volatility. Similarly, Iranian strikes against Gulf countries are viewed by these countries as a threat to regional and global efforts aimed at promoting peace, security and a resolution to the crisis. And this is what Israel wants to achieve both on a short-term and-long term basis and the Iranian leadership must avoid any action that could further complicate the regional security situation. We also propose that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chief of Defence Forces Field Marshal Asim Munir may take up the issue of repeated violations at the highest level of the two countries and activate monitoring and deconfliction mechanism as provided for in the Islamabad MoU.
