The outcome of the first round of direct talks between the United States and Iran was not encouraging but credit goes to the leadership of Pakistan for their deep passion for regional peace and de-escalation as their behind-the-scenes efforts have once again made Islamabad focus of attention of the world.
The arrival of Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in the capital has raised prospects for revival of the stalled dialogue process between Washington and Tehran, which, in itself, is a positive development given the verbal rhetoric by the two sides and moves and counter-moves that virtually constitute violation of the temporary ceasefire facilitated by Pakistan.
The circumstances surrounding the development are so sensitive that Iranians give an impression their visit was purely bilateral in nature and first leg of the tour, which will take it to Muscat and Moscow, describing it as part of the process of consultations with neighbours. However, an announcement from Washington that President Donald Trump was dispatching special envoy Steve Witkoff and senior adviser Jared Kushner to Pakistan for fresh engagement with the Iranian side indicated that Pakistani mediators were trying their level best to save the peace process and encourage the two sides to arrive at some acceptable understanding. The seriousness of Pakistan was evident from the fact that the two sides could not strike a deal in the first round of direct talks, it did not abandon its sincere efforts and even maintained the tempo of security and administrative arrangements that were put in place in expectation for a high level engagement between the two countries.
The continuation of the state of lockdown in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi despite its negative effect on routine life conveyed a clear impression that the mediators were constantly in touch with relevant authorities of the United States and Iran and were hopeful about resumption of the dialogue. It is not a coincident that the visit of the Iranian Foreign Minister followed his telephonic conversations with Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar and Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) and Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir and the body language of the hosts while greeting the Iranian delegation at the airport showed their optimism.
There are reports of internal rifts within Iran on the issue of talks with the United States due to the justified element of trust and what its leadership considers blackmailing tactics of the United States. It is said that the internal dynamics caused a delay in resumption of the process of negotiations despite extensive parleys CDF Asim Munir had with both civilian and military leadership of Iran during his three day visit. In this backdrop, one can understand as to why a toned down delegation has been sent to Islamabad, which does not include, at this stage, the parliamentary speaker Ghalibaf. Reports emanating from Tehran also claimed that the Iranian team will not hold direct talks with Americans and instead they will speak through Pakistan.
The fate of direct or indirect talks hinges on the ability of both the United States and Iran to show flexibility in their positions on the two critical issues of Iran’s nuclear programme and navigation in the Strait of Hormuz. Despite Pakistan’s repeated requests, the United States is not ending its blockade of Iranian ports and considering it a violation of the ceasefire, Tehran is also sticking to its decision not to reopen the channel for global shipping. Pakistan has reportedly presented sensible recommendations to them that could form the basis for a fair deal, not hurting egos of the leadership of the two countries and they ought to respond positively to these sincere propositions.
