Amicable atmosphere witnessed in parlays
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Abdul Hadi Mayar Islamabad
The United States and Iran held direct talks in Islamabad on Saturday night and Sunday morning under the facilitation and mediation of Pakistan, creating hopes for converting their temporary ceasefire into a lasting peace deal.
The US side at the talks was headed by Vice President JD Vance and, besides others, it included Special Presidential Envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. The Iranian team was led by Speaker of the Iranian Parliament Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf who was accompanied by Foreign Minister Iran Abbas Araghchi and other senior officials.
Pakistani officials and diplomatic sources said signs of constructive negotiations were visible in all rounds of the talks. Both sides held three rounds of negotiation and also had a working dinner. At the outset of the parleys, both teams held separate meetings with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and other Pakistani officials, includingChief of Defense Forces General Asim Munir. Talking to the delegations, Shehbaz Sharif reiterated Pakistan’s commitment to continue its cooperation for restoration of peace in the region. This was followed by a trilateral meeting at which the rival sides discussed major points for evolving consensus on a broader agreement. Diplomatic sources informed that in this round, both sides exchanged written demands with each other. Iranian sources said the teams were also joined by members of economic, military, nuclear and legal committees.
After a working dinner, the two sides held expert level talks dwelling at length over technical details of the conditions previous-ly put forth by them.
This was the first direct talks between the United States and Iran since 1979. Former US Secretary of State John Kerry had negoti-ated the 2015 nuclear deal but no detailed talks were held on that occasion.
Pakistani sources say the overall atmosphere of the talks remained positive and ‘outcome of their negotiations was also encour-aging.’ They added that the negotiating teams tried to evolve consensus on major points that could provide a framework for a broader dialogue. Minor points, conditions and trivial details of bilateral conditions would be left to technical working groups once the delegations agree on a broader framework for the dialogue.
Earlier, on his arrival in Islamabad, Ghalibaf they have come for the talks with sincere intentions and added that they were ready for peace if the opposite side demonstrated sincerity in talks.
The sources confided that both sides eulogized Pakistan’s proactive role for initiating and promoting the dialogue.
The United States and Iran proclaimed a 15-day truce at the end of their 40-day war last week after intervention by Pakistan, which had earlier initiated the process by inviting the Turkish, Egyptian and Saudi Foreign Ministers for preliminary talks in Is-lamabad. Washington responded with a positive gesture handing over a 15-point preconditions for talks with the major points be-ing opening of Hormuz Strait and cessation of uranium enrichment by Iran.
Later, Iran also handed over a 10-point proposal to Islamabad agreeing to hold talks with the United States on the condition that the latter releases its frozen assets, help ease international sanctions and including Lebanon in the ceasefire. The United States ac-cepted the conditions in principle and instantly committed to release $six billion of Iran’s frozen assets. Iran’s demands also in-clude a no aggression pact with the United States to which the United States is yet to give its response.
In the ensuing days, Pakistan indulged in hectic maneuvers to help convert the temporary ceasefire poised to expire on April 22 into a lasting peace.
Though both sides hold lengthy lists of demands before signing a permanent ceasefire, analysts believe the situation can turn around even they agree to a few points of the other side. In past, Iran has shown its readiness to freeze weapon grade uranium en-richment but it would hardly agree to cap its ballistic missile programme, which is one of the major demands of the United States and Israel. However, the Islamic Republic has shown reluctance to hand over its already enriched uranium to a third country or the IAEA. Tehran also appears reluctant to loosen its control over the Strait of Hormuz but there are indications that it would accept opening of Hormuz if international sanctions are eased over it.
