Iranian media said the two sides would take a pre-dawn break of several hours and accused the US of making \u201cexcessive demands\u201d on the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of the world\u2019s oil transits.<\/p>\n
US President Donald Trump told reporters he did not care about the outcome of the war because the US has already won. Photo \/ Getty Images <\/p>\n
US President Donald Trump said \u201cdeep negotiations\u201d were underway but in a combative interaction with reporters, said he did not care about the outcome, insisting that the US had already triumphed on the battlefield by killing Iranian leaders and destroying key military infrastructure.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether we make a deal or not makes no difference to me. The reason is because we\u2019ve won,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n
A Pakistani official told AFP that talks were \u201cprogressing in the right direction\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can say that discussions are moving positively and the overall atmosphere is cordial,\u201d said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n
In a break with precedent, Iranian and US officials were meeting directly, alongside Pakistan, and not speaking through mediators who shuttled between rooms.<\/p>\n
Iran had sought the presence of Vance because of his top position and his reported initial opposition to the war.<\/p>\n
Iran was amid negotiations on its nuclear programme in February with Trump\u2019s real-estate friend Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner only for the US and Israel to launch their attack that began with the killing of Iran\u2019s long-ruling Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.<\/p>\n
Kushner and Witkoff joined Vance in Islamabad. The 70-strong Iranian delegation was led by Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the powerful Speaker of parliament, and included Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.<\/p>\n
The US claims it is clearing mines in the Strait of Hormuz to give tankers safe passage, but Iran denies any US ships have gone through the strait. Photo \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
US targeting mines<\/p>\n
Iran quickly exercised leverage after being attacked by exerting control over the Strait of Hormuz, sending global oil prices soaring and piling political pressure on Trump as Americans complained of rising costs at the pump.<\/p>\n
The US military said that two Navy warships transited through the strait to begin clearing it of mines and ensure it is a \u201csafe pathway\u201d for tankers.<\/p>\n
The Iranian military denied that any American warships had entered the waterway and threatened to respond if they did. <\/p>\n
\u201cAny attempt by military vessels to pass through the Strait of Hormuz will be dealt with severely,\u201d the Revolutionary Guards\u2019 Naval Command said, according to state broadcaster IRIB.<\/p>\n
It said that Iranian promises of safe passage during a two-week ceasefire applied only to \u201ccivilian vessels under specific conditions\u201d.<\/p>\n
The US is heavily affected by soaring oil prices on global markets but imports less directly from the Gulf than many of its European allies, who Trump has berated for not joining a war that they were not consulted about beforehand.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll open up the strait even though we don\u2019t use it, because we have a lot of other countries in the world that do use it that are either afraid or weak or cheap,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n
Tehran\u2019s demands for any agreement to end the war include unfreezing sanctioned Iranian assets and ending Israel\u2019s war against Hezbollah in Lebanon, which Vance has said will not be up for discussion in Islamabad.<\/p>\n
Mutual suspicion<\/p>\n
Ghalibaf, speaking shortly after landing in Pakistan, made it clear that Iran remained highly suspicious of the US.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur experience in negotiating with the Americans has always been met with failure and broken promises,\u201d Ghalibaf said.<\/p>\n
Vance said before leaving the US that if Iran was \u201cwilling to negotiate in good faith, we\u2019re certainly willing to extend the open hand\u201d.<\/p>\n
But he said the US would not be receptive \u201cif they\u2019re going to try to play us\u201d.<\/p>\n
Experts said Iran\u2019s delegation showed it was serious about leaving Pakistan with a deal.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe size, seniority and breadth of the Iranian delegation … signal both Tehran\u2019s sincerity in these negotiations and its expectations and confidence,\u201d said Trita Parsi, executive vice-president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and author of a book on US-Iran diplomacy.<\/p>\n
Need for \u2018Good faith\u2019<\/p>\n
The success of the peace talks depends on Washington avoiding \u201cexcessive\u201d and \u201cunlawful\u201d demands, the Iranian Foreign Ministry\u2019s spokesman said after the first session ended.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe success of this diplomatic process depends on the seriousness and good faith of the opposing side, refraining from excessive demands and unlawful requests, and the acceptance of Iran\u2019s legitimate rights and interests,\u201d Esmaeil Baqaei wrote on X.<\/p>\n
\u201cDiscussions were held … on various aspects of the main issues of the negotiations, including the Strait of Hormuz, the nuclear issue, war reparations, the lifting of sanctions, and the complete end of the war against Iran and in the region,\u201d Baqaei wrote.<\/p>\n
He said Iran was \u201cdetermined to use all means, including diplomacy, to secure national interests and safeguard the country\u2019s interests\u201d.<\/p>\n
Israel and Lebanon<\/p>\n
Israel has insisted that the ceasefire does not affect its invasion of Lebanon, where Israel has carried out massive strikes and sent troops in response to fire from Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Shia Muslim movement.<\/p>\n
Lebanese authorities said Israeli strikes on the country\u2019s south today killed 18 people, bringing the total death toll from Israeli strikes since the war broke out to more than 2000.<\/p>\n
Israel and Lebanon will hold their own talks next week in Washington. <\/p>\n
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a televised statement said he wanted a peace deal with Lebanon that \u201cwill last for generations\u201d.<\/p>\n
But Israel has ruled out a ceasefire with Hezbollah, signalling it will instead seek to pressure the historically weak central Government in Beirut.<\/p>\n
Parts of Islamabad were shut down to allow the peace talks to take place. Photo \/ AFP<\/p>\n
Islamabad sealed off<\/p>\n
Netanyahu said the joint US-Israeli campaign had already succeeded in \u201ccrushing\u201d Iran\u2019s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.<\/p>\n
Iran has repeatedly denied seeking an atomic bomb and the United Nations nuclear watchdog reported no imminent threat of Tehran going nuclear.<\/p>\n
Pakistan sealed off much of Islamabad to ensure high security for the talks.<\/p>\n
Pakistan is especially sensitive to developments in neighbouring Iran and is also keen to court Trump and counter a US tilt in recent years towards Pakistan\u2019s rival India.<\/p>\n
In Tehran, a 30-year-old resident told AFP he was sceptical negotiations would be successful, describing most of what Trump says as \u201cpure noise and nonsense\u201d.<\/p>\n
-Agence France-Presse<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Iranian media said the two sides would take a pre-dawn break of several hours and accused the US…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":375392,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[23968,74,27126,71946,2082,305,42,11551,16609,33031,11692,25900,43,2551,2892,9939,301,223,40,38,41,39,9938,168435],"class_list":{"0":"post-375391","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-23968","9":"tag-after","10":"tag-break","11":"tag-finished","12":"tag-for","13":"tag-have","14":"tag-headlines","15":"tag-hours","16":"tag-iran","17":"tag-marathon","18":"tag-nearly","19":"tag-negotiations","20":"tag-news","21":"tag-night","22":"tag-peace","23":"tag-states","24":"tag-talks","25":"tag-the","26":"tag-top-news","27":"tag-top-stories","28":"tag-topnews","29":"tag-topstories","30":"tag-united","31":"tag-usiran"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=375391"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375391\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/375392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}