The United States and Iran opened direct negotiations in Islamabad (Pakistan) – the first since 2015 and the highest level since the Islamic Revolution of 1979 – to try to reach a peace agreement. Meanwhile, in the Persian Gulf—whether as a sign of good will, according to some, or as a result of pressure, according to others—three supertankers crossed the Strait of Hormuz, the first significant transit of crude oil through that passage that Tehran kept blocked and whose opening is key in these talks.
Little else is clear about what happened throughout the meeting at the Serena hotel, in the Red Zone of the Pakistani capital: every detail that one party disclosed has been denied by the other, an indication of the distance in positions and the deep mistrust with which the dialogue began. The mere fact, however, that the meeting had taken place (it was close to being canceled in the previous days), that there were direct contacts and that they lasted for hours represented encouraging progress after . According to accredited Iranian journalists, the talks continue this Saturday night.
The day was crucial. Although she was not expected to immediately resolve any of the major pending issues—the Iranian nuclear program, the opening of the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian demands for reparations, or Israel’s attacks on Lebanon—she did have to lay the groundwork to determine whether they would put an end to a conflict that has left more than 3,000 dead in Iran, according to the head of that country’s Forensic Medicine Organization, and another 2,000 in Lebanon; and that, in addition, has skyrocketed oil prices and affected 14 countries.
It was also a first touchstone for the continuity of the 15-day truce agreed on Tuesday between an Iranian regime that did not want to give in and a Donald Trump who a few hours before had threatened to annihilate “an entire civilization”, the Persian one.
Iran has attended with a large delegation of more than 70 people (led by the president of the Iranian Parliament, Mohamad Baqer Qalibaf, and the Foreign Minister, Abbas Aragchi) and . The latter is a victory for the United States that weakens Hezbollah. Iran has insisted to Washington on the need to conduct the negotiations thinking about its interests, its great ally in the Middle East.
It has been a litmus test to determine whether the two new heads of delegation—US Vice President JD Vance and Qalibaf—could overcome the enormous mistrust between both governments. “We will negotiate with our hand on the trigger,” declared Iranian government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani on state television. “While we are open to dialogue, we are also fully aware of the lack of trust; therefore, Iran’s diplomatic team approaches this process with the utmost caution.”
After the first meeting, a second and third meeting began, while the Iranian state television reporter claimed that the United States was making “extravagant” requests.
Demining operation
In addition to the three oil tankers, two American destroyer ships have entered the waters of the Strait of Hormuz for the first time since the beginning of the conflict, as reported by the Central Command (Centcom), responsible for US forces in the Middle East. The mission has marked the beginning of an operation that is supposedly aimed at removing Iranian mines in that maritime passage.
Iran has denied the presence of the destroyers. “The statement by the Centcom commander regarding the approach and entry of American vessels into the Strait of Hormuz is strongly denied,” said the spokesman for the Central General Command Jatam al Anbia, Colonel Ebrahim Zolfagari, according to Efe citing Iranian state television.
According to Centcom, the two ships, the Frank E. Peterson and the Michael Murphy, transited the strait and the Persian Gulf as part of “a broader mission to ensure that the strait is completely clear of mines previously placed by the Revolutionary Guard.”
“Today we begin the process of establishing a new lane, and we will share this safe passage with the maritime industry soon, to encourage the free flow of commerce,” said Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of CentCom. In the coming days, according to the Pentagon, other US forces, including underwater drones, will join the cleanup efforts.
The Central Command statement appears to corroborate US allegations that Iran had mined the strait. According to the newspaper The New York Timeswhich cites military sources, the Islamic regime had not been able to open Hormuz to maritime traffic until now, although it was part of its commitments in the truce, because it could not locate the explosive devices it had placed there and it does not have the means to remove them.
“It is not clear that Iran recorded where it placed each mine. And, even if each site was located, some were placed in such a way that they have been dragged or moved,” explains this medium.
The day has been marked by contradictory information and denials. To the first reports published in the American media about the passage of the destroyers, Iran initially responded with a denial. A senior Iranian official told Reuters that Washington had given approval to unfreeze Iranian funds held in Qatar; The United States denied it. And President Donald Trump, in one of his messages on social networks, pointed out that his country’s forces were “cleaning” Hormuz, in an apparent reference to the operation to remove Iranian mines.
The few leaks show Pakistan’s commitment to a negotiation that is carried out more in conversations than through reproaches in the media. Indeed, the hundreds of displaced journalists have found a sumptuous press room with coffee labeled: “Brewed for Peace,” but no briefings, according to Agence France Presse.
After a series of preliminary contacts between each delegation through mediators, the US team, which also includes negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner – the president’s son-in-law – began a session of direct talks with the Iranian representation. After about an hour, contacts at a technical level were resumed to also begin.
Previously, according to the Iranian Tasnim agency, “intensive consultations” had taken place regarding the Israeli attacks in Lebanon. When announcing the ceasefire, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif assured that it applies “everywhere, including Lebanon,” but Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defend the opposite.
Mixed messages
In the previous days, Tehran had sent contradictory messages about whether Lebanon’s entry into the truce was a precondition for the meeting, also a reflection of the hidden struggle between Iranian radicals and pragmatists after, especially the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei. In the end, he has come, leaving his most faithful militia ally, Hezbollah, in a sense: a month ago the militia entered the war to help Iran, after more than a year without responding to the almost daily Israeli bombings in Lebanon during a more nominal ceasefire.
Each party seems to have adhered strictly to the script they brought from their respective capital. The large Iranian delegation maintained its demands: inclusion of Lebanon in the ceasefire, unfreezing of funds and lifting of sanctions, recognition of its control of the Strait of Hormuz and payment of war reparations. The United States has on its list the opening of the strait, the dismantling of the Iranian missile program, the dismantling of the nuclear program and the end of Tehran’s support for radical Islamist groups in the Middle East.
In a series of messages on his social network, Truth, Donald Trump insisted that the Strait of Hormuz “will open soon.” “We are now beginning the process of cleaning the strait, as a favor to countries around the world, including China, Japan, South Korea, France, Germany and many others,” said the president, who this Saturday followed the first hours of talks from his golf club on the outskirts of Washington.
In his line of declarations of victory since he ordered the US-Israeli offensive that began on February 28, in his messages this Saturday the president insisted that Iran has been completely defeated: “everyone knows it!” he proclaimed.
The tenant of the White House argues again and again that the Islamic Republic has lost its air force and its Navy, and that its weapons factories have been seriously damaged. He also maintains that there has been a “regime change” with the death of a good part of its leaders in the bombings.
But the Iranian regime survives, with no signs of internal uprisings, and feels strong. The downing of a US plane last week made it clear that it can continue attacking its adversary and neighboring countries, Arab allies of the United States. Waiting to see how the demining operation develops, it also maintains control of the Strait of Hormuz.
The United States, meanwhile, reaches a truce between “serious damage to the global economy, damage to relations with traditional allies in the Gulf and Europe, and potential permanent damage to its international reputation” after Trump’s apocalyptic threats to destroy Iranian civilization, noted this week Nate Swanson, former director for Iran at the White House National Security Council and now an analyst at the think tank Atlantic Council.
