After a two-week ceasefire announced on Tuesday (7), US and Iranian delegations seek permanent truce
Peace talks between The United States and Iran enter their second day in Islamabad this Sunday (12), where they seek to reach a lasting truce in a war in which Israel claims to have “destroyed” the Islamic republic’s nuclear and ballistic programs.
These talks between the two countries, enemies since the Islamic revolution of 1979, are taking place, according to the White House, in a trilateral format, with the presence of high-ranking Pakistani members, which facilitated the two-week ceasefire that began on Wednesday.
Iranian state news agencies indicated that talks would continue on Sunday morning and accused the United States of making “excessive demands” in relation to the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic route through which 20% of the world’s oil passes.
O Iran has blocked passage through the strait since the start of the waron February 28, with Israeli-American bombings against its territory.
A Pakistani source who requested anonymity assured that “negotiations are moving in the right direction”. “The general atmosphere is cordial,” he told AFP.
American President Donald Trump said this Saturday that “it doesn’t matter” to him the outcome of talks between the United States and Iran in Pakistan, insisting that his country had won the war.
“Whether we reach a deal or not, it doesn’t matter to me. The reason is we won,” Trump told reporters.
On the United States’ side, he is joined by special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law.
O Iran is represented in Islamabad, among others, by its influential Speaker of Parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibafand by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abbas Araghchi.
“They fight for their survival”
The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, proclaimed victory. “We managed to destroy Iran’s nuclear program and destroy its missile program,” Netanyahu declared in a televised speech, adding that the war had also weakened Iran’s leaders and their regional allies.
“They wanted to strangle us and [agora] we are the ones who strangle them. They threatened us with annihilation and now they are fighting for their survival,” he said.
But, according to Trita Parsi, an analyst at the think tank Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, “never before have the Iranians negotiated with the United States with so many cards in hand.”
Control of the Strait of Hormuz is one of the pressure instruments at Tehran’s disposal.
The United States armed forces announced that two warships crossed this sea lane for a preparatory operation for its demining, just hours after Trump said that his country had started “the process of unblocking” the strait.
A Iran’s Revolutionary Guard threatened to “severely” treat military ships transiting the Strait of Hormuzstate television reported this Sunday (12, Saturday night in Brazil).
“Any attempt by military ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz will be met severely,” declared the Guard’s naval command, according to broadcaster IRIB.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif assesses that the parties are in an all-or-nothing phasewhich makes it difficult to “establish a lasting truce”.
The gap between the belligerent countries is abysmal on crucial issues such as sanctions, the situation in Lebanon and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian media outlets claim that the United States has “excessive demands” on the strait.
More than 2 thousand dead in Lebanon
Since the ceasefire came into force on Wednesday, Israel has claimed that Lebanon is not included in the truce. This Saturday, Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon killed 18 people in total, according to the Ministry of Health.
The Israeli army announced that it had attacked, in the last 24 hours, more than 200 Hezbollah targets. On Wednesday, the country carried out the deadliest attacks of this war, with at least 357 deaths in a single day, according to the latest report.
Lebanese authorities reported that, since March 2, 2,020 deaths and 6,436 injuries have been recorded.
According to the Lebanese presidency, talks between Lebanon and Israel are scheduled for Tuesday in Washington, which Hezbollah does not welcome.
Netanyahu wants a lasting agreement. “Lebanon turned to us to begin direct negotiations […] I have established two conditions: we want the disarmament of Hezbollah and we want a true peace agreement that will last for generations,” he declared in his televised speech.
Meanwhile, the pope made a desperate plea for peace. “Enough with the idolatry of self and money! Enough with the ostentation of strength! Enough with war! True strength is manifested in the service of life”, declared the supreme pontiff at a vigil for peace in St. Peter’s Basilica, in Rome.
*AFP
