US, Iran teams in Pakistan for peace talks amid doubts over Lebanon

Senior US and Iranian leaders were in the Pakistani capital Islamabad on Saturday for negotiations to end their six-week-old war, although Tehran threw the talks into doubt by saying they could not begin without commitments on Lebanon and sanctions.

The US delegation, led by Vice President JD Vance and including President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner, landed in two US Air Force planes at an air base in Islamabad on Saturday morning, where they were received by Pakistan's army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar.

The Iranian delegation, led by ‌Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi, arrived on Friday dressed in black in mourning for the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other Iranians killed in the conflict. They carried shoes and bags of some of the students killed during the bombing by the US of a school next to a military compound, the Iranian government said on X.

These will be the highest-level US-Iran talks since the Islamic Revolution of 1979. If the two sides hold face-to-face negotiations as expected, they would be first direct talks since 2015, when they reached a deal on Iran's nuclear programme.

Trump scrapped the nuclear deal in 2018 during his first term in office. That year, Iran's then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei - who was killed at the start of the war six weeks ago - banned further direct talks between US and Iranian officials.

IRAN HAS 'NO CARDS', TRUMP SAYS

A senior Iranian source told Reuters that the US had agreed to release frozen assets held in Qatar and other foreign banks, welcoming the move as a sign of "seriousness" in the talks, in which Washington is pressing Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to international shipping.

There was no immediate statement from the US about any unfreezing of assets. Qatar's Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Iran has also demanded a ceasefire in Lebanon, where Israeli attacks on Hezbollah have killed nearly 2,000 people since the start of the fighting in March. Qalibaf said on X that talks would not start until those pledges were fulfilled.

Israel and the US have said the Lebanon campaign is not part of the Iran-US ceasefire.

Another senior Iranian source told Reuters that Pakistan would deliver an initial US response to Iran's demands and that if Tehran accepted, then direct talks between the two sides would start.

The White House did not immediately comment on the Iranian demands, but Trump posted on social media that the only reason the Iranians were alive was to negotiate a deal.

"The Iranians don't seem to realise they have no cards, other than a short term extortion of the World by using International Waterways. The only reason they are alive today is to negotiate!" he said.

Vance, speaking as he headed to Pakistan, said he expected a positive outcome but added: "If they're going to try to play us, then they're going to find the negotiating team is not that receptive."

Preliminary discussions have been separately held by Pakistani officials with advance teams from both sides, sources in Islamabad said.

Pakistan's Dar said he hoped the US and Iran would engage in constructive talks to reach a "lasting and durable solution to the conflict", according to a statement from Pakistan's foreign ministry.

A Pakistani source said it was too early to say whether talks would end on Saturday, adding there was no time limit for negotiations.

Trump announced a two-week ceasefire in the war on Tuesday, which has halted US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran.

But it has not ended Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which has caused the biggest-ever disruption to global energy supplies, or calmed the parallel war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Islamabad, a city of just over 2 million people, was under an unprecedented lockdown ahead of the talks with thousands of paramilitary personnel and army troops on the streets.

FIGHTING CONTINUES IN LEBANON

Strikes on southern Lebanon continued on Saturday morning, Lebanese state media said. Reuters reporters heard an Israeli surveillance drone flying over the Lebanese capital Beirut from Friday night into the next morning and warplanes broke the sound barrier twice over the city.

Hezbollah announced it had conducted several military operations against Israeli positions on Saturday, both within Lebanese territory and in northern Israel.

Israeli and Lebanese officials will hold talks in Washington on Tuesday, both sides said, amid conflicting accounts on what those talks would cover.

Lebanon's presidency said officials from the two countries had spoken by phone on Friday and agreed to discuss announcing a ceasefire and setting a start date for bilateral talks under US mediation. But Israel's embassy in Washington said the talks would constitute the start of "formal peace negotiations" and that Israel had refused to discuss a ceasefire with Hezbollah.

For the talks to succeed, it is important that the US and Iran should represent the views of their allies, said Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, chairman of the Pakistan's People's Party, a government ally, and a former foreign minister.

Israel and the US attacked Iran on February 28. Iran's regional allies Hezbollah in Lebanon and later Yemen's Houthis responded by launching missiles at Israel.

"It is so important that the framework for these negotiations ensures that not only Iran and the United States, but also all of their allies, come under the umbrella of the ceasefire, so there is space for meaningful dialogue," Bhutto Zardari said.

Tehran's agenda also includes the ending of sanctions that crippled its economy for years, and acknowledgment of its authority over the Strait of Hormuz, where it aims to collect transit fees and control access.

Iran's ships were sailing through the strait unimpeded on Friday, while those of other countries remained hemmed inside.

Disruption to energy supplies has fed inflation and slowed the global economy, with an impact expected to last for months even if negotiators succeed in reopening the strait.

The hard line taken by Iran's leaders ahead of the negotiations followed a defiant message from its new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, on Thursday.

Khamenei, yet to be seen in public and said to be suffering from severe facial and leg injuries sustained in the attack that killed his father, said Iran would demand compensation for all wartime damage. "We will certainly not leave unpunished the criminal aggressors who attacked our country," he said.