Pakistan is set on Friday to host anticipated negotiations between Iran and the United States on the third day of a ceasefire between the two countries, while Tehran’s participation remains unconfirmed following Israeli airstrikes that killed more than 300 people in Lebanon on Wednesday.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Thursday that these strikes—the most intense since the war reached Lebanon—would render the anticipated negotiations with the United States “meaningless.”
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei also stated that “holding talks aimed at ending the war depends on the United States respecting its ceasefire commitments on all fronts, particularly in Lebanon,” according to the ISNA news agency.
When announcing the ceasefire between “Iran, the United States, and their allies,” Pakistan, acting as mediator, confirmed that the truce would apply “everywhere, including Lebanon.” However, Israel and the United States later denied this.
On Friday, the two-week ceasefire entered its third day after a war that lasted around forty days and erupted following a joint U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran on February 28.
Meanwhile, Islamabad has turned into a near ghost city under tight security measures, with Thursday and Friday declared public holidays. The luxury hotel designated to host the negotiating delegations has been evacuated of its guests.
On the American side, Vice President J.D. Vance is expected to lead the negotiations alongside Steve Witkoff, special envoy to President Donald Trump, and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, according to the White House.
Despite the gap in positions between the two countries, Trump expressed “great optimism” in an interview with NBC News on Thursday about reaching a peace agreement with Iran following the ceasefire.
On the Iranian side, however, this optimism has turned into doubt, especially after the deletion of a post by Iran’s ambassador in Islamabad on X, which had indicated that an Iranian delegation was expected to arrive in Pakistan on Thursday evening.
A diplomatic source told AFP that the message had been published prematurely, without confirming whether the Iranian delegation was still expected to arrive as scheduled.
In Iran, the main morning news bulletin on state television on Friday made no mention of the negotiations.
Iran’s Tasnim News Agency quoted an unnamed source as saying that reports by some media outlets about the arrival of an Iranian negotiating team in Islamabad were “completely false.”
The source added that “as long as the United States does not respect its ceasefire commitments in Lebanon, and the Zionist entity continues its attacks, negotiations will be suspended.”
In Pakistan, Defense Minister Khawaja Asif described Israel in a post on X as “evil and a curse upon humanity,” adding that “while peace talks are taking place in Islamabad, a genocide is being committed in Lebanon.” He later deleted the post.
The statement came in response to Israeli airstrikes on Wednesday that killed more than 300 people and injured around 1,000 in Lebanon.
The war reached Lebanon on March 2, after Hezbollah—backed by Iran—launched an attack on Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei at the start of the U.S.-Israeli offensive on the Islamic Republic on February 28.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office responded by calling the remarks “disgraceful,” stating on X that “these are not statements that can be tolerated from any government, especially one claiming to be a neutral mediator for peace.”
Meanwhile, the United Nations expressed deep concern over the continued Israeli attacks on Lebanon, while Paris, London, and Ankara called for Lebanon to be included in the ceasefire.
– New Strikes –
On Friday morning, air raid sirens sounded across various parts of Israel, including Tel Aviv, according to the Israeli military, following rocket launches from Lebanon.
After midnight, Hezbollah announced that it had carried out several missile and drone attacks, including two strikes targeting Israeli soldiers on both sides of the border, as well as attacks on Israeli border towns.
Hours earlier, Kuwait announced that its air defenses were responding to drone attacks targeting vital facilities—the first such incidents in the Gulf since the Iran–U.S. ceasefire came into effect overnight Tuesday–Wednesday.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard confirmed on Friday that it had not launched any missiles since the ceasefire began.
At the same time, negotiations between Israel and Lebanon are expected to be held next week at the U.S. State Department in Washington, according to a U.S. official speaking to AFP on Thursday.
In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Thursday that he had instructed the start of “direct negotiations” with Lebanon.
However, a Lebanese government official told AFP that Lebanon wants a ceasefire before entering negotiations with Israel, while a Hezbollah lawmaker rejected any direct talks and demanded an Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon.
Conflicting Demands
While the arrival of the Iranian delegation to neighboring Pakistan remains uncertain, doubts persist over the possibility of reaching a peace agreement, particularly as both sides hold conflicting positions on key issues.
Although the negotiations are expected to include Iran’s nuclear program, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, Mohammad Eslami, ruled out on Thursday any restrictions on uranium enrichment, as demanded by the United States and Israel.
In an interview with ISNA, he said that “our enemies’ demands and conditions aimed at restricting Iran’s enrichment program are nothing but wishful thinking that will be buried.”
In the Strait of Hormuz—whose reopening was one of the conditions of the ceasefire—traffic remains nearly halted, while Trump accused Iran on Thursday of “doing something bad” in relation to this issue.
A non-Iranian oil tanker, the first since the ceasefire, has passed through the vital waterway, through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil, along with massive quantities of natural gas and fertilizers, normally flows.
After a brief period of market relief, caution has returned, with oil prices remaining below $100 per barrel on Friday morning.
AFP
