Oil and water: US team lands in Pak for truce, Hormuz talks with Iran
Islamabad : As the world watches with bated breath the slippery ceasefire talks, a US aircraft carrying a team for negotiations with Iran has landed in Pakistan’s Islamabad, Al Jazeera reported, citing its sources.
The Iranian delegation arrived after midnight, led by Parliament Speaker MB Ghalibaf. The US team comprises lead negotiator Vice President JD Vance with Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, as per Al Jazeera.
After the ceasefire announcement last week, Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said on April 8 that talks could continue for up to 15 days.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif described the talks between the US and Iran as “make or break,” Al Jazeera reported.
When the Iranian team’s aircraft entered Pakistani airspace, it was provided with a full circle of protection that included AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) early warning aircraft, electronic warfare aircraft, as well as fighter jets, which escorted the Iranian team to Islamabad.
“Iran’s negotiating team led by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf arrives in Islamabad. Accompanying Qalibaf are Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, Defense Council Secretary Ali Akbar Ahmadian, Central Bank Chief Abdolnaser Hemmati, and several lawmakers,” Iran’s Embassy in India said in a post on X.
They were received by the Chief of the Defence Forces, Asim Munir, the Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, and the Interior Minister Syed Mohsin Raza Naqvi, Al Jazeera reported.
The roads leading up to Islamabad’s red zone, home to Parliament, key Government installations, luxury hotels, embassies and the offices of foreign organisations, remained barricaded, as the Pakistani capital is ready to host the US and Iran for peace talks.
The bone of contention between the two parties is a 10-point plan by Iran, which serves as the basis of peace talks. The US wants to make a deal and keep the Strait of Hormuz open and stop Iran from continuing to enrich uranium.
Trump has called the plan “workable”, after Iran called a 15-point peace proposal sent by the US as “maximalist”.
“Iran’s 10-point conditions that the US has accepted as ‘workable’: The US is fundamentally committed to: Non-aggression; Continuation of Iran’s control over the Strait of Hormuz; Acceptance of enrichment; Lifting all primary sanctions; Lifting all secondary sanctions; Termination of all UN Security Council resolutions; Termination of all IAEA Board of Governors resolutions; Payment of compensation to Iran; Withdrawal of US combat forces from the region; Cessation of war on all fronts, including against the heroic Islamic Resistance of Lebanon,” Iran in India posted on X.
Hours after the ceasefire, US officials, along with President Trump, offered mixed responses to Iran’s proposal and what Washington understood the key points of the document to be. Vance dismissed the publicised version as little more than a “random yahoo in Iran submitting it to public access television”, as quoted by Al Jazeera.
The US had floated a 15-point plan aimed at thawing the ice between the longtime foes. “Iran commits to never developing nuclear weapons; Iran must also no longer enrich uranium within the country, and hand over its stockpile of already enriched uranium to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),” Al Jazeera quoted elements of the plan reported by the media.
“Tehran would also commit to allowing the IAEA to monitor all elements of the country’s remaining nuclear infrastructure; Reopening of the Strait of Hormuz; Ending Iran’s support for regional proxies such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen,” the points further said.
“A removal of all sanctions imposed on Iran, alongside the ending of the United Nations mechanism that allows sanctions to be reimposed; Limits on the range and number of Iran’s missiles,” the US-floated peace plan said.
The confusion occurred as the Persian version of the plan notably diverges from the English one on a key point of Tehran’s right to enrich uranium.
Trump had cleared the air later on what the officials would be discussing.
He said, “There is only one group of meaningful ‘POINTS’ that are acceptable to the United States, and we will be discussing them behind closed doors during these Negotiations.”
Amid the talks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had said that although Israel welcomed the ceasefire, the attacks on Lebanon would not stop, and they would continue their mission of dismantling Hezbollah.
Earlier in the day, Al Jazeera reported that an Israeli air strike targeting a residential building in the town of Mayfadoun in the Nabatieh district of southern Lebanon killed three people and destroyed the residential building.
