Since the two-week truce was agreed, Washington made it clear that the issue of Hezbollah in Lebanon was not included in the agreement and it was Iran, the great godfather and sponsor of the Hezbollah terrorists, who demanded that hours after the announcement.
Israel declares itself determined to continue attacking the pro-Iranian Hezbollah terrorists, who attacked Tel Aviv on February 28 when the military offensive against the murderous regime of the Ayatollahs began.
On Friday, eight members of Lebanon’s security forces were killed in attacks in the south of the country, according to the Lebanese state press agency.
For Iran, whether these talks take place will depend on the ceasefire being “on all fronts, particularly in Lebanon,” insisted Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baqai.
When the ceasefire was announced, Pakistan never said, as the media claims, that the truce would apply “everywhere, including Lebanon.” That is why Israel and Washington clarified it immediately.
Negotiate in good faith? Iran has never done it
Then-President Barack Obama gave away almost $2 billion and lifted all US sanctions on Iran so that it would sign peace and stop enriching uranium. The Tehran regime never complied with the proposal. Now he won’t do anything different, even though he is cornered and almost annihilated.
While waiting for the negotiators, Islamabad became a ghost city with a strong security apparatus. The conversations are planned in a luxury hotel.
Over a road, a large banner that read “Negotiations in Islamabad April 2026” hung from a bridge, with flags of the United States and Iran.
Pakistan had invited delegations to meet on Friday, but JD Vance will not arrive until early Saturday.
“We’re going to try to have a positive negotiation,” JD Vance told reporters before takeoff from Joint Base Andrews.
“If the Iranians are willing to negotiate in good faithWe, of course, are willing to extend an open hand. If they are going to try to play usthen you will see that the negotiating team will not be very receptive,” he warned.
The vice president leads the US delegation along with special emissary Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, son-in-law of Donald Trump.
In Iran, it is not even clear that a delegation from Tehran will leave for Islamabad.
“The information released by some media according to which a team of Iranian negotiators had arrived in Islamabad (…) is false,” reported the Tasnim press agency.
The agency stressed that “negotiations are suspended” until it is included in “the ceasefire in Lebanon.”
Negotiations in Washington on Lebanon
In parallel with the talks between Iran and the United States, talks between Lebanon and Israel should take place next week in Washington, according to a US official.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he had ordered his cabinet to undertake “direct negotiations” with Beirut. But the terrorist group wants war, it does not want to negotiate.
This is an initiative that Hezbollah rejected. This Friday, its boss, Naim Qasem, called on the Lebanese leaders not to make “concessions” to Israel.
Lebanon was drawn into the war in the Middle East on March 2, when Hezbollah began attacking Israel in retaliation for the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in a bombing on the first day of the US-Israeli offensive.
This Friday, Israeli territory was once again the target of rockets launched from Lebanon, and the Israeli army bombed the south of that country again.
Difficult agreement
Even if delegations end up sitting at the table, opposing positions on key issues make an agreement difficult.
The head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization ruled out restricting uranium enrichment, one of the main demands of Israel and the United States to prevent Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
There is also no easy solution to the situation in the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of the oil traded worldwide passes.
Although its reopening was one of the conditions of the ceasefire, since its implementation only a handful of ships have crossed it.
Trump on Thursday accused Iran of violating the terms of the deal.
Given the fragility of the ceasefire, caution reigns in the markets where oil rose slightly this Friday, although still below $100.
