Pakistan presses for fresh US-Iran talks
Pakistani officials said Tuesday that Islamabad has proposed a second round of talks to the US and Iran, while US Vice President JD Vance earlier said negotiations with Iran “did make some progress” and US President Donald Trump said Monday “we’ve been called by the other side” and “they want to work a deal.”The Pakistani officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss the matter with the press.
French President Emmanuel Macron also urged the resumption of negotiations between the US and Iran as he had phone calls with President Donald Trump and Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian.
“It is essential, in particular, that the ceasefire be strictly respected by all parties and that it include Lebanon,” Macron said in a post on X Tuesday.He also called for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz “without restrictions or tolls.”
Macron stressed France and the UK will also host a conference in Paris this Friday, bringing together by videoconference non-belligerent countries ready to contribute to a mission aimed at restoring freedom of navigation in the strait when security conditions allow.
Lebanon and Israel, meanwhile, opened their first direct diplomatic talks in decades on Tuesday in Washington following more than a month of war between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group.
A senior Hezbollah official on Monday said the Lebanese militant group will not abide by any agreements that may result from direct Lebanon-Israel talks set to start Tuesday in Washington.
Lebanese officials hope to broker a ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war that has killed at least 2,089 people in Lebanon. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he doesn’t want a ceasefire, and the goal is Hezbollah’s disarmament and a potential peace agreement between Lebanon and Israel.Meanwhile, Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni said Tuesday that her Government has suspended the automatic renewal of a defence agreement with Israel, citing “the current situation.”
Meloni and other Italian Government officials have strongly condemned Israel’s air and bombing campaign in Lebanon, which has hit civilians as well as an Italian convoy that is part of a UN peacekeeping force. The agreement, ratified in 2005, includes ongoing cooperation between the two countries’ defence ministries and armed forces. It is automatically renewed every five years.
A US blockade of Iranian ports that began Monday and Iran’s threatened retaliation set up an extraordinary showdown posing serious risks for the global economy and raising the spectre of a ceasefire collapse and resumed fighting.
