U.S.-Iran Talks Begin, U.S. President Says Hormuz Strait 'Clearing' Underway

Reuters

U.S. and Pakistani officials in Islamabad for Iran peace talks.

U.S. and Iranian negotiators held their highest-level talks in half a century in Pakistan on Saturday in an effort to end their six-week conflict, as US President Donald Trump said his military had begun the process of reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

The discussions in Islamabad marked the first direct meeting between the United States and Iran in more than a decade, and the most senior-level engagement since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The Strait of Hormuz — a vital transit route for global energy supplies, which Iran has effectively blocked and which President Trump has pledged to reopen — remains central to negotiations during the two-week ceasefire agreed last week.

Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported that the waterway continues to be one of the main points of “serious disagreement” between the Iranian and U.S. delegations in Islamabad.

The U.S. military said two of its warships had passed through the strait and that preparations were under way to clear mines. However, Iranian state media denied that any U.S. vessels had transited the waterway.

"We're now starting the process of clearing out the Strait of Hormuz as a favour to Countries all over the World," President Trump posted on social media.

U.S. Vice-President JD Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff, and President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner arrived on Saturday and held a two-hour meeting with Iranian Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, according to a source from mediator Pakistan, before breaking for a recess.

The Iranian delegation, which arrived on Friday, was dressed in black in mourning for former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and others killed in the conflict. According to Iranian authorities, they also carried shoes and bags belonging to students reportedly killed during a U.S. air strike on a school adjacent to a military compound.

Iran's state-affiliated Nournews said talks would resume later on Saturday night or Sunday.

Before the talks began, a senior Iranian source told Reuters the U.S. had agreed to release frozen assets in Qatar and other foreign banks. But a U.S. official denied it.

As well as the release of assets abroad, Tehran is demanding control of the Strait of Hormuz, payment of war reparations and a ceasefire ‌across the region ⁠including in Lebanon, according to Iranian state TV and officials.

The U.S. goals have varied during the campaign, but as a minimum he wants free passage for global shipping through the strait and the crippling of Iran's nuclear enrichment programme to ensure it cannot produce an atomic bomb.

U.S. ally Israel, which joined the February 28 attacks on Iran that launched the war, has also been bombing Tehran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon and says that conflict is not part of the Iran-U.S. ceasefire.

"We will negotiate with our finger on the trigger," Iranian government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said on state TV. "While we are open to talks, we are also fully aware of the lack of trust; therefore, Iran's diplomatic team is entering this process ⁠with maximum caution."

Tehran's agenda includes aiming to collect transit fees in the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint for about 20% of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments.

The biggest-ever disruption there has fed inflation and slowed the global economy, with an impact expected to last for months even if negotiators succeed in reopening the strait.

Nevertheless, three Liberian- and Chinese-flagged supertankers passed through the strait on Saturday, shipping data showed, marking what appeared to be the first vessels to exit the Gulf since the ceasefire.

For the U.S.-Iran talks, Islamabad, a city of more than ⁠2 million people, was locked down with thousands of paramilitary personnel and army troops on the streets.

Source: Reuters



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