The United States and Iran have begun face-to-face negotiations in Pakistan days after a two-week ceasefire was announced, as the war that has killed thousands of people and shaken global markets entered its seventh week.
The White House confirmed the direct nature of the talks.
Meanwhile, the US military said two destroyers transited the Strait of Hormuz ahead of mine-clearing work, a first since the war began. However, Iran’s state media earlier said Iran forced a US military ship that was attempting to cross the strait to turn around.
“We’re sweeping the strait. Whether we make a deal or not makes no difference to me,” Mr Trump told journalists as talks continued and the time approached 2am in Islamabad. Iranian state TV noted what it called “serious” differences.
The US delegation led by Vice President JD Vance and the Iranian one led by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf discussed with Pakistan how to advance the ceasefire already threatened by deep disagreements and Israel’s continued attacks against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, whose health ministry said the death toll has surpassed 2,000.
Since the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979, the most direct US contact had been in 2013 when President Barack Obama called newly elected President Hassan Rouhani to discuss Iran’s nuclear programme. The most recent highest-level meetings were between then secretary of state John Kerry and counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif during negotiations over the programme.
Now talks feature Mr Vance, a reluctant defender of the war who has little diplomatic experience and warned Iran not to “try and play us”, and Mr Qalibaf, a former commander with Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard who has issued some of Iran’s most fiery statements since fighting began.
Iran’s state-run news agency said the three-party talks began after Iranian pre-conditions, including a reduction in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon, were met.
Iran’s delegation told state television it had presented “red lines” in meetings with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, including compensation for damage caused by US-Israeli strikes that launched the war on February 28 and releasing Iran’s frozen assets.
The war has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, 2,020 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states, and caused lasting damage to infrastructure in half a dozen Middle Eastern countries.
Iran’s chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz has largely cut off the Persian Gulf and its oil and gas exports from the global economy, sending energy prices soaring.
Reflecting the high stakes, officials from the region said Chinese, Egyptian, Saudi and Qatari officials were in Islamabad to indirectly facilitate the talks.
Meanwhile, Israel pressed ahead with strikes in Lebanon on Saturday even as Iran conditioned ceasefire talks on a pause in fighting there.
The Lebanese state-run news agency reported that Israeli strikes on Saturday killed at least three people. It did not report strikes in the afternoon.
In Tehran, residents told The Associated Press they were sceptical yet hopeful about the talks after weeks of airstrikes carved a path of destruction across their country.
Some said even if one is reached, the path to recovery will be long.
“Peace alone is not enough for our country, because we’ve been hit very hard, there have been huge costs, and the people have to pay for that,” Amir Razzai Far, 62, said in central Tehran.
US and Iranian officials claimed leverage and issued new demands and preconditions as talks approached.
Mr Trump posted repeatedly on social media leading up to Saturday, saying Iranian officials “have no cards” to negotiate with.
“The only reason they are alive today is to negotiate!” he wrote.
He accused Iran of using the Strait of Hormuz, a key artery for global energy supplies, for extortion, and told reporters on Friday it would be opened “with or without them”.
Islamabad was deserted on Saturday as security forces sealed roads and authorities urged residents to stay inside, leading the normally bustling Pakistani capital to look as though it was under curfew.
Mr Vance said on Friday the US was optimistic about the talks, but warned: “If they’re going to try and play us, then they’re going to find that the negotiating team is not that receptive.”
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran was entering negotiations with “deep distrust” stemming from previous strikes on Iran during previous rounds of talks.
Mr Araghchi, who is part of Iran’s delegation in Pakistan, said on Saturday that his country was prepared to retaliate if it was attacked again.
Iran and the US outlined competing proposals ahead of the weekend talks reflecting the wide gulf between the two sides on key issues.
Iran published a 10-point proposal. It called for a guaranteed end to the war and no future attacks.
It demanded an end to economic sanctions and sought control over the Strait of Hormuz.
It also included ending fighting against Iran’s “regional allies”, explicitly calling for a halt to Israeli strikes on Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group.
The United States submitted a 15-point proposal that includes restricting Iran’s nuclear programme and reopening the strait.
Negotiations between Israel and Lebanon are expected to begin on Tuesday in Washington, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun’s office said on Friday.
Israel wants the Lebanese government to assume responsibility for disarming Hezbollah, much as was envisaged in a November 2024 ceasefire.
But it is unclear whether Lebanon’s army can establish a monopoly on arms or confiscate weapons from the militant group, which has survived efforts to curb its strength for decades.
Israel’s insistence that the ceasefire in Iran does not include a pause in its fighting with Hezbollah has threatened to sink the deal. The militant group joined the war in support of its backer, Iran, in the opening days of the war.
The day the truce was announced, Israel pounded Beirut with air strikes, killing more than 300 people in the deadliest day in the country since the war began on February 28, according to the Lebanese health ministry.
Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz has proved its biggest strategic advantage in the war. Commercial vessels have avoided the strait, effectively blocking the passage of oil, natural gas and fertilizer.
The spot price of Brent crude, the international standard for oil prices, was above 94 dollars on Saturday, up more than 30% since the war started.
Before the conflict, about a fifth of the world’s traded oil typically passed through the strait on more than 100 ships a day.
With the ceasefire in place, only 12 have been recorded traversing the strait.
Iran has floated charging ships passing through the strait as part of a peace deal, though the idea has been widely rejected by countries including the United States and Iran’s neighbour Oman.
