Iran warns it has ‘new cards on the battlefield’ as Pakistan prepares for possible peace talks
Preparations in place in Islamabad, but uncertainty if talks will actually happenpublished at 06:56 BST
Azadeh Moshiri
South Asia correspondent, reporting from Islamabad
Image source, Reuters
This morning in Islamabad, preparations are still in place
for possible talks. Driving through the capital, there are still security
checkpoints and “Islamabad Talks” posters lining streets. But there’s
also a lot of uncertainty.
The White House has said a US delegation led by JD Vance
would travel to Pakistan, but the timing has been unclear.
It was thought he would have already arrived by now and yet
it’s understood he spent the night in Washington on Monday.
The reason for this lack of clarity could be because of
Iran’s reluctance to publicly commit to attend.
Instead, there’s still anger and fury in their
statements.
The latest from Iran’s speaker of parliament Mohammad Bagher
Ghalibaf, the man expected to lead Iran’s delegation, is that Iran won’t accept
negotiations “under the shadow of threats”. He also accused Donald
Trump of “opening a siege and violating the ceasefire”.
He’s referring to events in the Strait of Hormuz, with the
US seizing an Iranian flagged cargo ship, and countering Iran’s effective
blockade with one of its own on Iranian ports.
But there’s also something else going on inside Iran.
Hardliners are putting pressure on figures like Ghalibaf to choose conflict
over diplomacy.
That internal power struggle in a country that has seen
layers of senior leaders killed over the course of this war is what is playing
out behind the scenes.
Much of what we’re hearing publicly could be political
bluster, and Iran could certainly be preparing to travel regardless of what
officials are saying.
But all this means that just a day before the ceasefire is
set to expire, we still don’t know for certain whether these peace talks will
actually happen.
