Shafaqna Pakistan: Donald Trump, President of the United States, is sending his Iran negotiating team, led by Vice President JD Vance, to Pakistan for talks, the White House told reporters on Wednesday. The first round of negotiations is scheduled for Saturday.
Following the loss of several veteran Iranian political figures in the conflict, Iran’s delegation is expected to be headed by Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, Speaker of the Iranian Parliament and former Commander of the Revolutionary Guards, alongside Abbas Araqchi, Iran’s Foreign Minister.
The announcement of the talks comes amid regional tensions. Despite relief over the temporary truce between the United States and Iran, hostilities continue as Israel launched its largest airstrikes on Lebanon, while Iran targeted oil facilities in Gulf nations.
Global financial markets surged after Trump announced the agreement late Tuesday, just two hours before the deadline he had set for Iran to reopen the blockaded Strait of Hormuz or face the destruction of its “whole civilisation.”
But even as Israel and the United States paused their attacks on Iran, Israel escalated its parallel war with Iran-aligned Hezbollah in Lebanon, launching its heaviest strikes yet, sending huge columns of smoke above Beirut as buildings crumpled.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the ceasefire did not include Hezbollah and that Israel would “continue to strike them.”
Netanyahu said Israel had achieved many of its objectives in the war with Iran, but still had others to accomplish.
He said that those could be reached either through a US–Iran agreement or by resuming the military campaign, stressing that Israel had its “finger on the trigger” and was prepared to return to fighting at “any moment.”
Iran’s Tasnim news agency cited an unnamed source warning that Iran will withdraw from the ceasefire if attacks on Lebanon continue.
Lebanon’s civil defence service said 254 people had been killed in Israel’s strikes across Lebanon on Wednesday.
The highest toll was in the capital Beirut, where Israeli strikes killed 91 people, it said. Residents said some of the Israeli strikes had come without the usual warnings for civilians to evacuate.
Despite concerns over the durability of the ceasefire, Brent crude , which had risen by more than 50% since the war began, was down around 14% on the day, at $95.20 a barrel at 1720 GMT.
US stocks jumped to near one-month highs, joining a major global relief rally.
Source: Dunya News
