Islamabad Hosts Direct US-Iran Talks After Backchannel Breakthrough

ISLAMABAD: The delegations from United States and Iran on late Saturday started direct talks in Islamabad after separate meetings of the two delegations with the Prime Minister of Pakistan, State owned television, PTV reported.

Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif in his separate meetings with the two delegations stated that the whole world is focused on the talks in Islamabad and expect the two sides to enter the talks with a positive frame of mind.

The US delegation is led by US Vice President JD Vance, who is accompanied by US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.

The Iranian delegation is led by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and also includes Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, along with other leaders.

The economic, political, and legal technical committees from the US and Iran are also reported to have held meetings, and the negotiators from the two sides have been reportedly joined by their experts.

The Iranian government, in a post on X, also confirmed that the talks have entered the “expert level stage as economic, military, legal, and nuclear committees joined”.

The whole world welcomed the holding of bilateral talks between United States and Iran after more than a month of fighting in which the militaries of the two countries lobbed ballistic missiles and one way attack drones on each other.

On Friday night there were speculations in the international media that talks might not take place as Iran strongly protested against Israeli attacks on Lebanon. Both Pakistan and Iran took strong position that ceasefire in Lebanon was part of the overall ceasefire. However Israel completely denied that Lebanon was part of the deal.

When Israel refused to stop the attacks on Lebanon the international media speculated that Iran might not join the talks in such a situation. However speculation proved incorrect when Iranian parliament speaker reached Islamabad last night with a large delegation to take part in the talks with US delegation.
“Negotiations continue at the Serena Hotel to finalise technical details,” it added.

Meanwhile Pakistan condemned, in the strongest terms, the ongoing Israeli aggression against Lebanon, resulting in the loss of innocent lives and the widespread destruction of infrastructure.

The Israeli actions undermine international efforts to establish peace and stability in the region and constitute a blatant violation of international law and fundamental humanitarian principles.

Pakistan calls upon the international community to take urgent and concrete steps to end Israeli aggression against Lebanon.

Pakistan reiterates its unwavering solidarity with the Government and people of Lebanon during this difficult time and supports Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as its peace and stability.

There has been no official statement or announcement from the government of Pakistan about the format of the talks.

However it is generally believed that the formal direct talks were preceded by indirect talks in which Pakistani diplomats shuttled between US and Iranian delegations to pave the way for direct face to face talks.