Talks start

Initial signs are promising

The good news from Islamabad is that the US-Iran talks have begun. That the talks would focus pm the Strait of Hormuz was inevitable. USA President Donald Trump’s claim that he had reopened the Hormuz Strait might not have gone down all that well with Iran, but it also seemed curiously irrelevant to the discussions in Islamabad. True, the two sides had gone into the issue of the Strait in depth, but for Mr Trump to give the impression that the USA, rather than Iran, had reopened the Strait, is to be economical with the truth, especially when he is doing so only on the strength of a couple of destroyers engaged in sweeping for mines. The talks have occurred after a long hiatus. The talks reached a point where experts were handed various subjects. 

Apparently, the first sticking point is the Hormuz Strait. Iran seeks complete control, but the USA wants the Strait to be a free waterway. Mr Vance said on Sunday that the Iranians resisted the US demand it not just a nuclear programme, but also the technology to pursue it. There are also the issue of sanctions, which the USA has indicated might be negotiable, and which Iran wants lifted. It is not just Iran that wants them lifted, but also those countries which are hanging back from cooperating with Iran because of them, such as Pakistan.

The delegations met Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif before meeting. It needs to keep a weather ye open on Israeli activities, which it could easily convert into an attempt to derail the talks. On Saturday, they included air strikes in both Gaza and the West Bank, as well as Lebanon. The last was a concern raised  by Iran at the Islamabad talks. Islamabad has to think of a suitable response if it intends to mediate. It should remember that such actions as the despatch of PAF planes to Saudi Arabia, could affect the talks. However, Iran has said that it will remain in contact with Pakistan and other regional interlocutors. Though it may have been unrealistic to expect an agreement to have been reached in one round, there is now the prospect of a resumption of hostilities once the two-week pause expires. Pakistan must be in the forefront of an attempt for talks to continue.