US Vice President JD Vance will lead a high-level delegation for the first round of talks with Iran, which will be held on April 11 (Saturday) in Pakistan, confirmed the White House on Saturday. This comes after the two sides reached a ceasefire agreement for two weeks, which the White House said will create an “opening” for long-standing peace in the Middle East.
Though the US and Iran have arrived on a consensus over the ceasefire agreement, Tehran has threatened that ending the war in Lebanon is a part of the agreement. But the ceasefire is on bring, as Israel has continued to strike Lebanon and its recent attack claimed around 188 lives in the Middle East nation. To this, Vance has appealed to Iran to not let the ceasefire collapse over Israel’s attacks on Lebanon.
‘No promise over Lebanon’
However, the American V-P, who will lead the delegation with special envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, said that the Israelis need to “check themselves a little bit” in Lebanon to make sure that the ceasefire in successful.
“I think the Iranians thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon, and it just didn’t. We never made that promise,” Vance told reporters. “If Iran wants to let this negotiation fall apart… over Lebanon, which has nothing to do with them, and which the United States never once said was part of the ceasefire, that’s ultimately their choice.”
Iran closes Strait of Hormuz
Even though a ceasefire has been announced, Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz in response to Israel’s attacks on Lebanon. The Hormuz, a narrow waterway between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, is a critical chokepoint for the world from where nearly 20 per cent of the global crude passes through. Trump had repeatedly threatened Iran to open the Strait, but the Islamic Republic has proposed to collect toll on it.
Iran has repeatedly criticised Israeli strikes in Lebanon, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that the ceasefire agreement does not include Beirut. Although he said that Israel support the ceasefire, which is subject to opening the Hormuz and stop all attacks on American and Israeli bases in the Middle East.
“The United States has told Israel that it is committed to achieving these goals, shares by the US, Israel and Israel’s regional allies, in the upcoming negotiations. The two-week ceasefire does not include Lebanon,” he posted on X (formerly Twitter).
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