Iran War Live Updates: U.S. and Iran Hold Historic High-Level Peace Talks in Pakistan

Iran war: US and Iran launch direct peace talks in Pakistan after 45-year diplomatic freeze

Muhammad Asghar | GlobalBeat

Islamabad hosted the first formal U.S.-Iran negotiations since 1979 on Saturday.

The closed-door session lasted 6 hours. Both sides emerged with a joint commitment to reconvene within 10 days.

Washington cut ties after Iranian students seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days. Every president since had ruled out direct talks until Donald Trump approved the Pakistan-brokered channel this week.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio sat across from Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi inside the Pakistani Foreign Ministry, according to three officials present. The Iranian delegation flew in from Tehran under tight security; the U.S. team arrived from Doha after a pre-dawn C-17 flight.

Rubio told reporters the meeting “tested whether serious de-escalation is possible.” Araghchi said Iran “entered with clear instructions to protect our nuclear rights.” Neither man disclosed concessions.

Pakistan’s army sealed off Constitution Avenue with container trucks and rooftop snipers. Helicopters thumped overhead while diplomats haggled inside the colonial-era building.

Trump posted on Truth Social during the talks: “No more endless wars. If Iran wants a deal, the deal must be BIG.” The message was deleted 27 minutes later.

Iranian state television broadcast footage of Araghchi boarding his plane but muted its own reporter when she tried to ask about uranium enrichment limits.

Western diplomats in Islamabad said the agenda covered four items: Tehran’s 60 percent enriched uranium stockpile, U.S. sanctions relief, prisoner exchanges and alleged Iranian arms shipments to Houthi forces.

A senior Biden-era sanctions official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he now advises private clients, said any sanctions rollback would require “congressional review and a 30-day clock.”

Oil markets shrugged. Brent crude slipped 42 cents to $74.18 by the New York close, with traders betting that real supply changes remain distant.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office released a one-line statement: “Israel will not be bound by any deal that threatens our survival.” The terse reply underscored Israeli concern that Washington could soften its “maximum pressure” stance.

Republican hawks in Washington moved first. Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas introduced legislation to bar the president from suspending sanctions without a Senate super-majority. “Weakness invites terror,” Cotton wrote to colleagues.

Inside Iran, hard-line newspapers warned against “another JCPOA trap,” referencing the 2015 nuclear pact that Trump scrapped in 2018. The daily Kayhan ran a front-page cartoon of Rubio offering a bouquet with a snake hidden inside.

Families of Americans detained in Iran welcomed the news. Babak Namazi, whose brother Siamak has been held in Evin Prison since 2015, said “every minute of diplomacy is a minute our loved ones breathe easier.”

Pakistani officials claimed the initiative began in January when army chief Gen. Asim Munir met Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff in Dubai. A four-page “non-paper” outlining Iran’s willingness to cap enrichment at 5 percent was passed to Washington, two sources confirmed.

The International Atomic Energy Agency reported on 8 April that Iran now holds 313.2 kg of uranium enriched to 60 percent, enough for several bombs if further purified.

Background

Diplomatic relations between Washington and Tehran collapsed after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. President Jimmy Carter froze Iranian assets and severed ties in April 1980. A failed U.S. commando raid to free the hostages deepened the hostility.

Relations briefly thawed under the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action when Tehran accepted curbs on its nuclear program in return for sanctions relief. Trump abandoned the deal three years later and reimposed over 1,500 economic sanctions, crashing Iran’s oil exports from 2.5 million barrels per day to under 400,000.

Proxy fighting escalated across the region. The U.S. assassinated Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad on 3 January 2020; Iran retaliated by launching ballistic missiles at American troops in Iraq, injuring more than 100 service members.

What’s Next

Both sides agreed to meet again in Oman on 20 April under Sultan Haitham’s mediation. Omani officials have already arranged technical working groups on nuclear inspections and prisoner lists, according to a palace source.