PNN – Iran emphasizes that if the talks do not lead to the realization of the rights of the nation, there will be no agreement.
According to the report of Pakistan News Network, our country’s Supreme National Security Council announced in a statement that a 2-week ceasefire will be established due to Pakistan’s mediation in accepting the Americans’ ceasefire request and also in view of the Americans’ acceptance of Iran’s 10-point conditions as the basis for negotiations.
Abbas Araqchi, Iran’s Foreign Minister, also announced this issue in a tweet and clarified that this acceptance of the Americans’ request had two basic elements: First, mediation and the request of the country of Pakistan, and second: the Americans’ acceptance of the 10-point conditions of Iran as the basis for negotiations.
Trump also effectively announced this issue by republishing Mr. Araqchi’s tweet (so-called retweeting it). Meanwhile, Mr. Shahbaz Sharif, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, also said in a tweet, while referring to the ceasefire issue, that the war should end on all fronts, including Lebanon. The name of Lebanon was specifically included in Mr. Shahbaz Sharif’s tweet.
In the same statement of the Supreme National Security Council of our country, it was stated that negotiations were to be held in Islamabad on the basis of Iran’s conditions from April 21.
However, the Americans’ breach of promise, as before, began from the very first hour. Despite Shahbaz Sharif’s public and official announcement about the necessity of a ceasefire in Lebanon, the Americans’ rabid dog in the region, namely Israel, continued its criminal and brutal attacks on Lebanon.
The Iranian delegation went to Islamabad on April 12; the Iranian team was headed by Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Ali Bagheri, Deputy for Foreign Policy of the Supreme National Security Council Secretariat, were the main members of the delegation, and a group of experts and officials were also present as an expert delegation. On the American side, this time, Vance, the Vice President of the terrorist government of the United States, headed the team, and Whitaker and Kushner accompanied him.
From the beginning, the Iranian team emphasized the need for a ceasefire in Lebanon in its meetings with Pakistani officials, and this issue also became the main and initial discussion in the negotiations with the Americans. The Americans had said in these negotiations that they had not promised a ceasefire in Lebanon! However, the Iranian delegation, referring to the official tweet of Shahbaz Sharif and the statements of other Pakistani figures, including Asim Munir, the commander of the Pakistani army, had announced that the Americans’ promise was definitive and should not be violated.
The Americans then announced that they would follow up on the issue! During the approximately 25 hours of negotiations that lasted in Islamabad I, the Americans initially made promises about releasing Iranian assets, but ultimately no clear mechanism was finalized. Regarding the issue of the Strait of Hormuz, the Americans’ excessive demands also led to a deadlock, and the Americans’ entry into the nuclear debate and their constant insistence on increasing excessive demands caused the Islamabad I negotiations to practically fail completely.
The Americans thought that the Iranians, imagining great losses in the war, would make many concessions in the negotiating room; or at least they intended to test the Iranians’ will and feelings towards the war in the first negotiation.
After the Islamabad negotiations, due to the Americans’ constant excessive demands, as well as the lack of a ceasefire in Lebanon and the implementation of the blockade by the Americans, the negotiations practically stopped and Iran announced that it would not participate in the negotiations.
After the failure of the Islamabad talks, Iran continuously emphasized the need for a ceasefire in Lebanon, declaring that a violation of the ceasefire in Lebanon was effectively a complete violation of the ceasefire with Iran, and that our armed forces were ready to retaliate.
In the meantime, the Pakistani mediator continued to try to convince the two sides to negotiate, but Iran insisted that until there was a ceasefire in Lebanon and the Americans implemented some conditions, it considered the negotiations a waste of time and deception and would not participate in them.
Meanwhile, around April 16, Pakistani Army Commander Asim Munir traveled to Iran again. That night, Iran informed him that if a ceasefire was not established in Lebanon, our country’s armed forces were ready to launch a missile attack on Israel.
Asim Munir raised the issue with J.D. Vance, and finally, after hours of discussion, the American and Zionist enemy, seeing Iran’s firm determination to punish the Zionist regime, declared a ceasefire in Lebanon on April 17.
At the same time, a military source told Tasnim that Iran was ready to launch its missiles at Israel at 8 p.m. on April 17; but Trump announced a ceasefire in Lebanon at 7 p.m.
Despite the ceasefire in Lebanon, the Americans continued their hostile actions by continuing the naval blockade against Iran. Iran also announced that as long as the naval blockade remained in place and some of Iran’s conditions were not met, it would continue to consider negotiations a waste of time.
The United States also intended from day one to effectively obtain nuclear concessions from Iran in exchange for a possible end to the war by tying the issue of ending the war to the nuclear negotiations. However, Iran, based on various convincing arguments, emphasized that these two issues were completely separate from each other and that Iran would not engage in any other issue as long as the threat of war remained and this issue was not ended on our country’s terms.
In any case, the exchange of messages continued in the days that followed; on the one hand, Trump constantly emphasized that he wanted to open the Strait of Hormuz through military action or restart the war against Iran, but behind the scenes, he was constantly thinking about sending new texts to Iran to encourage our country to continue negotiations.
During this period, the Pakistani mediator has presented many texts from the Americans to Iran; but Iran has always emphasized in response to the American text that it has nothing to do with it and that the Islamic Republic of Iran will propose its own text.
Iranian texts were mostly delivered to the Pakistani mediator in 14 paragraphs, and each time Trump announced that he was not satisfied with the Iranian text, that he was angry, and that he wanted to fight! However, calculating the closed door of military action and its futility, the Americans again sent another text to Iran through the Pakistani mediator.
Iranian texts have a specific framework, and most of it has been preserved to this day, which can be written as follows (what is referred to is the framework of the text, not the text itself):
- Iran emphasizes the need to separate the issue of ending the war from the nuclear issue; until the war is ended based on the conditions that Iran insists on, the nuclear issue will not be discussed. However, the Americans emphasized in their texts that Iran must make concessions in the nuclear issue at the very first step. The issue of closing nuclear facilities and handing over enriched materials to the Americans is among the issues that the Americans constantly emphasized.
Iran has so far announced that if the first step is achieved, that is, the end of the war on terms acceptable to Iran and practical measures are taken by the United States, the issue of nuclear materials can only be examined in the next step. Meanwhile, the withdrawal of nuclear materials to the Americans is Iran’s red line. Iran has also not made any commitments regarding the closure of nuclear facilities.
- Iran emphasizes the necessity of ending the war and the threat on all fronts, including Lebanon. And this issue must definitely be accepted by the American side.
- If the current differences are resolved, it is likely that an MOU (initial understanding) will be announced as a first step and then a 30 or 60-day deadline will be announced for talks on the nuclear issue (without any initial commitment from Iran).
- Iran has emphasized that a significant portion of Iran’s frozen assets must be released and made available to Iran in this very first step. One of Iran’s emphases is to prevent a repetition of the previous flawed processes, when the Americans announced that Iran’s assets were released but the process did not go smoothly. Therefore, Iran emphasizes that a clear and guaranteed mechanism be considered for this issue. Iran’s negotiating team has clearly announced to the Americans the amount that must be released.
Some details on this issue have not yet been finalized.
- The withdrawal of American combat forces from Iran’s periphery is another condition that Iran insists on, in accordance with the same 10-point declaration of the Supreme National Security Council on April 19 and its full acceptance by the United States, and it has been mentioned in Iranian texts.
- The issue of the Strait of Hormuz is among other issues that have been discussed in the texts exchanged. Iran insists that the Strait will not return to its pre-war status in terms of its mechanism and legal regime.
- The issue of the naval blockade is another issue under discussion; Iran insists that the naval blockade must end; otherwise there will be no negotiations.
- The issue of damages and compensation is another issue pursued by Iran; in the latest texts exchanged, the Americans have agreed to establish a fund called Development and Reconstruction for this purpose. However, the amount of this fund and its mechanism has not yet been finalized and has not been accepted by Iran.
- The US commitment to lift all sanctions, including Security Council, primary and secondary, is another condition emphasized in the Iranian texts.
- The lifting of Iran’s oil sanctions between the initial understanding and the period set for the next negotiations is another issue that the Americans are said to have accepted. Therefore, if this issue is finalized, the Americans will exempt Iran’s oil sanctions during the negotiation period.
- The issue of securing a possible future agreement (if an agreement is reached) is another point on which Iran has made suggestions and emphasized. Iran emphasizes that the possible final agreement should be secured through a binding Security Council resolution and that some other countries should also be involved in the guarantee mechanism so that the issue of the wrong snapback mechanism is not repeated.
However, with the presence of the Pakistani mediator in Tehran, the equations and exchange of messages and positions continue. It is said that progress has been made in the areas of separating the end of the war from subsequent negotiations, the release of Iranian assets, the end of the war on all fronts including Lebanon, a mechanism to guarantee a possible final agreement, the lifting of oil sanctions during the negotiations, the lifting of the naval blockade, the US commitment to the withdrawal of combat forces, etc., but important differences still remain.