Iran Demands Lebanon Ceasefire, Asset Unfreeze Before Peace Talks

Fresh uncertainty hung over planned peace talks in Pakistan after Iran said negotiations cannot begin unless blocked Iranian assets are released and a ceasefire in Lebanon is firmly in place.

Iran’s parliament ⁠speaker, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, said on X that both conditions had already been agreed with the US and said the talks would not go ahead until they are met.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi repeated that message and likewise demanded an end to Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon. Pakistani sources said both Mr Qalibaf and Mr Araqchi are expected to attend the talks.

There was no immediate comment from the White House.

US Vice President JD Vance heads to speak to reporters before boarding Air Force Two for the trip to Pakistan

“We’re going to find out in about 24 hours. We’re going to know soon,” Mr Trump said in a phone interview when asked whether he believed the talks would succeed.

Vice President JD Vance, who is leading the US delegation, said he was hopeful of a constructive result as he left for Pakistan.

“We’re going to try to have a positive negotiation,” Mr Vance told reporters before take-off from Joint Base Andrews outside Washington.

“If the Iranians are willing to negotiate in good faith, we’re certainly willing to extend the open hand. If they’re going to try to play us, then they’re going to find the negotiating team is not that receptive,” he said.

Washington and Tehran agreed to a two-week truce after more than five weeks of war.

Even so, the two sides remain widely divided in their public descriptions of what they want from the peace talks, where Mr Vance will lead the US team.

Iran has been cut off from tens of billions of dollars held in foreign banks, largely from oil and gas exports, because US sanctions target its banking and energy sectors.

Emergency crews search through rubble after an Israeli airstrike in the village of Habbouch in southern Lebanon

Tenuous truce

Mr Trump unveiled a two-week ceasefire in ‌the six-week war on Tuesday, just hours before a deadline after which he ⁠had threatened to destroy Iran’s civilisation.

But the truce remains fragile, with Israel continuing to bomb Lebanon and the Strait of Hormuz still closed, leaving both issues as major obstacles for the two sides.

The ceasefire stopped the US and Israeli air campaign against Iran. It has not, however, ended the blockade of the strait, which has triggered the biggest disruption ever seen in global energy supplies, nor has it eased the parallel conflict Israel is waging against Iran’s Hezbollah allies in Lebanon.

Iran was doing a “very poor job” of allowing oil through the strait, Mr Trump said in a social media post. He also warned Tehran not to try to charge ships for passage.

“That is not the agreement we have!”

Israel and Washington have said the offensive against militant group Hezbollah in ‌Lebanon does not fall under the ceasefire deal.

Hours after the ceasefire was announced, Israeli forces launched the war’s biggest assault, killing more than 300 Lebanese in surprise strikes on densely populated areas, Lebanese authorities said.

Israeli attacks continued across southern Lebanon today, with more than a dozen people reported dead in several towns.

One strike on a government ⁠building in the southern city of Nabatieh killed 13 members of Lebanon’s state security forces, Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun said in a statement.

Lebanese authorities say at least 1,830 people have been killed in Israeli strikes since 2 March.

Iranian ‌hardline

Iran’s tougher stance ahead of the negotiations came after a defiant message yesterday from the country’s new Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei.

Mr Khamenei, who has not yet been ⁠seen in public since taking ‌over from his father, killed on the first day of the war, said Iran would seek compensation for all wartime damage.

“We will certainly not leave unpunished the criminal aggressors who attacked our country,” he said.

Although Mr Trump has claimed victory, the war fell short of the goals he outlined at the outset: stripping Iran of the ability to strike its neighbours, dismantling its nuclear programme and making it easier for Iranians to overthrow their government.

Iran still has missiles and drones capable of reaching neighbouring countries, along with a stockpile of more than 400kg of uranium enriched close to weapons-grade level. Its clerical rulers, who were confronted by a popular uprising only months ago, survived the assault without any sign of organised opposition.

Watch: Fragile ceasefire in Iran under strain

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Tehran is now heading into the talks with demands for ⁠major new concessions, including an end to sanctions that have crippled its economy for years, and recognition of its authority over the strait, where it wants to impose transit fees and control access in what would mark a major shift in regional power.

As throughout the war, Iran’s own vessels were able to move through the strait today, while ships from other countries remained trapped.

The Strait of Hormuz stayed closed today

One of the few vessels to make the crossing today was an Iranian supertanker with capacity to carry two million barrels of crude. Before the war, about 140 ships would pass through on a typical day, including tankers transporting 20 million barrels.

The hit to energy supplies has pushed up inflation and slowed the global economy, with effects likely to linger for months even if negotiators manage to reopen the strait.

US monthly inflation data published today, the first to reflect the war’s impact, showed consumer prices rose by 0.9% in March, the ‌sharpest increase since the mid-2022 inflation shock that undermined support for Mr Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden.

Iranians mark the death of the country’s slain supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran

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