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The world’s attention will turn Friday to Islamabad, Pakistan, which will host the first public direct talks between the United States and Iran in many years.These talks are described as difficult and crucial due to the tense atmosphere, but according to observers, they represent a historic opportunity that could change the entire map of the Middle East, or could return the region to a spiral of tensions and conflicts if they fail.Delegations are expected to arrive in Islamabad Friday before negotiators formally sit down at the negotiating table Saturday, amid reports confirming that the 30-member US negotiating team has already arrived in Islamabad to review security arrangements.The White House stated that Vice President J.D. Vance would lead the American delegation in these negotiations, along with envoys Steve Wittkopf and Jared Kushner, while Tehran announced that its Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Parliament Speaker Bagher Ghalibaf would lead the discussions in Islamabad, in the presence of mediators and several other figures.These negotiations come in the wake of a two-week ceasefire agreement between Washington and Tehran, brokered by Pakistan, which was announced early Wednesday. The truce, which averted imminent US strikes on Iran, was based on a ten-point Iranian proposal that Washington accepted as a general framework for talks.This round of negotiations will also take place in the wake of an unprecedented military escalation between the two sides, marked by mutual threats and attacks that have directly affected the security of the region and global shipping traffic.Despite the announcement of a temporary truce, events on the ground quickly deviated from the diplomatic messages. Within hours, the agreement was severely undermined, as Israeli warplanes launched what was described as the largest wave of airstrikes on Beirut, the Bekaa Valley, and southern Lebanon since the start of the conflict, targeting nearly 100 sites within minutes, resulting in the death and injury of hundreds of unarmed civilians. Hezbollah responded by targeting the Manara settlement in northern Israel with missiles, while Tehran threatened to retaliate against the Israeli attacks, signaling the collapse of the truce. Tehran declared that the issue of reopening the Strait of Hormuz would depend on full compliance with the ceasefire, including in Lebanon.Pakistan has condemned in the strongest terms the ongoing Israeli aggression against Lebanon, stressing that Israeli actions undermine international efforts to establish peace and stability in the region and constitute a flagrant violation of international law and basic humanitarian principles. Pakistan urged the international community to take urgent and concrete steps to end the Israeli aggression against Lebanon.While the White House confirmed that the ceasefire was limited to direct hostilities between the United States and Iran, and that Lebanon was not included, Iranian officials rejected this interpretation, stressing that a partial ceasefire was unacceptable, and Tehran threatened that it would withdraw from the ceasefire agreement if Israeli attacks on Lebanon continued.Iran had previously rejected a 15-point US list of demands, stating that it imposed broad restrictions on its nuclear program, missile capabilities, and regional alliances. Instead, it presented a 10-point counter-proposal emphasizing its sovereignty and calling for a broad de-escalation.The Iranian proposal also called for recognition of its right to uranium enrichment, the removal of primary and secondary US sanctions, the termination of UN resolutions, compensation for war damages, and a cessation of hostilities in all fronts, including Lebanon.On Wednesday, Qatar welcomed the ceasefire announcement between the United States and Iran, considering it an initial step towards de-escalation and stressing the urgent need to build upon it to prevent the spread of tension in the region.The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed, in a statement, Qatar’s appreciation for the efforts of Pakistan, particularly those of Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Chief of Army Staff, Field Marshal Asim Munir as well as all parties involved in mediation and good offices that contributed to achieving a ceasefire. The ministry emphasised the importance of full adherence to the ceasefire declaration to ensure the consolidation of the truce and create the conditions for dialogue.The ministry also stressed the necessity for Iran to immediately cease all hostile acts and practices that undermine regional stability and respect for the sovereignty of states, thereby preventing the recurrence of such violations. Furthermore, the Ministry emphasised the importance of guaranteeing the security of maritime routes and the freedom of navigation and international trade in accordance with international law, which contributes to maintaining regional stability and global supply chains.Despite the diplomatic momentum surrounding the Islamabad negotiations, observers warn that these talks face significant obstacles, as fundamental disagreements persist between the two sides. They consider this a historic opportunity to defuse a crisis that threatened to destabilise the Middle East and the global economy. They believe that the wide gap between Tehran’s demands, as outlined in its ten-point plan, and Washington’s strategic objectives makes reaching a final and comprehensive agreement within the two-week timeframe an extremely difficult task.They also noted that the success of this round of negotiations will depend heavily on the Pakistani mediator’s ability to bridge the gaps and on both sides’ willingness to make potentially difficult concessions to avoid sliding into a full-blown military confrontation.Pakistan declared an official holiday to facilitate the US-Iranian talks, and imposed strict security measures in the capital, Islamabad, deploying hundreds of police and paramilitary forces to secure the city before the two sides sit down at the negotiating table, awaiting results that could reshape the landscape in the Middle East and the world as a whole, whether towards complete detente or further complications.These are fears that observers and analysts can hardly deny, describing the Friday and Saturday round as a “decisive round” due to its profound and sensitive impact on the geopolitical and security situation in the region, and on the global economy, which is severely affected by the energy supply crisis caused by Iran’s halting of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz. 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The US and Iran are set to hold peace talks in Pakistan, which has been mediating, but remain deeply divided on key issues, even though President Donald Trump has said proposals presented by Tehran were a “basis” for talks. Each side is sticking to competing demands for a deal to end the war, with the fate of shipping access through the Strait of Hormuz and Israel’s war in Lebanon key issues to resolve. How the talks progress could shape the Middle East for generations. Where do both sides stand?An Iranian delegation is due in Islamabad for talks based on a 10-point proposal, which shows little overlap with a 15-point plan Washington previously put forward, suggesting there will be major gaps to bridge. For example, Iran’s proposal includes a demand to enrich uranium, which Washington previously ruled out and Trump has insisted is non-negotiable. The 10 points also do not address Iran’s missile capabilities, which Israel and the US have both said must be dramatically curtailed. Tehran has said its formidable missile arsenal is non-negotiable, although it is unclear how many of those weapons remain after the war. One Pakistani official in the region said Iran could expect to secure many of its demands, with a focus on reconstruction, reparations and sanctions relief, but could not expect to secure an agreement on uranium enrichment. What will top the agenda? Previous talks have focused on Iran’s nuclear programme and missiles. Those issues have now been overshadowed by the fate of the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint through which a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas flows. Iran’s effective closure of the waterway since the beginning of the war on February 28 has rattled the global economy, pushing up oil prices. Tehran has indicated that under a permanent peace deal, it would seek to charge a fee for ships transiting the strait, which is just 34 km (wide at its narrowest point between Iran and Oman. Trump had threatened to devastate Iran if Tehran did not agree to a ceasefire deal and to reopen the strait. There was no sign Iran had lifted its blockade of the waterway, which has caused the worst disruption to global energy supplies in history, and Tehran said there would be no deal as long as Israel was striking Lebanon. How do Iran and US plans compare? Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said in a statement that Washington had agreed to accept Iran’s 10-point plan and that “the United States has, in principle, committed to”: non-aggression; continued Iranian control over the Strait of Hormuz; acceptance of enrichment; lifting all primary and secondary sanctions; termination of all resolutions passed by the UN Security Council and Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency; withdrawal of US combat forces from the region; and cessation of war on all fronts, including against the Islamic resistance in Lebanon. According to Israeli sources, Trump’s 15-point proposal, previously sent to Iran via Pakistan, called for removing Iran’s stocks of highly enriched uranium, halting enrichment, curbing its ballistic missile programme and cutting off funding for regional allies.As the two sides prepare to hold negotiations, Trump vowed to retain military assets in the Middle East until a peace deal with Iran is reached and warned of a major escalation in fighting if it failed to comply. What are the chances of reaching a lasting settlement?Although Trump has declared victory, Washington did not achieve the aims he had announced to justify the war at its outset: to eliminate Iran’s ability to attack its neighbours, destroy its nuclear programme and create conditions that would make it easier for Iranians to topple their government. Iran is unlikely to make major concessions on those points and it has indicated it can patiently keep on fighting, with the Strait of Hormuz giving it economic leverage over an enemy with superior firepower. What is Israel’s position and where does Lebanon fit in?Israel, which has been pounding Iran’s ally Hezbollah in Lebanon in a parallel conflict, sees Tehran as an existential threat. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would like regime change in Iran even though that would probably require boots on the ground and there are no guarantees of stability afterwards. The question of whether the ceasefire covers Israel’s war against Hezbollah has become a sticking point that threatens the truce. The US and Israel say Lebanon is not included in the agreement, while Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has said a halt in hostilities in Lebanon was an essential condition of Tehran’s deal with Washington. Israel said it had agreed to a ceasefire with Iran, but said the deal did not include halting military action in Lebanon. Related Story Source link
Kuomintang Chairperson Cheng Li-wun (left) sitting in the cockpit of a display aircraft with Song Tao, Director of the Taiwan Work Office of the Communist Party…
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (left) is welcomed by North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui upon arriving on a two-day visit at Pyongyang International Airport Thursday.…
The Philippine Coast Guard command centre on Thitu Island in the South China Sea Thursday. (AFP) The Philippine Coast Guard unveiled Thursday its first dedicated command centre in the Spratly island chain, a flashpoint in the disputed South China Sea that has been the site of repeated confrontations with Chinese vessels.The headquarters of a newly established coast guard district, formerly overseen from neighbouring Palawan, will cover an area of about 68,000sq km (26,000 square miles).An AFP journalist travelling to the new command centre on Pagasa Island, known as Thitu in the Philippines, saw multiple Chinese Coast Guard vessels patrolling nearby waters. The vessels issued radio warnings to the plane carrying the journalist.Beijing claims the South China Sea in nearly its entirety, despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis.Pagasa will now have a commodore-level commander on site, Philippine Coast Guard Commandant Ronnie Gil Gavan told reporters after “activation” ceremony Thursday, along with a permanently stationed ship, more response vessels and an unspecified number of specialists.”The establishment of the coast guard district here will also enhance the psyche, the mindset of each and every coast guard member, that… the defence of Kalayaan island group is a top priority,” Gavan said, using the Filipino name for the Spratlys.The move will also include the dredging of a deeper port that will allow for the docking of coast guard vessels, which must currently ferry personnel to and from Pagasa on small boats.The far-flung Kota and Parola islands will also see their substations raised to full station status, coast guard spokesman Jay Tarriela said.The Pagasa upgrade, meanwhile, will mean a bigger budget for greater community assistance to the island’s inhabitants, including more teachers and doctors, he said.Pagasa Island is home to about 400 Filipinos, mostly fishermen and their families, who China accuses of living there illegally.The Chinese Embassy in Manila did not immediately reply to a request for comment on Thursday.The Philippines last month revealed plans to rename more than 100 island features in the Spratlys in a bid to reinforce its “sovereignty” in the South China Sea.China subsequently accused Manila of breaking international law while threatening unspecified measures to protect its own claims. Source link
Cuba’s Vice-Foreign Minister Josefina Vidal, accompanies a women protest against the sanctions imposed by the United States, in Havana on Tuesday. (AFP) Talks between Cuba and the United States on de-escalating tensions are still at a “very preliminary” stage, Cuba’s Deputy Foreign Minister Josefina Vidal told AFP on Tuesday.Cuba has been bracing for a possible US attack following threats from US President Donald Trump about “taking” the communist-run island after ousting Venezuela’s leader and attacking Iran.The former Cold War rivals have, at the same time, held exploratory talks.”We are in a very preliminary, very initial phase, and there are still no structured negotiations between the two governments,” Vidal told AFP during a demonstration in Havana to denounce the impact of US sanctions on the impoverished island.Trump effectively shut down oil exports to Cuba in January after US forces ousted Havana’s main regional ally and crude supplier, Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro.Trump also threatened tariffs on other countries that ship oil to Cuba, deepening an energy crisis on the island marked by recurring blackouts.Last week, however, Washington allowed through a Russian oil tanker.Vidal, 65, was a key figure in the restoration of relations between Washington and the communist-run island during Barack Obama’s presidency in 2015.In February, the Miami Herald listed her as one of Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s interlocutors, along with Raul Guillermo Rodriguez Castro, grandson of former president Raul Castro.Cuba has taken apparent steps in recent weeks to ease tensions, notably releasing groups of prisoners in two batches, in what it called a “humanitarian gesture.”Last week it announced the pardon of more than 2,000 prisoners. However, none of these were political prisoners, according to human rights NGOs.At least 20 political prisoners were released in mid-March.Vidal contrasted the current talks with the negotiations between the Obama and Raul Castro administrations, which led to an historic rapprochement that Trump later walked back.In 2015, “we worked to create a relationship that was not without differences, but that did not place those differences at the centre,” Vidal stressed.She insisted however that “Cuba has always believed in dialogue” and “not in confrontation.” Related Story Source…
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi attends a press conference on the sidelines of the National People’s Congress, in Beijing. (Reuters/File Photo) China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit North Korea this week, his ministry said Wednesday, signalling efforts by the East Asian neighbours to revitalise ties that chilled after the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.Wang’s last publicly known visit to North Korea as China’s foreign minister was in late 2019, following reciprocal visits by the two countries’ top leaders earlier that year.”China is willing to strengthen strategic communication with North Korea and enhance exchanges and cooperation,” a Chinese ministry spokesperson, Mao Ning, said during a regular press conference.She called Wang’s upcoming visit-scheduled over April 9 to 10-“an important move to advance bilateral ties”.Beijing has worked to draw Pyongyang back into its orbit, after the Covid-19 pandemic froze exchanges and as North Korean leader Kim Jong-un shored up relations with Moscow, sending troops and weapons in support of Russia’s war efforts in Ukraine.Passenger train service between Beijing and Pyongyang resumed in March after being suspended for six years since the onset of the pandemic in 2020.China’s flag carrier Air China has also restarted flights between the two capitals. However, the reopened links have not benefited Chinese tourists so far, with bookings available only for some business travellers and exchange students.North Korean leader Kim Jong-un travelled to Beijing in September on board an armoured train to join Russian President Vladimir Putin and other leaders for a massive military parade in the Chinese capital, where Kim met with Chinese President Xi Jinping.That meeting was followed by a visit to Pyongyang in October by China’s No 2 official, Premier Li Qiang.”Preserving, consolidating, and developing China-DPRK relations has always been an unwavering strategic policy of the party and government of China,” Mao said Wednesday.Wang’s Pyongyang visit also comes ahead of an expected summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump next month. Co-ordination between North Korea and China could take place before the China-US summit, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said Wednesday.Trump has repeatedly expressed interest in resuming direct talks with the North Korean leader in his second term, but no meeting has materialised.North Korea analysts have been watching the possibility of a fourth meeting between Trump and Kim after they met three times during Trump’s first term, most recently in 2019.In February, Kim said there is “no reason” North Korea and the US cannot “get along well” if Washington recognises North Korea as a nuclear-armed state and abandons its “hostile” policy against Pyongyang.Subsequent state media messages have refrained from overtly criticising Trump. Related Story Source link
US President Donald Trump said yesterday that imports from countries supplying Iran with military weapons will face immediate 50% tariffs with no exemptions, threatening the new duties just hours after agreeing to a two-week ceasefire with Tehran. After more than five weeks of air strikes against Iran’s missile launchers, military installations and weapons industry, Trump returned to a favourite foreign policy pressure tool — tariffs — effectively warning China and Russia in a social media post against restocking Tehran’s military inventories. But the US Supreme Court stripped the US president of his fastest and broadest tariff authority, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, in February when it ruled that his broadest global tariffs imposed under the 1977 law were illegal. “A Country supplying Military Weapons to Iran will be immediately tariffed, on any and all goods sold to the US of America, 50%, effective immediately, There will be no exclusions or exemptions! President DJT,” Trump wrote on the Truth Social site, without naming any countries. China and Russia have helped Iran build military capacity to counter US and Israeli pressure, supplying missiles, air-defence systems and dual-use technologies intended to bolster deterrence. That support appeared capped during the U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran. Both Beijing and Moscow have denied supplying any weapons recently, although allegations against Russia have persisted. Reuters reported in February, prior to the first U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran, that Tehran was considering a purchase of supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles from China. Reuters also reported in March that China’s top semiconductor maker, SMIC , has sent chipmaking tools to Iran’s military, according to two senior Trump administration officials. “This is a China-related threat, the way I read it. And China will read it that way,” said Josh Lipsky, vice president and chair of international economics at the Atlantic Council. Although drone and missile parts routinely flow from Chinese entities to Iran, evading US sanctions, Lipsky said Trump was unlikely to follow through with new tariffs in the near term because that would derail his planned trip to Beijing to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping. On Tuesday, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Trump would seek to maintain the current stability in the US-China relationship, to preserve US access to Chinese-produced rare-earth minerals and magnets while maintaining prior tariff levels. Greer said Trump wanted to avoid a “massive confrontation” with Xi. Of Trump’s still available trade tools, an active “Section 301” unfair trade practices action against Chinese goods from his first term would be the most likely vehicle for adding new tariffs quickly, Lipsky said.A more limited tool would be Section 232 of the Cold War-era Trade Expansion Act of 1962, aimed at protecting strategic domestic industries on national security grounds, but it would limit duties to specific sectors, lacking the broad economy-wide impact of the prior IEEPA-based tariffs. Trump’s tariffs on Chinese goods over nearly eight years already have cut US imports from China sharply, from a peak of $538.5bn in 2018 to $308.4bn in 2025, with further declines recorded in January and February of 2026. Russia has been another source of arms technology for Iran, but US imports of Russian goods also have shrivelled since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the wave of financial sanctions imposed on Moscow as a result of that move. US imports from Russia, one of the only countries not subject to Trump’s now-cancelled “reciprocal” tariffs, jumped 26.1% to $3.8bn in 2025. These imports are dominated by palladium, which is used in automotive catalytic converters, fertilisers and their ingredients, and enriched uranium for nuclear reactors. The Commerce Department already is moving to impose punitive tariffs on Russian palladium after an anti-dumping investigation. Source link
Nato Secrertary-General Mark Rutte (left) and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speak with each other as they meet at the State Department in Washington, DC,…
The logo of Norwegian telecoms operator Telenor. (AFP/File photo) Myanmar customers of the Norwegian telecoms group Telenor have sued the company for sharing their sensitive personal data with the junta, in a civil class action lawsuit filed in Norway Wednesday.The plaintiffs are seeking damages, arguing the military used the information to identify, arrest and prosecute pro-democracy activists suspected of opposing the 2021 coup in Myanmar, which constituted “serious human rights violations”, they said in a statement.The information included names, physical addresses, Facebook and bank accounts, location data and call logs, they said.They allege that the data sharing led to, among other things, the 2022 execution of a prominent government opponent and lawmaker, Zewa Thaw, and the arrest and jailing of civil society activist Aung Thu, the statement said.Telenor, in which the Norwegian state owns a 54 percent stake, denied responsibility.”In Myanmar, refusing requests from the military authorities could, in the worst case, have led to imprisonment, torture or the death penalty,” it said in a statement to AFP.”Telenor Myanmar had no real options. We could not play Russian roulette with the lives of our employees.”Acknowledging that it was “terrible” if Telenor data had been “misused by the authorities,” it said it was “solely the military authorities in Myanmar who are responsible for how they treat their own population”.The plaintiffs said Justice and Accountability Initiative (JAI), a Swedish non-profit, and a Norwegian law firm had filed the lawsuit with the Asker og Baerum district court on their behalf.If successful, the case would be “the first ever to hold a telecoms company to account for not sufficiently protecting user data from access by an authoritarian regime”, according to Beini Ye, a lawyer for the Open Society Justice Initiative, which is supporting the suit.Telenor Myanmar began operations in 2014 and had more than 18 million customers by 2021.After a February 2021 coup, the junta launched a crackdown on the civilian resistance movement.In July 2021, Telenor announced plans to sell its Myanmar subsidiary “despite warnings by civil society organisations”, the plaintiffs said.The company later cited junta demands that it install monitoring equipment on the network as a reason for leaving the country.According to the plaintiffs, the transaction meant all customer data and surveillance technology that Telenor had installed were turned over to a military-linked company.They said they were aware of “at least 1,253 phone numbers belonging to users whose data was shared”.Telenor exited Myanmar in March 2022. Source link