Business Recorder
EDITORIAL: Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi expressed “gratitude and appreciation for Prime Minister Sharif and Field Marshal Munir for their tireless efforts to end the war in the region” on Musk’s X platform at 4:11am 8 April and pledged “on behalf of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council that if attacks against Iran are halted our Powerful Defence Forces will cease their defensive operations.” He added that “for a period of two weeks’ safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz will be possible via coordination with Iran’s Defence Forces and with due consideration of technical limitations.” Araghchi further highlighted the basis of the negotiations (to be held in Islamabad this Friday) was the “request by the US for negotiations based on its 15-point proposal as well as announcement by POTUS about acceptance of the general framework of Iran’s 10-point proposal.” The US’ 15 points and the Iranian 10 points were the two protagonists’ maximalist positions, publicly rejected by each other, with US demanding Iran’s complete capitulation and destruction of its long-range ballistic missiles arsenal with Iranian insistence on withdrawal of all its military bases in the region and points of deployment, compensation for the destruction to Iran, lifting of all sanctions against Iran and unfreezing of its accounts. Missing from the parleys in Islamabad would be Israel, a country that has a track record of routinely violating all ceasefire agreements it has been a signatory to; violating more than 10,000 times in Lebanon as documented by the United Nations as well as in Gaza (a ceasefire brokered by Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kuschner - negotiators that reportedly Iran has indicated an unwillingness to negotiate with). Reports suggest that Vice President J D Vance, currently in Hungary in support of the incumbent Prime Minister Orban in his re-election bid this Sunday, will be available by Friday to lead the talks on behalf of the US. Be that as it may, the US to-date has tacitly, if not overtly, supported all Israeli violations, including the continuing human rights violations in Gaza, and time will tell if this time around the US will be able to enforce an agreement on its long-time ally. Iran may therefore seek additional security guarantees by other countries with a capacity to checkmate Israeli aggression. The Gulf countries are also expected to be missing from the talks though Islamabad did hold discussions with Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Egypt end of March followed by Pakistani Foreign Minister holding talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi. Any security guarantee for the Gulf countries can, therefore, be obtained through a mechanism supported by any one, or more, of these nations. What is patently evident is that the regional power dynamics have changed dramatically since the US/Israel launched their attack on Iran on 28 February. Iran has emerged as a major military power by not only surviving the combined attacks of the US, undoubtedly a superpower, and the regional hegemon Israel but also by launching retaliatory strikes against US bases and its economic interests in the region. Equally, if not more importantly, Iran has emerged as a global economic player through its effective control of traffic passing through the Strait of Hormuz with consequent global economic implications. Time will tell if the US can negotiate a reversal of Iran’s attempt to circumvent trade in dollars with the Gulf countries by insisting on the use of the Chinese yuan – an emerging demand by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South African (BRICS with Iran as a recent member) as a retaliatory measure against US-led Western countries weaponising sanctions and routinely freezing accounts of those countries that it is politically at odds with. We hope that the Islamabad talks are successful in achieving a lasting peace in the region with the rules of military engagement reverting to the international rules-based mechanism and; economic engagement based on uplifting the quality of life of the world population, rather than on political and hegemonic interests of countries. Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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