ISLAMABAD (AP) 鈥� With the , U.S. Vice President JD Vance for high-level talks with Iranian officials, as Israel and Hezbollah militants traded fire and Tehran maintained its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz.
Many issues could derail and the negotiations aimed at making a to stop the fighting permanently.
Iran鈥檚 semiofficial Tasnim news agency, close to the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, claimed that the would not happen unless Israel stopped its attacks in Lebanon. And U.S. President Donald Trump said on his social media platform that Iran has no leverage except to restrict ship traffic in the strait, through which 20% of the world鈥檚 traded oil once passed.
Kuwait, meanwhile, said it was targeted by seven drone attacks since Thursday that it blamed on Iran and its militia allies in the region. Though the Guard denied launching any assault, it has carried out attacks across the Mideast in the past that it did not claim.
Preparations for the talks between Iran and the U.S. appeared to be moving forward, with Vance boarding Air Force Two for the long flight to Islamabad.
Elsewhere, negotiations between Israel and Lebanon were expected to begin Tuesday in the U.S. capital, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun’s office said Friday. Beirut is keen to hold direct talks to end the war between Israel and Hezbollah, but under a ceasefire similar to the one with Iran.
Before his departure, Vance said he believed the negotiations with Iran will be 鈥減ositive.鈥�
But he added, 鈥淚f they鈥檙e going to try and play us, then they鈥檙e going to find that the negotiating team is not that receptive.鈥�
In Islamabad, security forces locked down key parts of the Pakistani capital, erecting barricades along routes from the airport to the city.
Hours later, the Iranian delegation led by Parliament Speaker arrived in Islamabad, Iranian state TV reported. The delegation included security, political, military, economic and legal teams. The report said negotiations will begin only if the other side accepts Iran鈥檚 preconditions.
Earlier in the day, Qalibaf posted on social media that two points he said had been mutually agreed on 鈥� a ceasefire in Lebanon and the release of 鈥� have yet to be implemented.
鈥淭hese two matters must be fulfilled before negotiations begin,鈥� he wrote.
Israel and Lebanon will have direct negotiations
Israel鈥檚 insistence that the ceasefire in Iran does in its fighting with Hezbollah has threatened to sink the deal. The militant group joined the war in support of its backer, Iran.
The day the truce was announced, Israel , killing more than 300 people, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. It was the deadliest day in the country since the war began Feb. 28.
Trump said Thursday that he had asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to dial back the strikes.
Then on Friday, Israeli warplanes struck near a state security office in the southern town of Nabatieh, killing 13 officers, according to the Lebanese president’s office. Israeli forces said they also hit about 10 rocket launchers in Lebanon that had fired toward northern Israel.
A day earlier, Netanyahu said he authorized the negotiations with Lebanon with the aim of disarming Hezbollah militants and establishing relations between the neighbors, which have technically been at war since Israel was established in 1948.
Aoun鈥檚 office confirmed that the two sides were set to negotiate after Lebanon and Israel鈥檚 ambassadors to the U.S. held a call with Washington鈥檚 ambassador to Lebanon to discuss terms. The U.S. State Department will mediate.
In a first statement since Israel announced direct negotiations with Lebanon, Hezbollah chief Naim Kassem urged Lebanese officials to stop offering 鈥渇ree concessions,鈥� but he did not take a clear stance on the talks.
Two days after Israel’s barrage, people sifted through the wreckage of their homes, trying to salvage furniture and personal mementos. Some expressed gratitude that they did not lose loved ones.
鈥淭here is no substitute for family,鈥� said Wissam Tabila, 35. 鈥淓verything else can be replaced.鈥�
Strait of Hormuz remains a sticking point
Iran鈥檚 closure of has sent oil prices skyrocketing, driven stocks down and roiled the world economy. Tehran’s control over the waterway has proved its biggest strategic advantage in the war.
The spot price of Brent crude, the international standard, was around $97 Friday, up more than 30% since the war started.
Before the conflict, over 100 ships passed through the strait each day 鈥� many carrying oil to Asia. With the ceasefire in place, only 12 have been recorded passing through.
Trump said Iran has little clout in the negotiations.
鈥淭he Iranians don鈥檛 seem to realize they have no cards, other than a short term extortion of the World by using International Waterways,鈥� Trump posted Friday. 鈥淭he only reason they are alive today is to negotiate!鈥�
Questions linger about missile and nuclear programs
Questions also remain over the fate of Iran鈥檚 missile and nuclear programs, which the U.S. and Israel sought to eliminate in going to war.
The U.S. insists Iran must never be able to build nuclear weapons and wants to remove Tehran鈥檚 stockpile of , which could be used to make them. Iran insists its program is peaceful.
Trump has said that the U.S. would work with Iran to remove the uranium, though Tehran has not confirmed that.
More than 3,000 people have been killed in Iran, a top Iranian officer told the state-run Iran newspaper. Iran鈥檚 government has not provided any definitive death toll from the war.
In Lebanon, at least 1,953 people have been killed and 1 million have been displaced. Over a dozen people have died in Gulf Arab states and the occupied West Bank, while 23 civilians were killed in Israel. Thirteen U.S. service members have been killed.
In other developments, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces Iranian鈥慸esigned Shahed drones in several Middle Eastern countries during the Iran war. The missions, carried out with domestically produced interceptor drones, were part of efforts to help partners counter the same weapons Russia uses in Ukraine, he said.
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Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Mednick from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writers Will Weissert and Aamer Madhani in Washington; Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City; and Kareem Chehayeb and Hussein Malla in Beirut contributed to this report.
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