AP
Dubai
US President Donald Trump appeared to cast doubt on the effectiveness of the two-week ceasefire over Iran’s continued chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, while Kuwait accused Iran and its proxies of launching drone attacks despite the ceasefire.
Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard denied launching attacks on Thursday night on Persian Gulf states.
Negotiators from Iran and the US prepared for high-level talks with their ceasefire still shaky on Friday. There remain many issues that could derail the truce – as well as negotiations for a broader deal to permanently end the war.
Iran’s semiofficial Tasnim news agency, close to the Revolutionary Guard, claimed that talks set for Saturday wouldn’t happen unless Israel stopped its attacks in Lebanon. And Trump complained that Iran was “doing a very poor job” by not allowing the free flow of ships through the strait, through which 20 per cent of the world’s traded oil once passed.
And yet, preparations for the talks between Iran and the US appeared to be moving forward. Talks between the US and Iran on a resolution to the conflict are expected to start on Saturday in Islamabad, with the White House saying Vice-President JD Vance would lead the US delegation.
Boarding Air Force Two on his way to Pakistan, the Vice-President said, “We’re looking forward to the negotiation. I think it’s gonna be positive. We’ll, of course, see.”
He cited Trump in saying, “If the Iranians are willing to negotiate in good faith, we’re certainly willing to extend the open hand.”
But Vance also added, “If they’re gonna try and play us, then they’re gonna find that the negotiating team is not that receptive.”
Vance also said that Trump “gave us some pretty clear guidelines” on how talks should go, but didn’t elaborate. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered a potential boost to ceasefire efforts in the region when he said he had approved direct talks with Lebanon.
The Lebanese government has not responded as of Friday morning.
The announcement came after Israel pounded Beirut on Wednesday, killing more than 300 people. The negotiations are expected next week in Washington, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Trump’s search for an off-ramp from the war with Iran is getting bumpy inside his Republican Party.
In the decade since Trump’s “America First” movement rose to power by rejecting military intervention, his coalition has rarely been tested the way it is now. Trump’s exit efforts – first through threats of annihilation, then with a ceasefire that is proving precarious – are doing little to paper over tensions that have festered since the war began six weeks ago.
Despite the growing criticism, Republican leaders in Congress were largely silent. Many were privately uncomfortable with Trump’s threats on social media and were concerned about how the war would play out, especially in an election year.
The NNA news agency reported that Israeli warplanes on Friday struck near a State Security agency office in the southern town of Nabatieh, causing extensive damage to the government building. It said others were wounded in the strike and were being transferred to hospitals, without specifying how many.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the specific strike. Its Arabic-language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, claimed that Israel had hit more than 120 Hezbollah militant sites in the past 24 hours.
Hezbollah has claimed a series of air and ground attacks against Israel in the last day after initially holding fire following news of the wider ceasefire deal in the Iran war.
Iranians have welcomed a fragile ceasefire deal after weeks of Israeli and American bombardment, but many fear the war is far from over. For some, there is also a sense of whiplash, after US President threatened to wipe out their civilisation hours before he reversed course and agreed to an uneasy truce.
The ceasefire that took effect on Wednesday has brought relative quiet to the capital, Tehran, after more than a month of heavy strikes that targeted mainly government and security buildings but also destroyed many homes.
“Everyone I’ve spoken with, it’s given them a new life,” a university student told AP in an audio note via WhatsApp, speaking on condition of anonymity over fears for his safety.
