US-Iran talks in Pakistan: Who’s attending, what’s on the agenda?

Islamabad hosts negotiations as US and Iran seek an off-ramp. But deep mistrust and regional tensions threaten talks.

Islamabad, Pakistan – Pavements are being painted, an already formidable security presence is being bolstered, and an air of anticipation — and anxiety — is gripping Pakistan’s capital as it prepares to host meetings that the world will watch this weekend.

Exactly six weeks after the United States and Israel launched coordinated strikes on Iran that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, set off a war that has killed thousands of people across multiple countries, shut down the world’s most critical oil passage and sent energy prices soaring, Islamabad will on Saturday host talks involving top US and Iranian officials.

The meetings come days after both Washington and Tehran agreed to a Pakistan-mediated two-week ceasefire, and at a time when that truce is already under strain amid different interpretations of the terms of the pause in fighting — and Israel’s intensified bombing of Lebanon.

Iran’s attacks on its Gulf neighbours, apart from Israel, amid the war have also left the world’s biggest energy export hub and a critical nerve centre of trade, tourism and innovation on edge since the fighting started on February 28. Tehran’s decision soon after to in effect shut down the Strait of Hormuz — through which 20 percent of the world’s oil and gas passes during peacetime — except to ships from countries that negotiated deals with it, rattled global markets and drove energy prices to record highs.

This coming weekend, senior representatives from key players in the war will converge in Pakistan’s leafy capital in the lower reaches of the Margalla Hills.