Iran Pres. in Pakistan for US Talks    06/23 06:13

   Iran's president arrived in Pakistan for talks Tuesday with officials who 
have been mediating negotiations between Tehran and Washington on a permanent 
end to the war in the Middle East, even as discrepancies emerged on what had 
been agreed so far and violence broke out again in Lebanon.

   ISLAMABAD (AP) -- Iran's president arrived in Pakistan for talks Tuesday 
with officials who have been mediating negotiations between Tehran and 
Washington on a permanent end to the war in the Middle East, even as 
discrepancies emerged on what had been agreed so far and violence broke out 
again in Lebanon.

   President Masoud Pezeshkian's visit to Islamabad comes as technical teams 
were working on details of the deal following high-level negotiations in 
Switzerland on Monday led by U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Iran's 
parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf.

   In Tehran, Iran's capital, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei told 
reporters that no visits have been scheduled for the U.N. watchdog -- the 
International Atomic Energy Agency -- to examine Iranian nuclear sites bombed 
by the United States last year. Vance previously said the negotiations in 
Switzerland won an agreement for the IAEA to inspect the sites.

   The IAEA has been in and out of Iran since Israel's 12-day war in 2025, but 
has not been granted access to the bombed enrichment sites targeted by the U.S. 
at the time.

   Meanwhile, violence flared again in southern Lebanon as Israeli soldiers 
opened fire, killing two people. The reports of violence came after two days of 
calm following a ceasefire brokered on Saturday. Any renewal of heavy fighting 
could threaten the broader diplomatic talks, since Iran has demanded that a 
full truce in Lebanon be part of any comprehensive deal.

   Iran's president makes his first visit to Islamabad since the war started

   President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and other senior 
officials received Pezeshkian upon his arrival in Islamabad amid tight 
security, according to Pakistani state media. Television footage showed 
Pezeshkian embracing Zardari and Sharif as they welcomed him.

   This is the Iranian president's first visit since the conflict started with 
the U.S. and Israeli attack on Iran on Feb. 28.

   Pezeshkian and Sharif were to hold a joint news conference after their 
discussions.

   In the initial talks, marking the start of a 60-day diplomatic process that 
seeks to reach a permanent deal to end the Iran war, Iran and the U.S. agreed 
to create a "de-confliction cell" to address the fighting in Lebanon between 
Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group. The U.S. said 
negotiators also discussed "mechanisms" to ensure that the Strait of Hormuz, a 
key waterway for oil transit that Iran had effectively blocked during the war, 
remains open.

   Ahead of his meetings in Pakistan, Pezeshkian cautioned that "the 
effectiveness of the talks depends on full commitment to the agreed obligations 
and their precise implementation."

   "Progress on this path will be measured by practical adherence to accepted 
responsibilities," he wrote on X. "Statements outside the agreed text do not 
help advance the negotiations."

   Iran says negotiation groups focused on sanctions relief, nuclear issues and 
more

   Iran suggested that the ongoing technical talks in Switzerland have led to 
the creation of specific negotiation groups, including those focused on 
sanctions relief, nuclear issues, reconstruction, and monitoring, according to 
the state-run IRNA news agency.

   The report quoted Kazem Gharibabadi, a deputy foreign minister leading the 
technical talks, saying that the countries involved also formed a contact 
mechanism over ships moving through the Strait of Hormuz and over the fighting 
in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah.

   It remains unclear whether the deconfliction cell being created will be 
enough to stop fighting between the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and 
Israel, which occupies part of Lebanon and insists it must maintain a free hand 
to attack militants launching attacks into northern Israel.

   Israeli forces opened fire and killed two men in the southern Lebanese town 
of Nabatiyeh al-Fawqa on Tuesday, Lebanon's state-run National News Agency 
reported, adding the pair were next to a bulldozer that was clearing the road 
at the time.

   Separately, the agency said Israeli troops fired on residents on the 
outskirts of the town of Hadatha as they were heading to carry out a burial in 
the town's ceremony with a Lebanese army escort.

   There was no immediate comment from Israel.

   Discrepancy on Iran's use of unfrozen funds

   Following the high-level talks in Switzerland, Vance had said if Iranian 
financial assets were unfrozen, they would be used to buy American-grown food.

   Vance said that the U.S. and Qatar would have approval over the process, but 
if Iranian money becomes accessible as sanctions are lifted, it "would actually 
go to buy American soy, American corn and American wheat for the benefit of the 
Iranian people."

   However, Iran has no current demand for U.S. crops and Baghaei said on 
Tuesday that Tehran's decisions on what to import would be based on "prices and 
quality."

   "It is interesting that the philosophy and goal of the war, which was the 
destruction of the Iranian civilization and the collapse of Iran, has become 
enriching American farmers," Baghaei said at the news conference in Tehran.

   Iran's ambassador in Geneva, Ali Bahreini, also questioned Vance's 
contention that the U.S. and Qatar would have to approve how Iran uses unfrozen 
funds.

   "Iran is the only country who decides what to do with those assets," he told 
reporters.

   Netanyahu raises new questions over fragile Lebanon ceasefire

   Mediators Pakistan and Qatar said the cell would include the Lebanese 
government and would "ensure the adherence of the termination of military 
operations in Lebanon," but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu raised 
new questions late on Monday, saying his military still has "full freedom of 
action to thwart any direct or emerging threat to them or to the residents of 
the north."

   Neither Israel nor Hezbollah is a signatory to the U.S.-Iran deal, and 
Netanyahu has vowed to keep his forces in southern Lebanon until any threat to 
Israel is eliminated. Hezbollah has refused to halt attacks unless Israel 
commits to withdrawing.

   When asked about Netanyahu's comments, U.S. President Donald Trump later 
said "we're going to take a look at it," adding that he wouldn't say what 
action he would take but that the situation would "get solved."

   "I'm a problem solver, I get problems solved real fast, including with 
Bibi," he said, using a nickname for Netanyahu.

   No Israeli airstrikes or shelling have been reported since Sunday, a day 
after a ceasefire was reached, and Hezbollah also has not claimed any attacks 
in what has been the longest halt in the fighting since the latest 
Israel-Hezbollah war erupted on March 2.

   Lebanon and Israel planned another round of direct talks in Washington on 
Tuesday, which are expected to focus on developing a plan for an Israeli 
withdrawal.