Dubai, 10 April

Negotiators from Iran and the US began preparing for high-level talks in Pakistan on Saturday, even as the ceasefire remained shaky on Friday.

There remain many issues that could derail the truce.

Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf said on X that the talks wouldn’t happen unless there was a ceasefire in Lebanon and that Iran’s blocked assets were released. He said that these were previously agreed upon terms for the ceasefire announced on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump complained that that Iran was “doing a very poor job” by not allowing the free flow of ships through the Strait of Hormuz, also a condition that Washington insisted upon.

Meanwhile, US Vice President JD Vance, who was departing from Washington to Islamabad said he hoped the negotiations would be “successful” but warned that it could be easily derailed if the Iranians did not negotiate in “good faith”.

“If they’re gonna try and play us, then they’re gonna find that the negotiating team is not that receptive,” he said, adding that Trump has given “clear guidelines” on how the talks should go, without elaborating.

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, said that he authorised the direct negotiations with Lebanon “as soon as possible” with the aim of disarming Hezbollah militants and establishing relations between the neighbours.

This comes after the US said that Lebanon was not includedin the ceasefire deal with Iran. Strikes from Wednesday have killed at least 300 people, and continued on Friday. At least 12 people were killed in airstrikes.

Kuwait, meanwhile, said it faced a drone attack Thursday night that it blamed on Iran and its militia allies in the region, which Tehran denied.