Iran’s president arrived in Pakistan on Tuesday for talks with officials mediating negotiations between Tehran and Washington on a permanent end to the war in the Middle East, even as contradictions emerged over what has been agreed so far and renewed violence in Lebanon.
President Masoud Pezeshkian’s visit to Islamabad comes as technical teams are working on the details of the deal following high-level negotiations in Switzerland on Monday led by US Vice President J.D. Vance and Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf.
In the Iranian capital, Tehran, Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei told reporters that no visits were scheduled to be made to the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency to examine Iranian nuclear sites bombed by the United States last year. Vance said earlier that negotiations in Switzerland resulted in an agreement allowing inspectors to visit the sites.
The IAEA has been in and out of Iran since Israel’s 12-day war in 2025, but was not allowed access to bombed enrichment sites targeted by the United States at the time.
On the other hand, violence broke out again in southern Lebanon when Israeli soldiers opened fire, killing two people. Reports of violence came after two days of calm following a ceasefire reached on Saturday. Any renewed violent fighting could threaten broader diplomatic talks, with Iran demanding that a full truce in Lebanon be part of any comprehensive agreement.
The Iranian President makes his first visit to Islamabad since the start of the war
Pakistani official media reported that Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and other senior officials received Pezeshkian upon his arrival in Islamabad amid tight security measures. Television footage showed Pezeshkian embracing Zardari and Sharif as they received him.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also joined the delegation in Islamabad.
This is the first visit by the Iranian president since the conflict began with the American and Israeli attack on Iran on February 28.
Pezeshkian and Sharif are scheduled to hold a joint press conference after their discussions.
In the initial talks, which mark the start of a 60-day diplomatic process seeking a permanent agreement to end the war with Iran, Iran and the United States agreed to establish a “deconfliction cell” to address the fighting in Lebanon between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group. The US said negotiators also discussed “mechanisms” to ensure the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil transit waterway that Iran effectively closed during the war, remained open.
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Ahead of his meetings in Pakistan, Pezeshkian warned that “the effectiveness of the talks depends on full adherence to the agreed commitments and their strict implementation.”
“Progress on this path will be measured by practical adherence to accepted responsibilities,” he wrote in a message on the X website. “Statements outside the agreed text do not help advance negotiations.”
Iran says the negotiating groups focused on easing sanctions, nuclear issues, and more
Iran has suggested that ongoing talks in Switzerland have led to the creation of specific negotiating 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, the deputy foreign minister leading the technical talks, as saying that the participating countries also formed a communication mechanism regarding ships moving through the Strait of Hormuz and the fighting in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah.
It remains unclear whether the disengagement cell to be established will be enough to stop the fighting between the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and Israel, which occupies part of Lebanon and insists it must be able to attack militants who launch attacks on northern Israel.
Israeli forces opened fire and killed two men in the southern Lebanese town of Nabatieh al-Fawqa on Tuesday, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported, saying the men were next to a bulldozer clearing a road.
Separately, the agency said that Israeli forces opened fire on residents near the town of Hadatha as they were heading for a burial, accompanied by the Lebanese army.
There was no immediate comment from Israel.
Inconsistency in Iran’s use of unfrozen funds
Following high-level talks in Switzerland, Vance said that if Iranian financial assets were frozen, they would be used to buy food grown in the United States.
Vance said the United States and Qatar would get approval for the operation, but if Iranian money became accessible as sanctions were lifted, it would “actually go to buy American soy, American corn, and American wheat for the benefit of the Iranian people.”
However, Iran currently has no demand for US crops, and Baghaei said on Tuesday that Tehran’s decisions on what to import will depend on “prices and quality.”
“It is interesting that the philosophy and goal of the war, which is the destruction of Iranian civilization and the collapse of Iran, is now enriching American farmers,” Baghaei said in Tehran.
Iran’s ambassador to Geneva, Ali Bahraini, also questioned Vance’s claim that the United States and Qatar would have to agree on how Iran uses the unfrozen funds.
“Iran is the only country that decides what to do with these assets,” he told reporters.
Netanyahu raises new questions about the fragile ceasefire in Lebanon
Mediators Pakistan and Qatar said the cell would include the Lebanese government and would “ensure commitment to ending military operations in Lebanon,” but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu raised new questions late Monday, saying his military still had “full freedom of action to thwart any direct or emerging threat to them or the population of the north.”
Neither Israel nor Hezbollah signed the US-Iranian agreement, and Netanyahu pledged to keep his forces in southern Lebanon until any threat to Israel is eliminated. Hezbollah refuses to stop the attacks unless Israel commits to withdrawal.
When asked about Netanyahu’s comments, US President Donald Trump said: “We’ll take a look at it,” adding that the situation “will be resolved.”
The main highway leading south from Beirut was crowded on Tuesday with displaced people from southern Lebanon returning to their homes. Among them is Hawraa Nour al-Din from the village of Khirbet Salam.
“We don’t want the government to conduct negotiations,” she said. He added: “We want Iran to negotiate on our behalf, and we will return victorious, whether everyone wants it or not.”
No Israeli air strikes or shelling have been reported since Sunday, a day after a ceasefire was reached, and Hezbollah has not claimed responsibility for any attacks in the longest cessation of fighting since the outbreak of the latest war between Israel and Hezbollah on March 2.
Lebanon and Israel intend to hold another round of direct talks in Washington on Tuesday, which is expected to focus on developing a plan for Israeli withdrawal.
