Pakistan sets the table while the dishes are still flying - First Iran and U.S. talks today

Islamabad – Pakistan is preparing. Not loudly, not with grand announcements, but with the quiet determination of a country that knows it is currently the only space where talking is still possible. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi receives the Iranian ambassador and the acting American ambassador in Islamabad on Monday - separately, one after the other, as one does when trying to bring two people to a table who cannot look at each other at the same moment. The talks are expected to take place on Tuesday. Two days before the ceasefire expires on Wednesday, a ceasefire whose condition can only generously be described as fragile.

Islamabad itself visibly carries the weight of these days. Authorities have imposed extensive security measures. Heavy vehicles and public transport are restricted in central parts of the city, two major hotels have been cleared to house incoming delegations. Metrobus service between the PIMS station and the Pakistani secretariat has been suspended. Teams from the participating delegations have already arrived. The city is holding its breath, and the streets feel it first.

We have been reporting for days what others have denied. The talks were never canceled. They were never confirmed. That is a difference that sounds small and means everything. Those who are on the ground, who have their own sources, who do not wait for press releases, know that between a cancellation and silence there is an entire layer of diplomacy. Two Pakistani government officials confirmed on Monday that Iran has signaled willingness to send a delegation to Islamabad. They speak on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk to the press. That is the reality behind the headlines - no statements, no press conferences, but people who whisper because speaking carries consequences.

That these talks are still on the agenda at all is remarkable. The weekend left wounds that are still fresh. The USS Spruance fired on and seized the Iranian Touska, a cargo vessel under Iranian flag that, according to Washington, had ignored the blockade line. Iran calls it piracy and announces a response. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi tells his Pakistani counterpart Ishaq Dar that American threats against Iranian ships and ports are clear signs that Washington is not serious about diplomacy. A sentence not meant for Dar, but for anyone listening. Iran’s joint military command simultaneously signals that it will respond. When and how remains open - but the announcement itself is a language that everyone in Islamabad understands.

And yet Pakistan continues. Not out of naivety. Because Pakistan is the only party in this process recognized by both sides as a mediator. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed this in Washington last week, calling Pakistan an incredible mediator, the only one in these negotiations. Despite interest from other countries, the Trump administration prefers to route all communication through Islamabad. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei has said the same from his side. When both sides in a conflict say the same thing about a third party, it is not politeness. It is dependence.

In the background, China is working. Not visible, not loud, but clear to anyone looking closely. Beijing is in contact with Tehran and is trying to persuade Iran to at least join the talks via phone link before sending a physical delegation. A small step, but one that shows the situation is not frozen, but moving - slowly, heavily, with the friction of two sides that do not want to yield and both know they eventually must.

What complicates these efforts is not only the situation at sea. It is the situation inside Tehran itself. There is no unity between the Iranian government and the Revolutionary Guard on how far to go in these talks. Two hands on the same wheel pulling in different directions. Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian speaks of willingness to negotiate. The Revolutionary Guard shows missiles on television and says replenishment speed is higher than before the war. Anyone sitting at the table in Islamabad does not know for certain who they are facing - a government that wants to negotiate, or a guard that demonstrates.

On the American side, the familiar trio is traveling - Vice President JD Vance, envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. The same team, the same place, after a week in which more has changed than in the months before. Whether that reflects confidence or the absence of alternatives cannot be determined from the outside. Trump’s tone on Truth Social leaves little room for interpretation - he threatens Iran with the destruction of every power plant and every bridge if Tehran does not accept his terms. At the same time, he sends his team to Islamabad. That is either strategy or contradiction. In this administration, the difference is often not visible.

What we have known for days, and what is now slowly reaching major news channels, is the result of work that does not take place in press rooms. On the ground reporting, independent sources, conversations with people who do not want to be quoted because being quoted has consequences for them. The truth in this conflict is not hard to find because it is hidden. It is hard to find because it exists in spaces you only reach if you are willing to make the effort. If you want that to continue, support our work.

To be continued .....