Day of diplomatic hyperactivity to save the ceasefire in Iran
Israel violates the truce again and kills two people in southern Lebanon
BarcelonaThe "memorandum of understanding" that extends the ceasefire between Iran and the United States and is intended to allow progress towards a peace agreement is so fragile that all parties involved have intensified diplomatic moves to try to consolidate the foundations and prevent everything from exploding a few days after its announcement. This Tuesday, several parallel meetings are taking place in different locations around the world, all with the same objective on the table: to guarantee the mechanisms for trying to maintain peace in the region. Iran's chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi are in Oman, meeting with Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said. Iran's President, Masoud Pezeshkian, has traveled to Pakistan, a mediating country in the negotiations, and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has planned meetings with leaders from Bahrain, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates. In addition, in Washington, talks between Israel and Lebanon are resuming today, as always, without the presence of Hezbollah.
assured that Iranian negotiators had agreed to allow inspections againIran and Oman share sovereignty over the maritime passage, and therefore this is the main issue in Monday's meeting in Muscat. In a joint statement, the two countries announced the creation of a joint working group to address "the future management of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz," a strategic maritime route for global hydrocarbon trade. They will also have to discuss what services will be provided and the "associated costs." They have also committed to keeping the strait "open and free" for international navigation, always respecting the sovereignty of both states.
The other major issue in question is Iran's nuclear program. This Monday, US Vice President J.D. Vance, stated that Iranian negotiators had agreed to allow inspections again by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which had been halted since the US and Israeli attacks in June last year on the country's nuclear facilities. The next day, Bahreini said that "there have been no serious negotiations regarding this matter, so any information that has been given about allowing inspectors to go to Iran is incorrect." Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei insisted on this, saying that Iran has not met with IAEA Director Rafael Grossi in Switzerland, nor does it intend for the UN nuclear watchdog to inspect the damaged nuclear facilities.
US President Donald Trump was quick to react, as usual, via Truth Social, insisting that "despite their protests and false statements [...] Iran has fully and completely accepted the highest level nuclear inspections." He also referred to the other issue subject to discrepancies and contradictory messages: the fate of Iranian funds that will be unfrozen. Trump stated that the money and/or sanctions that the US Treasury is releasing "are going into an escrow account, controlled by the US, and will be used for the purchase of food and medical supplies, exclusively from the United States," including corn, wheat, and soybeans from American farmers.
Iran, however, asserts that it will be the country that decides on the use of the foreign assets that will be unfrozen: "No entity or any other party will have a say in how they are used," Bahreini said. He also specified that it has been agreed to release 12 billion dollars in two installments of 6 billion, the first of which "is either already done or is in the process of being completed."
The most obvious risk: Israel
In this delicate context, the element that could derail the process is Israel. The Iranian ambassador to the UN has stressed that the "red line" for Tehran is Israeli attacks on Lebanon. This Monday, the United Nations celebrated that it had been the first day without exchanges of projectiles between Israel and Hezbollah since March 2, when the war returned to Lebanon. The next day, however, deaths have been recorded again. According to Lebanese official sources, at least two people have died in the south of the country when Israeli soldiers opened fire on a group of people on a road in the town of Nabatieh al-Fawqa.
The Israeli armed forces stated in a statement that the soldiers, who were operating in the security zone established by Tel Aviv in southern Lebanon, responded to an "immediate threat" from "armed terrorists".