Islamabad, Pakistan – The capital woke up on Saturday to lockdown: Roads were sealed, checkpoints appeared, and more than 10,000 security personnel were deployed ahead of ceasefire talks between the United States and Iran. The Iranian delegation arrived late on Friday night, their movement swift and largely unseen. We followed the flight en route to Islamabad via Balochistan.
A Pakistani air force plane quickly switched off its call sign inside Pakistani airspace. By the following afternoon, the Americans landed at Nur Khan Air Base, which India claimed to have damaged during the brief war last year. On the tarmac, three extraordinary tail fins stood out.
One American, two Iranian. It was a small detail, but in a region defined by symbolism, not insignificant. From the base, the motorcades moved along pre-cleared routes to the Serena Hotel, the venue of the talks.
The property, which had been attacked by armed groups in the past, was vacated days earlier. Guests were asked to check out, floors secured, staff vetted. What remained was not a hotel, but a controlled diplomatic environment.
The stage was set for the first direct, high-level engagement between post-revolution Iran and the United States… on Pakistani soil. Inside the negotiation room was expectedly a collision of two fundamentally different worldviews – an American “peace through strength” versus the Iranian “resistance with dignity.” “This is a make-or-break moment for lasting peace,” Pakistani prime minister Shahbaz Sharif said the night before. Nothing, it seemed, had been guaranteed.
Ahead of the arrival, Iran’s chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, had publicly set conditions – no talks without movement on a ceasefire in Lebanon, and no progress without the unfreezing of Iranian assets abroad. Iran wants the ceasefire to include the Lebanon front, where Israel has continued a brutal campaign, killing more than 2,000 people. Tehran is also seeking the unlocking of its frozen assets due to years of US sanctions, which have crippled its economy.
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