Iran to approach peace talks with US with caution, Iranian ambassador to UN says
By Olivia Le Poidevin
GENEVA, April 8 (Reuters) – Iran will approach peace talks with the U.S. with greater caution than in the past due to a deep lack of trust, and the war will affect the future legal regime of the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva said on Wednesday.
The United States and Iran have agreed to a two-week ceasefire brokered by Pakistan, suspending a six-week-old war that has killed thousands, spread across the Middle East and caused unprecedented disruption to the world’s energy supplies.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced the agreement late on Tuesday, two hours before a deadline he had set for Iran to open the blockaded Strait of Hormuz or face the destruction of its “whole civilisation”.
“We are not putting any trust in the other side. Our military forces are keeping their preparedness…but meanwhile, we will go for negotiations to see how serious the other side is,” the ambassador, Ali Bahreini, told Reuters.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said he had invited Iranian and U.S. delegations to meet in Islamabad on Friday for what would be the first official peace talks since the war began, and that Iran’s president had confirmed it would attend.
Previous nuclear talks in Geneva in late February ended with some progress but no breakthrough, and were set to resume the following week in Vienna before the U.S. and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran two days later.
“Because of that reason, everything is now temporary. Even the arrangements for the Strait of Hormuz is temporary,” Bahreini said.
HORMUZ LEGAL FRAMEWORK AFFECTED BY WAR, ENVOY SAYS
Ships’ future passage through the Strait after the ceasefire would depend on the progress of negotiations with the U.S. and talks between Iran and Oman, Bahreini said.
“During these two weeks, the issues will not be normal as it has been before the war,” he said, adding that ships will need to provide the name and owner of the vessel and cargo details.
A senior Iranian official involved in the talks told Reuters earlier on Wednesday that the strait could open in a limited way on Thursday or Friday, with coordination with the Iranian military, ahead of the Islamabad talks.
“This war has affected everything. And one of the things that this war will affect will be the legal regime of the Strait of Hormuz, but the details would be discussed and will be decided in the future,” Bahreini stated.
Iran is seeking assurances that the strait would not be used by its adversaries to attack Tehran, Bahreini said.
The ambassador also urged for Israel to observe the truce in Lebanon, saying further Israeli attacks on the country would complicate the situation and have “some consequences”. He said the ceasefire was a victory for Iran, and the U.S. and Israel had miscalculated the strength of Iran’s response.
(Reporting by Olivia Le Poidevin in Geneva; additional reporting by Parisa Hafezi in Dubai; Editing by Madeline Chambers, Janane Venkatraman, William Maclean)
