ISLAMABAD, April 11 (Reuters) – U.S. and Iranian negotiators held their highest-level talks in half a century in Pakistan on Saturday to try to end their six-week war as President Donald Trump said his military was starting the process of clearing the Strait of Hormuz.
The talks in Islamabad were the first direct U.S.-Iranian meeting in more than a decade and highest-level discussions since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
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The Strait of Hormuz, a major transit point for global energy supplies that Iran has effectively blocked but Trump has vowed to reopen, is crucial to negotiations between the sides during a two-week ceasefire agreed last week.
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency said the waterway remains among the main points of “serious disagreement” in talks between Iranian and U.S. delegations in Islamabad.
The U.S. military said two of its warships had passed through the strait and conditions were being set to clear mines, while Iran’s state media denied any U.S. ships had transited the waterway.
“We’re now starting the process of clearing out the Strait of Hormuz as a favor to Countries all over the World,” Trump posted on social media.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner flew in on Saturday and met Iranian Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi for two hours before a rest, according to a source from mediator Pakistan.
The Iranian delegation arrived on Friday dressed in black in mourning for former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and others killed in the war. They carried shoes and bags of some students killed during the U.S. bombing of a school next to a military compound, the Iranian government said.
“There were mood swings from the two sides and the temperature went up and down during the meeting,” another Pakistani source said in reference to the first round of talks aimed at ending the six-week conflict.
Iran’s state-affiliated Nournews said talks would resume later on Saturday night or Sunday.
Pope Leo, in an impassioned appeal on Saturday, urged world leaders to end what he called the “madness of war.”
DIFFERENT DEMANDS
The war has sent global oil prices soaring, killed thousands of people and led to strikes on Gulf Arab states.
Before the talks began, a senior Iranian source told Reuters the U.S. had agreed to release frozen assets in Qatar and other foreign banks. But a U.S. official denied it.
As well as the release of assets abroad, Tehran is demanding control of the Strait of Hormuz, payment of war reparations and a ceasefire across the region including in Lebanon, according to Iranian state TV and officials.
