Day 42 of US-Israeli War on Iran: Islamabad Under Lockdown Ahead of Peace Talks, Iran Demands Lebanon Ceasefire, Asset Release

New Delhi: Pakistan said Friday (April 10) that it would issue visas on arrival for those traveling to Islamabad for the Iran-US talks, signalling the interest in the world’s media in the event.

Capital city Islamabad is under a lockdown as authorities have cordoned off Serena Hotel, blocked roads up to a 3-km radius with containers and barbed wire and deployed heavy security across the city restricting public access to even nearby hill trails ahead of the talks.

US vice president J.D. Vance, who has long been skeptical of foreign military interventions and outspoken about the prospect of sending troops into open-ended conflicts, sets off Friday to lead mediated talks with Iran in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad.

Meanwhile, former Iranian foreign minister who was participating in negotiations when the US and Israel attacked Iran in late February succumbed to his injuries late on April 9. Kamal Kharazi had been targeted in an Israeli airstrike last week in which his wife and members of his family died.

Kharazi had served as a foreign minister for Iran’s reformist President Mohammad Khatami, then as a foreign affairs adviser to the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was also killed in a US-Israeli strike.

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