Round two coming up!

Islamabad is all set to hold a second round of talks between the US and Iran aimed to avert a catastrophic escalation in the ongoing war between them, also involving Israel. This inevitably is a tribute to the sound diplomacy by Pakistan, and the untiring efforts of Field Marshal Asim Munir as well as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his government. What can be a catalyst for success is that Pakistan is trusted by both the warring sides, besides enjoying unflinching support from the Gulf States who kept their fingers crossed as the first round of talks could not lead to an agreement.

President Donald Trump has confirmed that the talks could resume in Islamabad over the next two days and the Iranians too have drooped similar hints. That they both seem prepared to get back to the table just within a week after a discord in their marathon parleys last weekend is tantamount to reposing trust in the good offices of Pakistan. The need of the hour is to pick the threads from where they were left and synchronise an astute and long-term understanding on issues where the two sides failed to find a common ground. The foremost among them is the future navigation of the Straits of Hormuz and the threshold of uranium enrichment.

The stakes are indeed high as the US has imposed a blockade of the exit points of Hormuz in the Arabian Sea, hindering vessels that carry more than 20% of global supplies in the form of crude oil and daily essentials. Any conflagration from Iran, given that the blockade is viewed as a breach of the 14-day ceasefire announced on April 8, could lead to a disaster. The sincere intention on the part of Islamabad had been to avoid an outbreak of hostilities, and the painstaking efforts to avoid a rupture luckily stand acknowledged.

Islamabad Talks have many firsts in its wings: for the first time in four decades the US and Iran sat down for a composite dialogue and that too with the explicit desire for a longstanding peace. This role of Pakistan replicates its earlier achievements: brokering Sino-US thaw in 1971 and convincing the Soviets in 1989 to withdraw from Afghanistan after a decade of bloodshed. Likewise, the upcoming second phase of the US-Iran talks in Islamabad eyes a perpetual accord between the two warring sides.