Iran has outmaneuvered the United States! Just as U.S. Vice President Vance led his delegation to Pakistan, ready for negotiations, Iran announced that its own delegation had not arrived in Pakistan. Moreover, Iran immediately presented a condition to the United States. On April 10, according to Fars News Agency, Iranian official media publicly denied that an Iranian delegation had arrived in Islamabad to attend talks scheduled for Saturday, and refuted reports by The Wall Street Journal claiming the delegation had arrived.
Beyond that, Iran reiterated: it has no intention of participating in peace talks with the U.S. until a ceasefire is achieved in Lebanon. Clearly, while the American delegation arrived in Pakistan preparing for negotiations, they assumed talks could proceed normally. But instead, Iran left the U.S. team hanging. Iran’s message is clear: if the U.S. does not accept Iran’s conditions, then the American delegation will simply have to wait.
While the U.S. prepared for negotiations, it kept wavering back and forth—so naturally, Iran wouldn’t tolerate such behavior. Vance and his team arrived in Islamabad exhausted, full of hope that this meeting would yield a diplomatic breakthrough. They even released signals abroad suggesting “U.S.-Iran talks are imminent.” Iran, however, doused them with cold water—exposing the falsehood of those U.S. claims, while firmly seizing control of the negotiation initiative.
Now the U.S. finds itself in a bind. If Washington ignores Iran’s concerns, Vance’s entire trip will be in vain—most likely, he won’t even meet any Iranian negotiators before turning back. That scenario would surely leave the U.S. embarrassed. Yet if they continue waiting, the international community clearly sees the reality: it’s now the U.S. who is on the defensive, awkward, and forced to lower its pride and wait for Iran’s delegation. The U.S. believed it was in control of the situation, but never expected Iran would strike back at the most critical moment—turning what was supposed to be a carefully planned diplomatic performance into a complete fiasco.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1862036034561483/
Disclaimer: This article represents the personal views of the author.