https://try.worldpoliticsreview.com/p/is-the-iran-war-a-clash-of-civilizations An Iranian delegation has reportedly arrived in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, for peace talks with the United States. Among the Iranian officials who will be leading the negotiations are speaker of parliament Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. The U.S. delegation will be led by Vice President JD Vance, who departed today. |
The talks will have to overcome a gulf of mistrust. Iran remembers the two surprise attacks it faced from the U.S. and Israel over the past nine months, both of which occurred amid diplomatic negotiations. |
Also working against any chance of success: the way President Donald Trump’s administration tends to approach negotiations with Iran. The issues are highly complex, requiring technical expertise and patient diplomacy to address. Yet as Ali Vaez, Iran project director at the International Crisis Group, told Al Jazeera, “The Trump administration in the past has demonstrated that it has none of those things. It doesn’t have the patience, it doesn’t have the discipline, it doesn’t even send experts to these negotiations to be able to carry them forward.” |
Meanwhile, fresh economic data released today in the U.S. underscore the damage that has already been done by the war. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that consumer prices rose at an annualized rate of 3.3 percent in March, driven by a 10.9 percent spike in energy prices. And a closely watched survey showed that consumer sentiment dropped to a record low in April due to expectations of continued high inflation. |