White House pushed Pakistan to broker temporary Iran ceasefire

The White House pushed the idea of a temporary ceasefire with Iran even as Donald Trump escalated threats against the Islamic republic and claimed it was “begging” for a deal, according to people familiar with the talks.

For weeks the Trump administration was leaning on Islamabad to convince the Iranians to agree a pause in fighting where it would reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the people said. Pakistan’s crucial role, as a Muslim-majority neighbour and intermediary, was to sell it to Tehran.

https://archive.ph/qvgIb#selection-1965.0-1973.91

https://www.ft.com/content/249b9255-c448-492b-88bf-098d97de4159?syn-25a6b1a6=1

5 minutes ago, Alan Zweibel said:

White House pushed Pakistan to broker temporary Iran ceasefire

The White House pushed the idea of a temporary ceasefire with Iran even as Donald Trump escalated threats against the Islamic republic and claimed it was “begging” for a deal, according to people familiar with the talks.

For weeks the Trump administration was leaning on Islamabad to convince the Iranians to agree a pause in fighting where it would reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the people said. Pakistan’s crucial role, as a Muslim-majority neighbour and intermediary, was to sell it to Tehran.

https://archive.ph/qvgIb#selection-1965.0-1973.91

https://www.ft.com/content/249b9255-c448-492b-88bf-098d97de4159?syn-25a6b1a6=1

One has to applaud Pakistan for making the effort. Domestic politics there can be a contact sport, as there are three centers of leadership, not all of whom are aligned. There's the elected government, the armed forces, and the ISI. Oh, and Pakistan is currently "kind of" at war with Afghanistan, who has <deleted> Taliban in the tribal regions as well as Afghanistan offers support for the Haqqani Network.

The armed forces of Pakistan tend to be the most practical, though in all parts of the ruling elite in Pakistan, corruption is rampant. Pakistan is in danger of default on IMF and other loans, so the practical members of the government try to curry favor where they think they might find relief (It worked for Argentina.). Current Army Chief Asim Munir understands Trump's needs, so offers effusive praise, knowing how that appeals to Trump. He has been in competition with the elected government, as it was PM Shehbaz Sharif, who in a rather unctuous manner, nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize. (That was purposeful and to be in stark contrast to Indian PM Modi, as Modi demands no outsider get involved in any way over the Kashmir issue. Trump had nothing to do with calming tensions after the most recent cross border incidents, but Shehbaz saw an opportunity and took it. India, in return, got huge tariffs, because Modi refused to play sycophant to Trump).

A point of interest, perhaps, is that Pakistan is a nuclear power and has somewhat good relations with Iran. Pakistan's nukes are under the control of the army. Good thing it's the army, and not the ISI, as the ISI would be the main entity that might slide a few over Tehran's way. Pakistan is about 15% Shi'a Islam, so there are some commonalities with Iran. They are a better go-between in the issue than a country like Oman.

I suspect Trump suffers from some degree of cognitive dissonance right now, as part of him wants to be genocidal and feel like a bigshot (some reports say Trump is even more rabid than Hegseth), but Trump also doesn't want to be seen as the guy who destroyed the stock market. If anything is clear from Trump's words since 28 February, is that he is motivated to act primarily when the stock market is tumbling. Pakistan is clever enough to know how to appeal to Trump's insecurities.

If this ceasefire holds, and if Israel can be brought under control, Pakistan stands to get a big dollop of foreign aid, perhaps helping it avoid default.

4 hours ago, Lacessit said:

the Strait of Hormuz. It's shallow, the effective shipping lane is only two miles wide.

Not quite true;

The Strait of Hormuz with a length of about 167 km (104 miles) and a width ranging from 21 to 97 km (13 to 60 miles) at its narrowest and widest points respectively. The strait’s depth varies significantly: the deepest areas, up to 100 meters (330 feet), are found along the Iranian coast, while the southern side near Oman and the Musandam Peninsula is generally shallower, often less than 35 meters (120 feet),.

WiKi

16 minutes ago, scottiejohn said:

Not quite true;

The Strait of Hormuz with a length of about 167 km (104 miles) and a width ranging from 21 to 97 km (13 to 60 miles) at its narrowest and widest points respectively. The strait’s depth varies significantly: the deepest areas, up to 100 meters (330 feet), are found along the Iranian coast, while the southern side near Oman and the Musandam Peninsula is generally shallower, often less than 35 meters (120 feet),.

WiKi

A large crude carrier can have a draft of 25 meters. 35 meters is not a great safety margin when sailing close to a coast, and takes no account of storms.

On the Iranian side, it means sailing at point-blank range, which would make anyone nervous.

Just now, Lacessit said:

A large crude carrier can have a draft of 25 meters. 35 meters is not a great safety margin when sailing close to a coast, and takes no account of storms.

On the Iranian side, it means sailing at point-blank range, which would make anyone nervous.

Any mariner knows that! My point is that the navigable straits are wider than the 2nm (Approx) wide east and west bound lanes which are predominately on the southern, Omani side!

9 minutes ago, scottiejohn said:

Any mariner knows that! My point is that the navigable straits are wider than the 2nm (Approx) wide east and west bound lanes which are predominately on the southern, Omani side!

I thought there were two lanes and each one was 2 miles wide. Furthermore, the lanes were separated by an area that was also 2 miles wide.

1 minute ago, Alan Zweibel said:

I thought there were two lanes and each one was 2 miles wide. Furthermore, the lanes were separated by an area that was also 2 miles wide.

Correct!

I just did not go into that much detail.

and that I believe, it must be the truth, Iran mentality doesn't call for cease fires, Trump knew he was losing/he lost and the polls were showing damaging evidence of a disaster, thus being TACO he called it quits and claims victory, nothing else to expect from him

24 minutes ago, scottiejohn said:

Any mariner knows that! My point is that the navigable straits are wider than the 2nm (Approx) wide east and west bound lanes which are predominately on the southern, Omani side!

Why do you need to use exclamation marks in your posts?

you just can't trust the guy, at the first opportunity he will stab anybody in the back , that Israeli bootlicker didn't like the deal behind his back and neither did the gulf states, Hilary back in 2016 pointed that out ....

"A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons." —Hillary

Old Hillary Clinton Tweet Reminds Everyone Of Trump's Greatest Weakness

https://au.yahoo.com/news/old-hillary-clinton-tweet-reminds-062508371.html

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is fuming that the 79-year-old American president reached a temporary ceasefire deal with Iran without consulting his wartime partner, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Trump’s War Partner Fumes After He Blindsides Them

https://au.yahoo.com/news/trump-war-partner-fumes-blindsides-203203295.html

29 minutes ago, Mavideol said:

you just can't trust the guy, at the first opportunity he will stab anybody in the back , that Israeli bootlicker didn't like the deal behind his back and neither did the gulf states, Hilary back in 2016 pointed that out ....

"A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons." —Hillary

Old Hillary Clinton Tweet Reminds Everyone Of Trump's Greatest Weakness

https://au.yahoo.com/news/old-hillary-clinton-tweet-reminds-062508371.html

What's truly bizarre is that some people here believe that Trump had succeeded iin baiting the Iranians rather than the other way around. Clearly a far better case could be made that their jibes had gotten under his skin and made him say some pretty stupid and horrifying things which just further turned the world against him.

That is absolutely correct, and I believe the Iranians that Witless Witkoff was desperately seeking out a meeting and a ceasefire for weeks now. Iranians likely weren't bothering to answer his calls or call him back.

Apparently Pakistan got involved and mediated, as the Iranians did not want to have anything to do with a very putrid American team. Don needed a ceasefire, he was panicking, his war failed completely, he was becoming more isolated, no allies came to his assistance, prices were skyrocketing, inflation was climbing, and the world was being punished by his ridiculous actions.

Now it's time for Don to be punished for his actions. We can only hope that the Dems will take both the House and the Senate, and start immediate impeachment proceedings, in addition to war crime investigations against Hegseth, and corruption investigations against his incredibly toxic sons.

Lock them all up.

16 hours ago, Alan Zweibel said:

What's truly bizarre is that some people here believe that Trump had succeeded iin baiting the Iranians rather than the other way around. Clearly a far better case could be made that their jibes had gotten under his skin and made him say some pretty stupid and horrifying things which just further turned the world against him.

IMO the best Iranian response was when he was telling them to open the Strait of Hormuz, and they said they had lost the keys.

Iran is finished militarily and desperately needed an offramp and gave a big thanks to Pakistan for saving their ass from more Trump bombs.

8 minutes ago, tuucows said:

Iran is finished militarily and desperately needed an offramp and gave a big thanks to Pakistan for saving their ass from more Trump bombs.

Got some credible source to back your claim up?

21 minutes ago, tuucows said:

Iran is finished militarily and desperately needed an offramp and gave a big thanks to Pakistan for saving their ass from more Trump bombs.

In the old days SEO worked on such shameless attempts at posting in the AI univesre those days are long gone.

and the negotiating team are in compete disagreement about the topics to be negotiated, the Pro Russians want one thing the wannabe Trump wants something else, either way they came out empty hand as Iranians know they have the winning hand

President Donald Trump’s new strategy with Iran is already falling apart as his own team can’t agree on the basics.

Vance and Kushner Clash as Trump’s Iran Strategy Unravels

https://au.yahoo.com/news/vance-kushner-clash-trump-iran-042420323.html

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