The peace talks between the United States and Iran are expected to start on Saturday morning in Islamabad, Pakistan, and the Iranian delegation has already arrived in the Pakistani capital for the negotiations.
The talks will be held during a fragile two-week conditional truce between the United States and Iran which in now hanging in the balance alongside ongoing Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced the scheduled negotiations between the United States and Iran in a televised address on Friday evening, and Pakistani authorities confirmed in the early hours of Saturday that the talks would take place at the Serena Hotel in Islamabad.
The Iranian delegation led by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf arrived in Islamabad overnight, according to Pakistan's Foreign Ministry. The delegation includes Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
Upon arrival, they were received by Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar who reaffirmed Pakistan's readiness to facilitate the constructive engagement and support a lasting resolution.
However, Ghalibaf said on social media on Friday that two understandings between Iran and the United States have yet to be implemented before negotiations can begin: a ceasefire in Lebanon and the unfreezing of Iran's assets.
He stressed that both conditions must be met before talks can proceed.
For the U.S. side, Vice President J.D. Vance left Washington on Friday for Islamabad. He warned Iran not to "play" the United States in the upcoming negotiations, which he expects to be "positive."
The U.S. negotiation team also includes President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Local media reported that the meeting would be the highest-level encounter between the two countries since 1979.
The talks take place during a diplomatic window provided by the two-week ceasefire which took effect on Wednesday, and more than one month after the start of the joint U.S.-Israeli military strikes on Iran.
The ceasefire has already been strained as Israel continues to strike Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group in Lebanon.
US-Iran peace talks imminent as Iranian delegation arrives in Pakistan
US-Iran peace talks imminent as Iranian delegation arrives in Pakistan
US-Iran peace talks imminent as Iranian delegation arrives in Pakistan
The people-to-people exchanges should be encouraged rather than limited as they can promote relations among countries, said an expert from the United States.
On April 10, 1971, the U.S. table tennis delegation visited China, breaking the ice for China-U.S. relations and is remembered as the Ping-Pong Diplomacy.
This year marks the 55th anniversary of the Ping-Pong Diplomacy.
Odd Arne Westad, a renowned historian and a global Cold War scholar at Yale University, said in a recent interview with the China Global Television Network (CGTN) that history shows sports and cultural links can steer state relations toward positive interaction.
"I'm glad that we are celebrating the anniversary of the Ping-Pong Diplomacy, because I think all kinds of exchanges, including sports exchanges and cultural exchanges among countries, are really important, particularly in the kind of setting that we are seeing today. And as you rightly said, the kind of sports links that gradually started to develop between the United States and China, then became a kind of conduit over onto much more significant positive changes in the relationship between the two countries. What I want to see today is much more interaction in terms of those people-to-people contacts between the United States and China," he said.
The scholar said such exchanges should develop naturally rather than be restricted.
"Instead, we are heading, it seems to me, in the opposite direction. There are far fewer American students in China now than was the case a decade ago. The number of Chinese students coming to the United States also seemed to be going down. At Yale, some of my very best students are Chinese. As an institution, we take enormous pride in the more than 100-year-old relationship that we have with China. I think it's very important for those kinds of links to continue, not just because they are good for the people involved, but much more importantly, as the Ping-Pong Diplomacy shows that they can influence the broader relationships, including even issues that have to do with high politics and strategy, if we let them develop naturally instead of trying to limit it," he said.
In April 1971, nine players from the U.S. Table Tennis team took a historic trip to China, becoming the first delegation of Americans to visit China in decades. Their trip helped lay the groundwork for the establishment of official diplomatic relations between China and the United States.
Later that year, then U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger secretly visited Beijing in July, paving the way for a groundbreaking 1972 meeting in Beijing between then U.S President Richard Nixon and China's late Chairman Mao Zedong.
On Feb 28, 1972, as Nixon's visit to China drew to an end, the historic Shanghai Communique was issued, becoming the political foundation for normalizing China-U.S. relations.
The two countries officially established diplomatic relations in 1979.
US scholar stresses importance of people-to-people exchanges in promoting ties among countries
