Diplomatic efforts to de-escalate months of open conflict between the United States and Iran have moved forward this week, with formal negotiations scheduled to open Friday in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, following a last-minute Pakistani-brokered agreement to pause military operations for two weeks. Both sides have framed the upcoming talks as rooted in a 10-point Iranian proposal, which Iran’s Supreme National Security Council calls a landmark victory that forced Washington to accept its core negotiating framework.
In an official statement released Wednesday, Iran’s top security body outlined the key demands embedded in its 10-point plan, which include binding guarantees of no foreign aggression against Iran, permanent Iranian sovereignty and control over the Strait of Hormuz, full relief from crippling U.S. economic sanctions, a complete withdrawal of U.S. military forces from the broader Middle East region, and war reparations for damage inflicted during the conflict. The council emphasized that while upcoming talks will focus on ironing out final details of the framework, the preliminary agreement to negotiate does not mark a permanent end to hostilities. Iran will retain the right to resume full military operations if its full demands are not met, the statement added.
The diplomatic breakthrough followed a flurry of activity on Tuesday, as Pakistani leaders issued a last-minute appeal to U.S. President Donald Trump to step back from a looming deadline that would have seen expanded U.S. attacks on Iran. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif publicly called on Trump to extend his 8 p.m. EST deadline for escalating attacks by two weeks, to give diplomacy space to resolve the conflict. Sharif also requested that Iran reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global oil chokepoint that had been closed to traffic during the conflict, to all commercial shipping during the ceasefire period.
Trump accepted the Pakistani proposal in a post on his Truth Social platform, announcing he would suspend all U.S. bombing and offensive attacks on Iran for 14 days. The U.S. president framed the pause as a bilateral ceasefire conditional on Iran fully reopening the Strait of Hormuz immediately, noting that Iran’s 10-point proposal provides a “workable basis” to move forward with formal talks. Trump added that the U.S. had already exceeded all of its initial military objectives in the conflict, and that negotiations were already advanced toward a long-term peace deal for the Middle East. He also confirmed that almost all core points of contention between the two countries have already been agreed to in preliminary talks.
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council confirmed Wednesday that Tehran shared its full 10-point proposal with Washington via Pakistani intermediation, and that the U.S. has formally accepted the proposal’s core principles as the foundation for formal negotiations. The council added that talks are scheduled to run up to 15 days, with an option to extend the negotiating window if needed. Any final agreement reached in Islamabad will be formalized through international verification mechanisms, the statement noted.
The Iranian statement also pushed back against external framing of the ceasefire, claiming that Iranian military forces and their regional allied groups had inflicted severe, widespread losses on adversary forces across the Middle East, forcing the U.S. and its partners to pursue a diplomatic end to the conflict. Iran’s core long-term objective, the council said, is to establish a new regional security architecture rooted in what it describes as Iran’s established military and political supremacy in the region, and Tehran will maintain pressure on adversaries until its negotiated gains are fully consolidated.
In a call for domestic solidarity, the Iranian security council urged full national unity across the country during the sensitive negotiating period, and warned that any provocative misstep by U.S. or partner forces will be met with an immediate, forceful response. Iran will only agree to a formal, permanent end to the conflict once every term of its original 10-point proposal has been fully agreed and implemented, the council reaffirmed. Key topics on the negotiating table in Islamabad will include rules for maritime transit through the Strait of Hormuz, concrete plans for lifting U.S. sanctions, and the future of U.S. military deployments in the Middle East.