Bruno Finel

The talks in Islamabad are over. The verdict is in. And it could not be clearer.

Iranian state television has revealed that Tehran's delegation has presented Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif with a set of firm red lines, as diplomatic efforts to resolve the escalating regional crisis gather pace. The demands, if confirmed, appear to leave little room for compromise with Washington.

Direct negotiations between Israel and Lebanon will begin next week, a senior Israeli official has confirmed, a landmark development that marks the first formal talks between the two countries in decades.

Let us dispense with diplomatic courtesy. The demand by France, Spain and their European partners to include Lebanon in the US-Iran negotiations is not statesmanship. 

Let us be clear from the outset. The two-week ceasefire brokered between the United States and Iran - with Israel as the silent third party and Pakistan as the unlikely intermediary - will not lead to peace. 

The calls came within hours of each other. Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares declared it "unacceptable" that Israel continues fighting in Lebanon following the US-Iran truce. 

Morocco and Egypt have taken their bilateral relationship to a new level, holding the first session of a joint coordination and monitoring committee in Egypt's new administrative capital on Monday, with Western Sahara firmly at the centre of the agenda.

French nationals Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris are free. President Emmanuel Macron announced Tuesday that the two former detainees are "on their way to French territory" after three and a half years held in Iran, first imprisoned, then placed under house arrest at the French embassy in Tehran.

A rare Israeli strike in Aïn Saadé, in the Christian Metn district long considered safely removed from the conflict, has shattered the illusion of security in Lebanon's Christian heartland.

Donald Trump has issued his most explosive threat yet against Iran,  crude, capitalised and unmistakable in its intent. 

The concept of Taqiyya, the religiously sanctioned practice of concealment and misdirection, has been a cornerstone of the Islamic Republic's diplomatic toolkit for four decades. 

Lebanon's Foreign Minister Joe Raggi has failed. Despite considerable diplomatic effort, he has been unable to enforce the expulsion order issued against Iranian Ambassador Mohammad Reza Shibani, a man declared persona non grata by the Lebanese state and given a deadline to leave the country that has long since passed.