The foreign ministers of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan are due to meet in Cairo on Sunday to discuss the fragile US-Iran peace framework, as Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon killed 47 people and wounded nearly 100, dealing a severe blow to the ceasefire the agreement was supposed to deliver.
Badr Abdelatty, the Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs © Mena Today
The foreign ministers of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan are due to meet in Cairo on Sunday to discuss the fragile US-Iran peace framework, as Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon killed 47 people and wounded nearly 100, dealing a severe blow to the ceasefire the agreement was supposed to deliver.
The quadrilateral meeting, originally planned for the Egyptian resort of El-Alamein, brings together the key mediating powers that have supported Pakistan's lead role in brokering the US-Iran memorandum of understanding signed electronically this week by Presidents Trump and Pezeshkian.
The gathering takes on added urgency after Friday's scheduled talks in Switzerland, meant to launch the 60-day technical negotiation process on Iran's nuclear programme, were postponed indefinitely, casting doubt on the momentum of the peace process before it has even properly begun.
The MOU commits both sides to ending hostilities "on all fronts, including Lebanon." That commitment rang hollow Friday as Israeli strikes hit southern Lebanon, with Israel vowing to make Hezbollah pay a "very heavy price ».
Pakistan, Egypt, Turkey and Saudi Arabia will need to find a way to keep the diplomatic process alive, at a moment when the gap between what was signed on paper and what is happening on the ground could hardly be wider.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance is poised to take on his biggest role yet on the international stage as President Donald Trump's chief negotiator to end the three-month war with Iran, a moment that could shape Vance’s prospects as a White House successor.
Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire in Lebanon on Friday after an escalation in fighting there jeopardised the chances of an interim agreement on ending the war in Iran turning into a lasting Middle East peace deal.
The ink on the US-Iran memorandum of understanding was barely dry before Tehran's chief negotiator was already drawing lines in the sand.
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