US VICE-PRESIDENT JD Vance left for Islamabad last night where he is due to begin negotiations with Iran on a peace deal on Saturday.

But uncertainty hovers over the talks, with Iranian parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf pointing out that a condition of the negotiations was a ceasefire in Lebanon — which Israel continues to bombard.

Israel extended its bombing today to Lebanese government property, killing at least 12 in a strike on a state security office in Nabatieh. 

World Health Organisation director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called on Tel Aviv to cancel an evacuation order for sections of Beirut containing two major hospitals, warning that the country’s healthcare system is already struggling to handle the flood of maimed and wounded from Israel’s bombing raids.

The Health Ministry says 1,888 citizens, including 163 children, have been killed since Israel attacked on March 2. The number includes at least 50 healthcare workers. Israel claimed today that Lebanese resistance group Hezbollah was making “extensive military use” of ambulances, raising fears it intends to step up deliberate attacks on Lebanese emergency services.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was ready for talks with Lebanon and named its ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leitem as the head of its delegation.

But Lebanon says it will not negotiate under fire, and Israeli forces showed no sign of letting up, with air raids and mortar fire hitting targets across southern Lebanon today. Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz also said the war “will not be stopped.”

Iran also says it is still waiting on the release of its frozen assets abroad before conditions for talks have been met. It had not despatched a delegation to Pakistan when the Morning Star published this story, though the countries share a border so its delegation would have less distance to travel than Mr Vance.

So far, Iran has set the terms of the negotiations — with the United States agreeing its 10-point framework could be the starting point, despite Iran making demands including the withdrawal of US bases from the Middle East. 

But US President Donald Trump has also indicated he views the failure to reopen the Strait of Hormuz — which Tehran says is because Israel has not stopped attacking Lebanon — as a ceasefire violation which may prompt renewed hostilities.