Envoys for the US and Iran will sit down in Islamabad, Pakistan to try to extend a fragile truce.
KMOX's Megan Lynch spoke with John Shaw, Director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Shaw has written multiple books on diplomacy and statesmanship.
"These are going to be difficult negotiations, to put it mildly. It's hard to imagine a set of negotiations beginning in less hospitable territory on almost every level." Shaw points out, both the US and Iran feel they've gained the upper hand. For US it's through show of military force. For Iran, it's their control of the Strait of Hormuz.
Shaw says the US negotiating team lacks diplomatic experience. "The lead negotiator is J.D. Vance, the Vice President. Vance is, I guess you could say, formidable in kind of the arts of the polemic. But he has no evidence and no history of skills in the art of negotiation. And he's going to be joined by several of Trump's other negotiators, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. None of these three are really skilled, experienced diplomats."
KMOX asked Shaw whether it appears the US and Israel are on the same page: "You know, it's been so hard in all of this to understand just where Israel and America are together and where they're apart. I mean, in all the reporting, it's very clear that Prime Minister Netanyahu forced the issue, basically pushed Trump into this attack. And he obviously, Israel has its own agenda here. They're trying to do everything they can to render Iran a neutered, broken, shattered power that will never threaten them again."
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