#regional-diplomacy

#regional-diplomacy

In a dramatic reversal that has kept global markets and regional allies on edge, the United States and Iran have confirmed they will move forward with high-stakes negotiations in Muscat on February 6. The talks, which appeared to have collapsed late on February 4, represent what is largely seen as a last-chance effort to avert a major military escalation in the Persian Gulf. The path to the Omani capital was anything but smooth.

Tehran's priority is currently not to negotiate with the US, but to have 200 percent readiness to defend our country, Kazem Gharibabadi, a senior member of the Iranian negotiating team, was quoted as saying by state media on Wednesday. Gharibabadi said that messages have recently been exchanged with the US through intermediaries. But he added that even if conditions were suitable for talks, Iran would remain fully prepared to defend itself, noting that it was previously attacked first by Israel and then the US

Coercive cohesion is the cement of the system: The ability of parallel security and political institutions to keep acting together, even when legitimacy erodes. When that cohesion holds, the system absorbs shocks that would more conventional states would fall under. Iran is not a single pyramid with one man at the apex. It is a heterarchical, networked state: Overlapping hubs of power around the Supreme Leader's office, the Revolutionary Guards, intelligence organs, clerical gatekeepers, and a patronage economy.

Enayatullah Khwarizmi, the spokesperson for the Afghan Ministry of Defence, said late on Saturday that Taliban forces had carried out successful retaliatory attacks against Pakistani soldiers in response to the neighbouring country's repeated violations of, and air strikes on, Afghan territory. list of 3 itemsend of list He said on X that the operation had ended at midnight. Pakistani Minister of Interior Mohsin Naqvi called the Afghan attacks unprovoked and said that Pakistani forces were responding with a stone for every brick.