The peace process to bring the US-Israel Combine’s war on Iran to a fair, just and mutually acceptable closure seems to be floundering. Both antagonists appear determined to stick to their maximalist positions. A simmering, potentially explosive stalemate persists. Pakistan, the untiring, unrelenting mediator, is continuing with its sublime diplomacy with tenacity, determination and perseverance to keep the peace process on track. As it is, the US-Israel Combine has not won the war by any stretch of the imagination or rhetoric, and Iran has certainly not lost it. Iran has weathered the collective might and assaults of the US-Israel Combine with unmitigated courage, poise and confidence and is least likely to crumble under any diplomatic and/or media offensives now. It will negotiate from a position of strategic parity. It appears disinclined to accept any diktat from Washington. In effect, the US has failed to impose its will on Iran, neither on the battlefield nor on the negotiating table!

The major contentious issues revolve around the entire gamut of Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, the control of the Hormuz Straits, a comprehensive, region-wide, non-aggression pact, and Iran’s demands for lifting all sanctions, unfreezing its assets and paying it reparations for the devastation caused by the US-Israel Combine’s vicious, wanton assault on it.

Iran’s nuclear programme stands out as the veritable centre of gravity of this entire peace process. It is Iran’s stated national policy that it will not seek nuclear weapons, but without prejudice to its inalienable right to........

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