Update: US-Iran talks begin
Negotiations continue despite Iranian threats over Israeli strikes on Hezbollah
| Published: April 10, 2026
Screengrab via Youtube
The Pakistani government placed its capital, Islamabad, on lockdown Friday as U.S. and Iranian delegations prepared to arrive for the first round of negotiations over a final ceasefire agreement.
Peloni: Behold, the peacemakers of our current age…
By | April 11, 2026
Karachi local police Pakistan, Voice of America, Public domain
In the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Christians frequently suffer at the hands of police and other authorities who are jihadis themselves, or sympathetic to the global jihad.
Peloni: The problem in Lebanon is indeed integral to the problem in Iran, and in all truth, there is no good solution for Israel with Hezbollah so long as the IRGC controls Iran. Unfortunately, resolving the threat from Lebanon is not the motivation bringing US pressure on Netanyahu to end the war in Lebanon, but rather it is clearly intended to satisfy the IRGC whose continued existence should, itself, not be considered as a viable outcome of this war, much less its proxy control in Lebanon. Meanwhile, as Trump is applying pressure on Netanyahu to negotiate with Hezbollah, the Israeli electorate is applying its own pressure to end the harrying attacks on Israel’s northern communities.
Netanyahu stresses: Strikes against Hezbollah to continue during talks
| Published: April 10, 2026
Following heavy pressure from the United States to tone down Israeli strikes against the Hezbollah terrorist group in Lebanon in order not to endanger ceasefire talks with Iran, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Thursday that direct negotiations with Beirut are set to begin “as soon as possible.”
Peloni: Notice that the Gulf members maintain their pre-war positions. Qatar remains ever the groveling submissive to its dominating Iranian neighbor. Oman remains closely alligned with its Iranian ally. UAE wants a way out from the capture and control of the radicals in Iran. And Saudi Arabia is willing to work with the radical Iranians remaining in power so long as it doesn’t affect Saudi interests.
By: Amb. Alberto M. Fernandez | MEMRI | April 10, 2026
Secretary Marco Rubio meets with Foreign Ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council Member States in New York City, New York, September 24, 2025. Photo by U.S. Department of State – Flickr, Public Domain, Wikipedia
The announcement of a ceasefire agreement between the U.S. and Iran, brokered by Pakistan, evoked mixed reactions from the Gulf states, reflecting their fundamental differences regarding the conflict. While Qatar and Oman, which maintained a pro-Iranian line throughout the war,[1] warmly welcomed the ceasefire agreement, other states expressed significant reservations.
Peloni: The defeat of these measures as well as the fact that they were brought to a vote, carry with them important implications. The radicalism which is rife within the US Democratic party has been weaponized and focused towards support for radical candidates such as AOC and Mamdani, but this radicalism fails to gain significant support among the broader American public. Notably, the simple fact that these antisemitic resolutions gained enough support for the measures to be considered and voted upon demonstrates the influence which the antisemitic rancor has in the Democratic party.
Shoshana Bryen • JPC •
U.S. Sailor guides a Panther helicopter during a supply transfer between USS Pinckney and USNS Carl Brashear during Operation Epic Fury, March 20, 2026. (Photo: U.S. Navy)A ceasefire is, by definition, a temporary situation. In the best case, it is followed by peace. In other cases, the battle returns. Iran has already announced that it has reclosed the Straits of Hormuz. And just before that, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine, told a briefing audience this morning, US forces remain in place. In such a situation, there are a few rules for understanding where we are, Including why it has already been violated by Iran.
Peloni: This is an important discussion between Chris Cuomo, Israeli Special Ops veteran Aaron Cohen, former CIA Special Agent Tracy Walder, and former political prisoner and NYU International Affairs Prof.
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Over the past decade, Iraq’s government has empowered Iranian-backed militias, which in turn used Iraqi territory to carry out hundreds of attacks during the war.
By SETH J. FRANTZMAN |
Iranian missile attack on Kurdish forces in Erbil Iraq. Screengrab via Youtube.
Many countries in the region are breathing a sigh of relief following the ceasefire between the US and Iran, as the Middle East was plunged into a war that most of them did not want.
Peloni: Rabbi Pesach Wolicki talks with Dr. David Wurmser about the strategic situation in Iraq, Lebanon, and the broader war involving Iran, in which Wurmser explains that many common assumptions about these conflicts are fundamentally flawed.
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Arabs’ illegal planting on Jewish farms is a microcosm of their strategy to encroach on all of Judea and Samaria.
Im Tirtzu – Planting Hope: 100 Trees at Avichai Farm. Screengrab via Youtube
Sometimes seemingly small actions bespeak a world of larger intentions.
by Gerald A. Honigman
David Ben-Gurion (First Prime Minister of Israel) publicly pronouncing the Declaration of the State of Israel, May 14 1948, Tel Aviv, Israe. Photo by Rudi Weissenstein – Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Public Domain, Wikipedia
The following interesting post appeared on Facebook, and I felt compelled to respond and add my own insights as well afterwards.
So, please begin by reviewing what the author has written in this first link, along with my initial response…
Peloni: Iran’s opportunity to free itself from its chains of oppression by the Mullahs and the IRGC is something which only the Iranian people can achieve. With proper conditions and international support, the people can choose their path forward, all of which I hope to see as being more than an empty promise in the coming days, weeks or months.
By | April 10, 2026
By Elke Wetzig (User:Elya) – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikipedia
Analyst Zvika Klein thinks regime change will come to Iran only after the hot war is over, and it will be a task for the Iranian people alone to undertake, as they yet again go out into the streets to protest against a regime that is now a shadow of its former self.
Peloni: I continue to be disappointed in Trump’s response to Carlson and his ilk, making it a personal contest rather than one of clearer distinction, which it is. Trump vs Carlson is not about personalities, it isn’t about intelligence, and it isn’t about popular support. Instead, it is a contest between good and evil. Trump is fighting antisemitism in the US while Carlson and his friends are supporting it, normalizing it, and weaponizing it. Trump is simultaneously risking his political capital to end the rule of an expansionist death cult intent upon becoming a nuclear power with the means to achieve this goal in the very near future, while Carlson is working diligently to utilize his large viewership in America to make sure that this nightmare scenario comes true.
Peloni: As if on queue, Pakistan demonstrates for the world that their role in being chosen as the intermediary for peace talks has nothing to do with seeking peace. Pakistan is not remotely a fair arbiter for peace. As I have noted previously, they were chosen for their connection to China so as to convey Chinese influence over the Iranians to end the war before China loses all access to gulf oil, which is a real possibility should Iran persist in the war and its threats to target regional energy targets further. Note the Force majeure already declared on Chinese contracts for LNG exports by Qatar after having suffered significant damage by Iran’s attacks, something which would be further expanded if the US followed thru on its threats to target Iran’s economic system.
DM Asif calls Israel ‘evil and a curse for humanity’ and the ‘true and eternal enemy’ of Muslim world
| Published: April 10, 2026
Israeli leaders slammed an antisemitic post on ? by Pakistan’s defense minister on Thursday, just hours before his government was due to host talks aimed at a permanent ceasefire between Israel, the United States, and the Iranian regime.
Peloni: Was the rescue mission a cover story for a failed op on the Ishfahan nuclear site? Interesting supposition.
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Peloni: It will be difficult for Iran to end this war on Trump’s terms, and it will be impossible for Trump to end them on Iran’s terms. So there is a deep disconnect at play between these two adversaries, which is why Washington is using a Chinese affiliated Pakistani intermediary in the negotiations. Pakistan will place as much pressure on Iran as possible using the influence of Iran’s highly valued customer/patron in Beijing. In fact, it is difficult for psychopaths to deal with reality, so using the Chinese to motivate the Iranians to come to terms with the US was an important gambit, even as the outcome of this ‘negotiation’ continues to clearly remain tenuous at best.
Avi Abelow | Israel Unwired | April 9, 2026
Everyone is asking the same questions right now…So Is there a ceasefire now or not? What is going on? Is the war over? Who won???
We were all bracing to end the Passover holiday and hear the news about bringing down the Islamic regime of Iran, as President Trump threatened.
Instead we ended the holiday hearing Trump talking about a two-week ceasefire and that “all the military objectives have already been achieved”.
Arlene Kushner | April 9, 2026
Trump. Gage Skidmore via Flickr, Flickr CC BY-SA 2.0. Wikipedia
In my last posting – https://arlenefromisrael.info/because-we-must-is-why/ – I had praised President Trump highly because he was politically astute enough to recognize the dangers of Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran, and responsible enough to pull the US out of that deal and reimpose sanctions on Iran.
Who could have imagined that, less than a week later, I would find it necessary to take a very different tone.
Peloni: In an important article, foreign policy analyst and expert on US-Israeli relations, Mitchel Bard explains that Israel faces a significant strategic dilemma in dealing with Hezbollah in Lebanon for which no good options exist. The continued threat posed by a heavily armed Hezbollah, but potential strategies such as containment, escalation, or reoccupation all carry significant risks.
Reoccupation of southern Lebanon could result in pushing Hezbollah north of the Litani River, but it would not eliminate the threat of Hezbollah’s long-range missile capabilities, nor would it prevent it from rebuilding north of the Litani. Previously, Israel has relied upon deterrence and limited strikes, but this failed, as Hezbollah continued to strengthen and prepared for a large-scale attack similar to Hamas’s October 7 assault.
Peloni: Perfectly stated.
Weakness in the face of evil isn’t peace. It’s serving evil.
by
“And they breaking of My people easily, saying, “Peace, peace,” but there is no peace,” Jeremiah 6:14
Everyone who is anyone is calling for peace. The calls for peace, Pope Leo’s ‘Vigil for Peace’ and the protests of peace might have been of more use when Iran had been conducting a Jihad against us for 47 years, killing over 1,000 Americans, kidnapping, torturing and holding others hostages, firing rockets, plotting assassinations and doing other rather ‘un-peaceful’ things.
