{"id":155677,"date":"2026-04-12T16:28:04","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T23:28:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=155677"},"modified":"2026-04-12T16:28:04","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T23:28:04","slug":"us-iranian-peace-talks-i-raised-a-questioned-iai-tool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2026\/04\/12\/us-iranian-peace-talks-i-raised-a-questioned-iai-tool\/","title":{"rendered":"US Iranian peace talks . I raised a questioned iAI tool"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Dr Sarath Obeysekera\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Quote <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peace talks between the United States, Israel, and Iran should have been mediated by an independent Buddhist country such as Thailand, Myanmar, or even Sri Lanka.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If all three countries are on one side and another country brings in a Muslim perspective, the talks cannot be effectively mediated by a Muslim country. The Foreign Minister of Pakistan showed a partisan approach even before the peace talks began. This was evident when he published a statement against Israel.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another candidate could be China, which, with some level of support for Iran, could have a stronger hand in persuading the United States to come to an amicable solution. China could even signal to the United States that it would openly support Iran.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

unquote<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But being American origin\u00a0AI gave me following opinion\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quote <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Countries such as Thailand, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka may appear culturally neutral in a conflict involving Israel, Iran, and the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, effective mediation depends less on religion and more on:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Diplomatic leverage (ability to influence parties)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Trust from all sides<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Economic or security stakes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These Buddhist-majority countries generally lack strategic leverage over the US, Israel, or Iran. So even if they are neutral, they may not be effective mediators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And having a known experienced diplomat to coordinate <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Should Muslim countries be excluded?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not accurate to assume a Muslim country cannot mediate impartially. For example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Qatar has successfully mediated conflicts involving Western and regional actors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Oman played a quiet but crucial role in US\u2013Iran backchannel talks leading up to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regarding Pakistan, you are right that public statements by officials can affect perceived neutrality\u2014but that applies to any country. Even Western mediators often face accusations of bias.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. What about China as a mediator?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

China is an interesting case. It has:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Strong ties with Iran<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Major economic influence globally<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Increasing diplomatic ambition<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, China recently brokered a rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran\u2014a significant achievement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 The United States may not fully trust China as a neutral broker<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Israel\u2019s security dependence on the US complicates China\u2019s role<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 China signaling it would support Iran\u201d openly (as you suggested) would actually reduce its neutrality, making mediation harder<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. What actually works in peace mediation?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Successful mediation usually comes from:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Countries trusted by both sides (even if not perfectly neutral)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Or multi-party frameworks, e.g.:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 United Nations<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Backchannel diplomacy involving several states<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Where Sri Lanka could fit<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri Lanka could still play a role\u2014but more realistically as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 A host for dialogue<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 A neutral venue for Track 2 diplomacy (informal talks)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 A supporter within multilateral platforms<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given your experience pushing strategic initiatives (like Trincomalee), a more practical idea would be positioning Sri Lanka as a neutral diplomatic hub, similar to how Switzerland operates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bottom line<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Neutrality based on religion alone is not enough<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Influence, trust, and strategic weight matter more<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 China can play a role\u2014but not as an openly partisan actor<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Smaller neutral countries like Sri Lanka can contribute, but usually in supporting roles rather than leading mediation<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Dr Sarath Obeysekera\u00a0 Quote  Peace talks between the United States, Israel, and Iran should have been mediated by an independent Buddhist country such as Thailand, Myanmar, or even Sri Lanka. If all three countries are on one side and another country brings in a Muslim perspective, the talks cannot be effectively mediated by a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[116],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-155677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dr-sarath-obeysekera"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155677"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155677\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":155678,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155677\/revisions\/155678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}