Pakistan’s army chief arrived Wednesday for talks in Tehran in the latest diplomatic move to ease tensions in the Middle East and arrange a second round of negotiations between the United States and Iran after almost seven weeks of war.
The Pakistani military said the delegation also included the country's interior minister and other senior security officials. The group is “part of the ongoing mediation efforts,” the military said, but it gave no details.
Pakistan has emerged as a key mediator in the conflict after it hosted rare direct talks between the US and Iran in Islamabad, a move authorities said helped narrow differences between the two sides.
Meanwhile, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif arrived in Saudi Arabia on an official visit to discuss regional issues. A statement from Sharif’s office said he was received at the airport in Jeddah by senior Saudi officials. Sharif was accompanied by Pakistan's foreign minister and information minister.
Progress
The US blockade on Iranian ports and renewed Iranian threats strained the week-old ceasefire agreement, but regional officials said they were making progress, telling The Associated Press that the United States and Iran had an “in principle agreement” to extend it to allow for more diplomacy. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the matter.
But even as mediators worked for peace, tensions simmered. The commander of Iran’s joint military command, Ali Abdollahi, threatened to halt trade in the region if the US does not lift its naval blockade.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei, announcing the incoming Pakistani delegation, said Islamabad “has held discussions with the Americans and has also heard our stances. During this visit the views of both sides are to be discussed in detail.”
A senior US official said the United States has not formally agreed to extend the ceasefire and that “engagement” with Iran continues. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the sensitive negotiations.
Sticking points
Before the two-week ceasefire expires on April 22, mediators are pushing for a compromise on three main sticking points that derailed direct talks last weekend — Iran’s nuclear program, the Strait of Hormuz and compensation for wartime damages, according to a regional official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the mediation efforts.
Baghaei said Iran is open to discussing the type and level of its uranium enrichment, but his country “based on its needs, must be able to continue enrichment,” Iran’s state-media reported.
The negotiating team led by Vice President JD Vance during last weekend's talks in Islamabad urged the Iranians to agree to a 20-year moratorium on uranium enrichment as part of a potential deal to end the war, according to a regional official involved in the mediation efforts and a person briefed on the matter.
The Iranians rejected the US plan and countered with an offer to suspend enrichment for five years, the regional official and the person briefed on the matter added. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly on the negotiations.
The White House rejected the Iranian proposal. The US and Iranian proposals were first reported by The New York Times.
The fighting has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, more than 2,100 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Thirteen US service members have also been killed.
Trump says Iran wants a deal
The war, now in its seventh week, has jolted markets and rattled the global economy as shipping has been cut off and airstrikes have torn through military and civilian infrastructure across the region. Oil prices fell on hopes for an end to fighting on Wednesday, and US stocks surged close to records set in January.
Yet the future of the fragile ceasefire still hung in the balance as the US pressed ahead with its blockade, which threatens to sever Iran from economic lifelines it has relied on since the war began nearly seven weeks ago, and Tehran threatened regional trade.
“I think they want to make a deal very badly,” US President Donald Trump said in an excerpt from an interview with the Fox Business Network’s “Mornings with Maria” that aired Wednesday.
He added: “I view it as very close to over.”
Trump claimed Wednesday that China has agreed not to provide weapons to Iran as reports circulated that Beijing has considered transferring arms.
Trump wrote in a social media post that China is “very happy that I am permanently opening the Strait of Hormuz.” He added: “They have agreed not to send weapons to Iran.” He seemed to suggest the two are linked.
China has long supported Iran’s ballistic missile program and backed it with dual-use industrial components that can be used for missile production, according to the US government.
US military says no ships got past blockade
US Central Command said Wednesday that no ships made it past the blockade in the first 48 hours, while nine merchant vessels complied with direction from US forces to turn around and reenter Iranian waters.
The blockade is intended to pressure Iran, which has exported millions of barrels of oil, mostly to Asia, since the war began Feb. 28. Much of it has likely been carried by so-called dark transits that evade sanctions and oversight, providing cash that’s been vital to keeping Iran running.
Since the war began, Iran has curtailed maritime traffic, with most commercial vessels avoiding the waterway. Tehran's effective closure of the strait, through which a fifth of global oil transits in peacetime, has sent oil prices skyrocketing, pushing up the cost of gasoline, food and other basic goods far beyond the Middle East.
Strikes continue in Lebanon after Washington talks
Elsewhere, Israel pressed ahead with its aerial and ground war in Lebanon. The country's National News Agency reported airstrikes and artillery shelling throughout southern Lebanon on Wednesday, including near Bint Jbeil, where Israeli forces have encircled fighters with the Lebanese Iran-backed group Hezbollah.
The fighting continued after Israeli and Lebanese officials concluded their first direct talks in decades.
The Lebanese Health Ministry said Israel struck three different teams of paramedics Wednesday in southern Lebanon, first hitting one team and then two more that rushed to help. The attacks killed three paramedics, wounded six others and left a fourth missing in the southern town of Mayfadoun, the ministry said.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
An Israeli official said a meeting of the country's security cabinet would be held Wednesday evening to discuss developments with Lebanon. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Israel and Lebanon have technically been at war since Israel was established in 1948, and Lebanon remains deeply divided over diplomatic engagement with Israel.
