Iran ‘s foreign minister left Pakistan on Saturday evening, two Pakistani officials told The Associated Press, before any sign that U.S. envoys had even arrived for indirect talks on the delicate ceasefire.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was seen off at an airport, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to talk to the media.
He had met with Pakistani Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif about what he called Iran’s red lines for negotiations, and said Tehran would engage with Pakistan’s mediation efforts “until a result’s achieved.”
It was unclear when President Donald Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were as a result of arrive in Islamabad. The White House declined to comment.
An open-ended ceasefire has paused most fighting, however the economic fallout grows with global shipments of oil, liquefied natural gas, fertilizer and other supplies disrupted by the near-closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian officials have openly asked how they’ll trust the U.S. after talks last 12 months and early this 12 months over Tehran’s nuclear program ended with it being attacked by the U.S. and Israel.
Iran has said talks can be indirect
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Islamabad had been in near-lockdown ahead of the expected talks. Pakistan has been attempting to get U.S. and Iran back to the table since Trump this week announced an indefinite extension of the ceasefire, honoring Islamabad’s request for more diplomatic outreach.
The White House on Friday said Trump was sending Witkoff and Kushner to fulfill with Araghchi. But Iran’s foreign ministry said any talks could be indirect and Pakistani officials would convey messages.
The primary round of talks in Pakistan, led on the U.S. side by Vice President JD Vance, lasted over 20 hours and were face-to-face, the highest-level direct talks between the longtime adversaries because the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
Araghchi and Trump’s envoys held hours of indirect talks in Geneva on Feb. 27 but walked away with out a deal. The subsequent day, Israel and america began the war.
The standoff across the strait continues
The worth of Brent crude oil, the international standard, continues to be nearly 50% higher than when the war began due to Iran’s grip on the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway through which a fifth of the world’s oil passes in peacetime.
Iran attacked three ships this week, while the U.S. maintains a blockade on Iranian ports. Trump has ordered the military to “shoot and kill” small boats that could possibly be placing mines.
Germany’s Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said Saturday his country is sending minesweeper ships to the Mediterranean to assist remove Iranian mines from the Strait of Hormuz once hostilities end.
The squeeze on shipments through the strait has rippled through global maritime trade, including through the Panama Canal nearly halfway world wide.
Also Saturday, Iran resumed business flights from Tehran’s international airport for the primary time because the war began with U.S. and Israeli strikes two months ago. Flights were scheduled to depart for Istanbul, Oman’s capital of Muscat and the Saudi city of Medina, in line with Iran’s state-run television. Iran partly reopened its airspace earlier this month as a result of the ceasefire.
A growing toll whilst ceasefires hold
For the reason that war began, authorities say at the very least 3,375 people have been killed in Iran and greater than 2,490 people in Lebanon, where recent fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah broke out two days after the Iran war began.
Moreover, 23 people have been killed in Israel and greater than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Fifteen Israeli soldiers in Lebanon, 13 U.S. service members within the region and 6 members of the U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon have been killed.
Trump announced Thursday that Israel and Lebanon had agreed to increase a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah by three weeks. Hezbollah has not participated within the Washington-brokered diplomacy.
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