Pakistani Delegation Arrives In Tehran In Move To Ease Tensions And Arrange More U.S.-Iran Talks

CAIRO (AP) — Pakistan’s army chief arrived Wednesday for talks in Tehran Latest diplomatic move to ease tensions in the Middle East and hold second round of talks between the US and Iran The war lasted almost seven weeks.

The White House said further talks were likely to take place. Islamabad, the capital of PakistanHowever, no decision has been made on whether the negotiations will continue.

us navy Blockade of Iranian ports continued for the third day. A senior official in US President Donald Trump’s administration has warned of new economic sanctions on countries doing business with Iran, saying the Islamic Republic would feel the “financial equivalent” of a bombing campaign.

There is in Pakistan emerged as an important tool The move helped narrow differences between the two sides, officials said, as the conflict broke out after the United States and Iran hosted rare direct talks in Islamabad. Mediators seek a new round ceasefire will end next week.

The Pakistani military said the delegation sent to Iran also included the country’s interior minister and other senior security officials. The military said the group was “part of ongoing mediation efforts” but did not provide details.

US blockade of Iranian ports and renewed Iranian threats have strained the week-long ceasefire agreement, but regional officials told The Associated Press they were making progress, saying the United States and Iran have an “agreement in principle” to expand the deal to allow for more diplomacy. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the matter.

Announcing the incoming Pakistani delegation, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said that Islamabad “held talks with the Americans and listened to our positions. The views of both sides will be discussed in detail during this visit.”

But even as mediators worked for peace, tensions were rising. Ali Abdullahi, commander of Iran’s joint military command, threatened to halt trade in the region if the United States did not lift the naval blockade.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that the White House warned countries and private companies that “if you are buying Iranian oil, if Iranian money is sitting in your banks, we are now ready to impose secondary sanctions.” The move aims to cause more economic pain to Iran.

The United States sent letters threatening sanctions to financial institutions in China, Hong Kong, Oman and the United Arab Emirates.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the United States “has not formally requested” an extension of the ceasefire with Iran, which expires next Tuesday.

“We continue to be very engaged right now with these negotiations, these talks,” Leavitt said, adding that further personal meetings would “most likely” return to Islamabad.

Mediators are pushing to reach agreement 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 involved in the mediation effort.

Baghaei said Iran was open to discussing the type and level of uranium enrichment, but his country “must be able to continue enriching according to its needs,” Iranian state media reported.

The negotiating team led by Vice President J.D. Vance has urged Iran to accept a 20-year moratorium on uranium enrichment as part of a possible deal to end the war, according to a regional official and person familiar with the matter.

The Iranians rejected the U.S. plan and responded with an offer to suspend enrichment for five years, the regional official and 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 Iran’s proposal. The US and Iran proposals were first reported by The New York Times.

The conflict 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 soldiers were also killed.

The war is now in its seventh week Shook markets and shook the global economy As shipping is cut off and air strikes tear apart military and civilians infrastructure across the region. Oil prices fell U.S. stock markets edged closer to records set in January on Wednesday, hoping for an end to the conflict.

But the future of the fragile ceasefire remains uncertain as the United States maintains a blockade that threatens to cut off Iran from the economic lifeblood it has relied on since the war began nearly seven weeks ago, and Tehran threatens regional trade.

“I think they wanted to make a terrible deal,” Trump said in an interview aired Wednesday on Fox Business Network’s “Mornings with Maria.”

While reports circulated that Beijing was considering transferring arms, Trump said China had agreed not to provide arms to Iran. In a post on social media, Trump suggested that the decision was related to China’s “very happy to open the Strait of Hormuz permanently.”

According to the US government, China has long supported Iran’s ballistic missile program and supports it with dual-use industrial components that can be used in missile production.

U.S. Central Command said Wednesday that no ships were able to breach the blockade in the first 48 hours, while nine commercial ships complied with orders from U.S. forces to turn back and re-enter Iranian waters.

The purpose of the blockade is to put pressure on Iran Exported millions of barrels of oilMostly to Asia since the start of the war on February 28. Much of this is likely transported via so-called dark passes that evade sanctions and surveillance, providing cash vital to Iran’s survival.

Since the war began, Iran has restricted maritime traffic as most commercial ships avoid the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of global oil passes in peacetime. effective in Tehran closing the throat It caused oil prices to soar, pushing the cost of fuel, food and other essential goods far beyond the Middle East.

Elsewhere, Israel continued its air and ground war in Lebanon. The country’s National News Agency reported on Wednesday that there were airstrikes and artillery shelling in southern Lebanon, including near Bint Jbeil, where Israeli forces have surrounded fighters from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

The clashes continued after Israeli and Lebanese officials completed their talks. first direct conversations over decades.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry said Israel attacked three different teams of medics in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, shooting first one team and then two more teams that rushed to help. The ministry said three medics died and six people were injured in the attacks.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Israel and Lebanon have technically been at war since Israel’s founding in 1948, and Lebanon remains deeply divided over diplomatic relations with Israel.

Metz reported from Ramallah, West Bank, Ahmed from Islamabad and Corder from The Hague, Netherlands. Associated Press writers Darlene Superville, Aamer Madhani and Joshua Boak are in Washington; and Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, contributed to this report.