White House confirms peace talks are taking place nose to nose
The White House has confirmed that the negotiations between the US and Iran at the moment under way in Islamabad are taking place nose to nose.
The assembly at this time marks the highest-level direct engagement between Washington and Tehran in a long time. The core US delegation is led by Vice-President JD Vance, alongside particular envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, supported by senior advisers together with Dr Andrew Baker and Michael Vance.
This high-stakes diplomatic summit, facilitated by Pakistani prime minister Shehbaz Sharif and chief of military workers Asim Munir, goals to safe a peace settlement to finish the weeks-long battle.
The White House additionally confirmed {that a} “full suite of US experts on relevant subject areas are present in Islamabad” and “additional experts are supporting from Washington.”
Key occasions
In his strongest phrases but, Pope Leo XIV on Saturday denounced the “delusion of omnipotence” that he says is fueling the US-Israel war in Iran and demanded political leaders cease and negotiate peace.
Leo presided over a night prayer service in St Peter’s Basilica on the identical day the US and Iran started face-to-face negotiations in Pakistan.
The first US-born pope didn’t point out the US or Trump by identify in his prayer, which was deliberate earlier than the talks have been introduced. But Leo’s tone and message appeared directed at Trump and US officers, who’ve boasted of US navy superiority and justified the war in non secular phrases.
“Enough of the idolatry of self and money!” Leo mentioned. “Enough of the display of power! Enough of war!
“Stop! It is time for peace! Sit at the table of dialogue and mediation, not at the table where rearmament is planned,” he added.
Leo, who is thought for selecting his phrases rigorously, has emerged as a vocal critic of the Iran war.
Netanyahu says Israel will preserve combating Iran
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel stays dedicated to maintain combating Iran, regardless of ongoing negotiations between the US and Iran.
“Israel under my leadership will continue to fight Iran’s terror regime and its proxies, unlike Erdogan who accommodates them and massacred his own Kurdish citizens,” Netanyahu wrote on social media.
Israel is just not current on the US-Iran talks in Islamabad.
The strait of Hormuz stays among the many details of “serious disagreement” in talks between Iranian and US delegations in Islamabad, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim information company reported on Saturday. It added that consultations have been persevering with regardless of what it described as extreme US calls for, whereas Iran insisted on preserving its navy beneficial properties.
French president Emmanuel Macron mentioned on Saturday that he had spoken with Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian, and had emphasised to him the significance of de-escalating the present state of affairs via the ceasefire talks in Pakistan.
“I stressed the need for Iran to restore freedom of navigation and security in the Strait of Hormuz as quickly as possible, to which France stands ready to contribute. I insisted on the importance of fully respecting the ceasefire, including in Lebanon,” Macron mentioned in a put up on X.
The US navy says it “began setting conditions for clearing mines in the strait of Hormuz” in an replace launched on Saturday afternoon.
“Today, we began the process of establishing a new passage and we will share this safe pathway with the maritime industry soon to encourage the free flow of commerce,” mentioned Adm Brad Cooper, commander of Centcom, in the statement.
Navy destroyers USS Frank E Petersen and USS Michael Murphy have transited the strait of Hormuz into the Arabian Gulf, marking the beginning of a mission to clear the waterway of sea mines laid by the IRGC, in accordance with the assertion.
The operation goals to revive passage to the world’s most significant vitality hall, which has been successfully blocked for over six weeks, inflicting a world surge in oil costs and historic provide disruptions.
Robert Tait
Collateral injury is a universally acknowledged hazard of war – extra generally identified for its influence on fact and non-combatant civilians.
Its penalties are a lot much less continuously visited on navy alliances.
The United States’ North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) allies are fearful which may be about to vary as a end result of the fallout from Washington’s determination to workforce up with Israel in waging war in opposition to Iran.
Donald Trump has attacked the pact with a vehemence not often heard over what he regards as disloyalty and failure to assist in re-opening the strait of Hormuz. Tehran closed the strategic waterway in response to the navy onslaught it confronted in the battle, which is at the moment paused because of a two-week ceasefire brokered by Pakistan.
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White House confirms peace talks are taking place nose to nose
The White House has confirmed that the negotiations between the US and Iran at the moment under way in Islamabad are taking place nose to nose.
The assembly at this time marks the highest-level direct engagement between Washington and Tehran in a long time. The core US delegation is led by Vice-President JD Vance, alongside particular envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, supported by senior advisers together with Dr Andrew Baker and Michael Vance.
This high-stakes diplomatic summit, facilitated by Pakistani prime minister Shehbaz Sharif and chief of military workers Asim Munir, goals to safe a peace settlement to finish the weeks-long battle.
The White House additionally confirmed {that a} “full suite of US experts on relevant subject areas are present in Islamabad” and “additional experts are supporting from Washington.”
Donald Trump has launched one other in a sequence of assaults on media protection of the Iran war in a Truth Social put up at this time, claiming that the US has “completely destroyed” Iran’s navy and “everything else” on the similar time the US vice-president is in Pakistan present process negotiations with Iran. The US president additionally claims that the strait of Hormuz will “soon be open”.
“The Fake News Media is CRAZY, or just plain CORRUPT! The United States has completely destroyed Iran’s Military, including their entire Navy and Air Force, and everything else,” Trump wrote. “Their Leadership is DEAD! The Strait of Hormuz will soon be open, and the empty ships are rushing to the United States to “load up.” But, in case you take heed to the Fake News, we’re shedding!”
Trump didn’t specify which retailers he was referring to as “fake news” for his or her protection of the war on Iran.
Here are a number of photographs of the continuing negotiations between the US and Iran in Pakistan.
A Pakistani official has confirmed to the Associated Press that negotiations have formally begun between the US and Iran in Pakistan. The official instructed the AP that they “cannot say whether they are sitting in the same room or in separate rooms, but talks have started and are progressing well”.
The three-way talks are between US officers JD Vance, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Iran’s Mohammad Ghalibaf and Abbas Araghchi, and Pakistan military chief Asim Munir.
In Gaza, which marked six months for the reason that ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took impact on Friday, Palestinian well being officers mentioned not less than seven folks have been killed in two Israeli airstrikes in a single day.
An airstrike hit a police checkpoint in the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip early this morning, killing not less than six, whereas a second airstrike hit the northern city of Beit Lahia, killing not less than one, officers mentioned.
The Israeli navy mentioned the strike in Bureij had been carried out after members of Hamas approached the yellow line demarcating the half of Gaza occupied by Israel, in accordance with Reuters information company. It didn’t instantly remark on the strike in Beit Lahia.
Israel has repeatedly shot at folks in areas across the yellow line for the reason that ceasefire deal was struck in October, typically accusing militants of attempting to cross the road or assault troops.
Since October, Israeli assaults have killed not less than 700 folks in Gaza, in accordance with well being officers there.
Iranian media has denied studies that US warships have crossed the strait of Hormuz.
The denial in the semi-official Tasnim information company follows a report by the US information website Axios, citing a US official, that a number of US navy ships crossed the slim waterway at this time.
There are conflicting studies over what’s occurred. Tasnim, quoting an Iranian overseas ministry spokesperson, reported {that a} US destroyer tried to enter the strait however was pressured to retreat after a warning from Iran’s armed forces. Axios, citing a US official, mentioned no such warning was given.
Earlier at this time, Donald Trump claimed the US has began to clear mines in the strait of Hormuz.
Just days earlier than negotiations are anticipated to happen in Washington between Israel and Beirut, the Israeli navy mentioned it has struck greater than 200 targets in Lebanon in the previous 24 hours, claiming they belong to the Iran-backed Hezbollah group.
“The air force continues to strike infrastructure belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organisation and to support the operations of ground forces operating in southern Lebanon,” the Israel Defense Forces mentioned in an announcement on social media.
Lebanon divided over potential talks with Israel
William Christou
In Lebanon, opinion was cut up over the federal government’s determination to barter instantly with Israel, elevating social tensions in the nation already racked by a mass displacement crisis.
A rally by Hezbollah supporters on Friday noticed Hezbollah supporters march from the prime ministers’ workplace to Hamra in West Beirut. Shouting matches erupted between residents of Hamra, an space not sometimes supportive of Hezbollah, and protesters, with the latter chanting, “Shia, Shia,” – a reference to the bulk Shia help base of the group.
Hezbollah supporters staged one other rally in entrance of the prime ministers’ workplace in opposition to negotiations on Saturday afternoon, with protesters waving Hezbollah flags and footage of the late Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah. The Lebanese military deployed troops across the space, and warned that it might not tolerate any makes an attempt to destabilise the nation at “this sensitive moment”.
Internal tensions in Lebanon had been on the rise since Israeli bombing over the past month displaced greater than 1.2 million folks throughout the nation. Disagreements over Lebanon’s engagement with Israel threatened to additional fracture the divided nation.
Residents of Lebanon have been hopeful that Iran would make good on its promise to incorporate Lebanon in its ceasefire with Israel and the US. Lebanese regarded forward to a gathering between Lebanon’s prime minister Nawaf Salam and US secretary of state Marco Rubio in Washington subsequent week for potential progress on a ceasefire in Lebanon.
Despite discuss of a ceasefire, Israeli strikes and Hezbollah rocket hearth continued. Israeli strikes on the southern cities of Kafr Sir, Zifta and Toul killed ten folks in a single day, whereas Hezbollah fired rockets at cities in Israel’s north. Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters continued to conflict inside Lebanon, battling over the strategic metropolis of Bint Jbeil.
US and Iranian officers assembly instantly in Islamabad talks – studies
Al Jazeera, citing sources near the mediation, has reported that the Iranian and US delegations are assembly face-to-face, with Pakistani mediators additionally current in the negotiating room.
Reuters has additionally reported the identical, citing a Pakistani supply.
The three-way talks are between US officers JD Vance, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Iran’s Mohammad Ghalibaf and Abbas Araghchi and Pakistan’s military chief Asim Munir.
In earlier US-Iran negotiations, together with the oblique nuclear talks that occurred in Oman in the times earlier than the war started on 28 February, mediators would shuttle backwards and forwards between the 2 disputing events to relay proposals and different data.
