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Iranian FM Abbas Araqchi in Islamabad yesterday. * US negotiators Witkoff and Kushner depart for Islamabad today* Iranian FM Araqchi and delegation land in Pakistan capital* US Vice-President JD Vance to join talks if there’s breakthrough US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner will travel to Islamabad today for talks with Iran mediated by Pakistan, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said yesterday. Speaking to reporters at the White House, Leavitt said the Trump administration has seen “some progress” from the Iranian side in the last couple of days, without elaborating.”Steve and Jared will be heading to Pakistan tomorrow to hear the Iranians out. We hope progress will be made and we hope that positive developments will come from this meeting,” she told reporters yesterday. Leavitt said Vice President JD Vance, who led a first round of unsuccessful talks with Iran in Islamabad earlier this month, is ready to travel to Pakistan to join talks if they prove successful. “The president, the vice-president, the secretary of state, will be waiting here in the United States for updates and the vice-president, I understand, is on standby and will be willing to dispatch to Pakistan if we feel it’s a necessary use of his time,” Leavitt said.In the meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi arrived in the Pakistani capital Islamabad late on Friday to discuss proposals for restarting peace talks with the United States, amid conflicting signals on whether he would meet with US negotiators there.Pakistan’s foreign minister said Araqchi would meet with senior Pakistani officials to discuss the peace efforts. Araqchi wrote on X that he was visiting Pakistan, Oman and Russia to co-ordinate with partners on bilateral matters and consult on regional developments, adding that Iran’s neighbours remained Tehran’s priority. The tour will include consultations on the latest efforts to end the war, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson later told state media.Two Pakistani government sources aware of the discussions said Araqchi’s visit would be brief and focus on Iran’s proposals for talks with the US, which mediator Pakistan would then convey to Washington. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told a briefing earlier on Friday that Iran had a chance to make a “good deal” with the United States.”Iran knows that they still have an open window to choose wisely … at the negotiating table. All they have to do is abandon a nuclear weapon in meaningful and verifiable ways,” he said.Reports on Araqchi’s trip in Iranian state media and the Pakistani sources made no mention of Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s parliament, who was the head of its delegation at the talks earlier this month.The Iranian parliament’s media office denied a report that Qalibaf had resigned as head of Iran’s negotiating team, and added that there was no new round of talks scheduled yet.Pakistani sources said earlier that a US logistics and security team already was in place in Islamabad for potential talks.The last round of peace talks had been expected to resume on Tuesday but never took place, with Iran saying it was not yet ready to commit to attending and a US delegation led by Vance never leaving Washington. Trump unilaterally extended a two-week ceasefire on Tuesday at the 11th hour to allow more time to reconvene the negotiators. Source link
* Iran foreign minister expected on Friday in Islamabad* US security teams already in place Peace talks between Iran and the United States could resume soon in Pakistan, where Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi was expected to arrive on Friday night, three Pakistani sources said.Two of the sources, from the Pakistani government, said a U.S. logistics and security team was already in place for potential talks.There was no immediate direct response from Washington or Tehran to the report, but US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, speaking around the same time, told a briefing that Iran had a chance to make a “good deal” with the United States. The last round of peace talks had been expected on Tuesday but never took place, with Iran saying it was not yet ready to commit to attending and a US delegation led by Vice President JD Vance never leaving Washington.President Donald Trump unilaterally extended a two-week ceasefire on Tuesday at the 11th hour to allow more time to reconvene the negotiators.LEBANON CEASEFIRE EXTENDEDOn Thursday, Israel and Lebanon extended a separate ceasefire for three weeks at a meeting at the White House brokered by Trump. Iran considers maintaining the ceasefire in Lebanon a precondition for talks with the United States on the wider war.Trump said on Thursday he was in no rush to reach an agreement and wanted it to be “everlasting,” while asserting that the U.S. had an upper hand in a standoff in the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most important energy shipping route.The United States has yet to find a way to open the strait, where Iran has blocked nearly all ships apart from its own since the start of the war eight weeks ago. Iran showed off its control this week by seizing two huge cargo vessels there.Trump imposed a separate blockade of Iranian shipping last week, with U.S. forces boarding several Iranian ships in international waters. Iran says it will not reopen the strait until Trump lifts his blockade.Only five ships crossed the strait in the last 24 hours, shipping data showed on Friday, compared to around 130 a day before the war. Those included one Iranian oil products tanker, but none of the vast crude-carrying supertankers that normally feed global energy markets.Container shipping company Hapag-Lloyd also said one of its ships had crossed, without giving details. Source link
Pakistan’s powerful military chief and prime minister concluded yesterday separate visits aimed at ending the Iran war, with Field Marshal Asim Munir leaving Tehran and premier Shehbaz Sharif headed home from Turkiye. Munir met Iran’s top leadership and peace negotiators during a three-day visit to Tehran, a Pakistani military statement said. The visit showed Pakistan’s “unwavering resolve to facilitate a negotiated settlement… and to promote peace, stability, and prosperity”, the military said ahead of expected US-Iran talks in Islamabad in the coming days.The Pakistani military chief held negotiations with the country’s president, foreign minister, parliament speaker and the head of Iran’s military central command centre. Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi led the Iranian delegation to Islamabad for peace talks with the US last week, the highest level face-to-face contact between the two countries in decades. Those talks ended without an agreement, but diplomacy continued thereafter, with Pakistan’s prime minister undertaking a three-country tour to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkiye to push the peace process. That visit also concluded yesterday, with Sharif and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar departing a diplomacy forum in Antalya, according to statements from both officials. A second round of talks between the United States and Iran is expected in Islamabad this coming week. In Tehran, “the Field Marshal underscored the need for dialogue, de-escalation, and peaceful resolution of outstanding issues through sustained diplomatic engagements”, the Pakistani statement said. Source link
Motorists ride along a road on Islamabad’s Constitution Avenue on April 14, 2026. As the clock ticked down to US President Donald Trump’s deadline to destroy…
Two sides could return to Pakistan by week’s end, say sources* Oil prices fall below $100* Trump says Iranians want to make a deal* VP Vance, leading US side, says future talks depend on IranNegotiating teams from the US and Iran could return to Islamabad this week to resume talks to end the war, sources told Reuters on Tuesday, after the collapse of weekend negotiations prompted Washington to impose a blockade on Iranian ports.While the US blockade drew angry rhetoric from Tehran, signs that diplomatic engagement might continue helped calm oil markets, pushing benchmark prices below $100 on Tuesday..But a source involved in the talks said on Tuesday both countries could return as early as the end of this week, and that a proposal had been shared with Washington and Tehran to resend their delegations.”No firm date has been set, with the delegations keeping Friday through Sunday open,” a senior Iranian source said.US President Donald Trump said Iran had been in touch on Monday and wanted to make a deal, adding that he would not sanction any agreement that allowed Tehran to possess a nuclear weapon.Since the United States and Israel began the war on February 28, Iran effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz to nearly all vessels except its own, saying passage would be permitted only under Iranian control and subject to a fee. The fallout has been widespread, as nearly a fifth of the world’s oil and gas previously flowed through the narrow waterway.In a countermeasure, the US military said it began blocking shipping traffic in and out of Iran’s ports on Monday. Tehran has threatened to hit naval ships going through the strait and to retaliate against its Gulf neighbours’ ports.Nearly 24 hours into the US blockade, there had yet to be reports of Washington taking direct action against shipping to enforce it. Three Iran-linked tankers were seen transiting the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, shipping data showed, but the vessels were not heading to or from Iranian ports.The United States’ NATO allies including Britain and France said they would not be drawn into the conflict by taking part in the blockade, although they have offered to help safeguard the strait when an agreement is in place.French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will chair a video conference on Friday for countries willing to contribute to a defensive multilateral mission to restore freedom of navigation in the strait when security conditions permit, Macron’s office said.China, the main buyer of Iranian oil, said the US blockade was “dangerous and irresponsible” and would only aggravate tensions.Reflecting the growing disruption, the International Energy Agency on Tuesday sharply cut its forecasts for global oil supply and demand growth, saying both are now expected to fall from 2025 levels as war in the Middle East disrupts oil flows and weighs on the global economy. Source link
Passengers stand on a platform waiting to board the metro at a train station in Lahore yesterday. (AFP) State-run public transport in Pakistan’s capital and most populous province will be free for the coming month, officials said yesterday, after the government drastically raised fuel prices due to spiking global energy prices caused by the Iran war.The announcement follows a late-night decision to impose a 42.7-percent rise in the price of petrol and 54.9% on diesel, which prompted several street protests.Long queues of motorbikes were also seen at fuel stations.”All public transport in Islamabad will be made free of cost for the general public for the next 30 days, starting tomorrow (Saturday),” interior minister Mohsin Naqvi wrote on X.The government will bear a burden of 350mn rupees (around $1.25mn), he added.The chief minister of Pakistan’s most populous province, Punjab, also lifted the cost of travel for state-run public transport, and announced “targeted subsidies” for trucks and buses.Maryam Nawaz Sharif urged operators not to pass on increased costs to passengers and consumers, and added: “We promise to relieve the public of economic burden as soon as conditions improve.”In Sindh, the provincial government in Pakistan’s biggest city, Karachi, announced similar subsidies for motorcyclists and small farmers.The US-Israel war on Iran, launched on February 28, has plunged the Middle East into conflict, with Iranian retaliatory strikes hitting targets across the Gulf and virtually freezing shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.The key waterway normally sees about a fifth of the world’s energy supplies pass through it, much of it bound for Asia.The government has unveiled a raft of austerity measures designed to save fuel, including moving many government offices to a four-day work week, extending school holidays and moving some classes online.Pakistan is classified as a lower-middle-income country, with roughly 25% of its 240mn population living in poverty, as per World Bank data.The government hiked fuel prices by 20% in early March but has spent weeks resisting any further hike, and insisted that it could absorb higher prices and not pass them on.Yesterday, dozens participated in a protest in the Punjab capital, Lahore, calling on ministers to reverse the decision.”The government, overnight, has dropped a ‘petrol bomb’ on its people,” Naveed Ahmed, a 39-year-old protestor, told AFP.”Our nation cannot bear this situation right now. This storm of inflation must be stopped, and relief should be provided to the public,” he added.Several Asian countries have hiked fuel prices or implemented other measures to address the crisis sparked by the war with Iran.On Thursday, Bangladesh hiked prices of liquefied petroleum gas used for cooking and compressed natural gas used in some cars by 29%.Earlier this week, the International Monetary Fund warned that vulnerable economies, such as Pakistan, did not just face pressure from higher energy prices, but from supply chain snarls as well.The IMF announced on March 28 that had reached an initial agreement with Pakistan to unlock a new $1.2-billion package as part of its support programmes for the country.”The rise we are seeing is not due to the (Iran) war, but to pressure from the IMF, pressure that must be resisted,” said another protester in Lahore, Hafiz Abdul Rauf.”For God’s sake, step back from these demands and show some compassion for the people.” Source link
Commuters ride past apricot blossom trees at Ghanche district in Gilgit-Baltistan region. (AFP) The harsh days of winter are over in Pakistan’s high north and while snow still tops the towering peaks that dominate the landscape, spring has arrived in the foothills.But this year, visitors who have come to witness the region’s cherry and apricot blossoms see it as the perfect tonic to the war in the Middle East and its knock-on effects.”There’s war going on all over the world right now. It’s petrol crisis, this and that, everything has become more expensive, everyone is in a depression,” Hatib, 27, from Pakistan’s biggest city, Karachi, told AFP.”But to get out of depression, you need to step outside, go out somewhere for a bit, see places, explore, and relax the mind,” he said.The blossoms that turn bare trees into a vibrant shade of pink carpet the thawing farmland of Gilgit-Baltistan from late March every year, marking renewal and the promise of fruit harvests to come for local people.”The best part is when these flowers are falling. It literally feels like a dream,” Hatib said.The region, home to about 1.7mn people, has some of the world’s highest mountains, including K2, which soars to 8,611 metres (28,251 feet) — second only to Mount Everest.The jagged mountain ranges, high-altitude lakes and glaciers of Gilgit-Baltistan are a magnet for the daring and adventurous.But more sedate visitors can instead take selfies in the orchards of the flowering deep valleys, under a clear blue sky with only the chirrup of birdsong and the bleat of foraging goats to break the surrounding silence.”No matter how much inflation there is in Pakistan today, no matter how much petrol prices are going up, tourists still don’t want to miss the cherry blossom and apricot blossom season,” said local visitor Maria Akbar, 29.”Even if we have to spend extra money, it’s not a problem, but we’ll enjoy this view.””Things like cherry blossom and apricot blossom are what make Gilgit-Baltistan unique compared to all other regions,” added Junaid Ahmed, 31.”Tourists from all over the world come to enjoy this season. As you can see around me how beautiful it is, the beautiful view of these cherry and apricot blossoms is right before your eyes.” Related Story Source link
Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar and visiting Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan discussed today the latest developments in the Middle East region. During the meeting, both sides emphasized the importance of dialogue and continued diplomatic efforts to promote peace and stability in the region.They also focused on ways to strengthen bilateral relations between the two countries in various fields Source link
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said yesterday that Islamabad is prepared to host negotiations to stop the US-Israeli war with Iran, after mounting speculation that it could act as a mediator. “Pakistan welcomes and fully supports ongoing efforts to pursue dialogue to end the WAR in Middle East, in the interest of peace and stability in (the) region and beyond,” he wrote on X. “Subject to concurrence by the US and Iran, Pakistan stands ready and honoured to be the host to facilitate meaningful and conclusive talks for a comprehensive settlement of the ongoing conflict.” Tehran’s foreign ministry suggested on Monday that messages had been received from “some friendly countries indicating a US request for negotiations at ending the war”, according to the official IRNA news agency.Sharif then said he had spoken with Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, promising his government’s help in bringing peace to the region. Pakistan’s Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar also said that he had been in touch with his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi. Foreign ministry spokesman Tahir Hussain Andrabi told AFP earlier yesterday that Pakistan is “always willing to host talks” and had “consistently advocated for dialogue and diplomacy to promote peace and stability in the region”. Pakistan’s former ambassador to Oman, Imran Ali Chaudhry, told 92 News late on Monday that Pakistan’s army chief recently held talks with US negotiators in the Gulf. “Around two to two-and-a-half weeks ago, Field Marshal Asim Munir went to Oman on a trip that was not disclosed and he held a four-hour meeting with (Steve) Witkoff and (Jared) Kushner,” he said.Iran is a long-standing ally of Pakistan and Islamabad has condemned the killing of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. It also sent congratulations to his son and successor, Mojtaba. The US and Israel launched strikes on Iran on February 28 after saying that they had failed to make enough headway in talks aimed at ending Iran’s nuclear programme, although mediator Oman said significant progress had been made. Since then, Iran has attacked countries that host US bases, struck Gulf energy infrastructure and effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, conduit for a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas, creating the worst energy supply shock in history. A Pakistani government source said that discussions on a meeting were at an advanced stage and that if it did happen, “a big ‘if’”, it would take place within a week. The war is already taking a toll on major economies around the world, according to business surveys yesterday which showed how a surge in energy prices and rising uncertainty were dampening activity and pushing inflation expectations higher. Source link
Pakistan’s jailed former prime minister Imran Khan received eye treatment yesterday, according to a hospital statement, although a spokesman for the ex-cricket star complained that he was not allowed to see his personal doctor. Khan has been in jail since 2023 and was sentenced late last year along with his wife to 17 years on corruption charges they both deny. The 73-year-old’s family and lawyer say that he has lost most of the vision in his right eye. Khan was taken to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) in Islamabad for a second dose of eye injections, the hospital said. “Khan was found to be clinically stable,” it added. However, Khan’s press adviser Sayed Zulfiqar Bukhari said that “access should be granted to his personal physician and family”. Last week, more than a dozen international cricket captains concerned for Khan’s health urged the Islamabad government to give him “adequate” medical treatment.Khan was prime minister from 2018 to 2022 before being removed in a no-confidence vote during a crisis over tensions between his government and Pakistan’s military establishment. He has since faced multiple legal cases on corruption and other charges. Khan and his party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, maintain that the cases against him are politically motivated. Khan’s lawyer, Salman Safdar, told a news conference on February 12 that “one of Khan’s eyes has only 15% vision”, following a jail visit. Source link