An Iranian negotiating delegation, led by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, has arrived in Islamabad for peace talks with the US, Iranian media reported, adding that the talks would begin if Washington accepts Tehran's "preconditions".
The delegation includes senior political, military and economic officials, including Iran's foreign minister, the secretary of the defense council, the central bank governor and several lawmakers, Reuters reports.
The war in the Middle East will have a knock-on effect on the global economy, even if the fragile ceasefire announced by US President Donald Trump holds, World Bank President Ajay Banga said in an interview with Reuters.
And the damage will be much greater if the ceasefire collapses and the conflict escalates, he said.
US President Donald Trump said the Iranians do not seem to realize they have no trump cards, except for "short-term blackmailing the world" by using international waterways.
"The only reason they are alive today is because they are negotiating," he wrote on Truth Social.
"Iranians are better at handling fake news and 'public relations' than at warfare," he said.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said talks between the US and Iran in Islamabad, scheduled to begin on Saturday, were crucial to achieving a lasting ceasefire in the weeks-long conflict in the Middle East.
In a separate package of measures, announced during his address, the government also reduced diesel prices to 385 rupees (1,18 euros) per liter and petrol to 366 rupees per liter (1,12 euros).
The biggest monthly increase in US fuel prices in six decades led to a sharp jump in inflation in March, creating major challenges for inflation fighters at the US central bank, but also intensifying political headaches for the White House.
Consumer prices rose 3,3 percent in March from a year earlier, the U.S. Labor Department said today. February's jump in prices compared to February 2025 was just 2,4 percent, marking a large increase between two consecutive months - the largest in nearly four years.
This is the first official inflation data showing the effects of the US-Israeli-Iran war.
Rising fuel prices will impact the budgets of many households with moderate and lower incomes, making it more difficult for them to afford other necessities like food or pay rent.
Other data shows that the jump in fuel prices has not yet officially spilled over to other price categories.
The big question now is how long the oil and gas price shock will last and whether it will lead to a broader, longer-lasting spike in inflation like the one that occurred in the spring of 2022 as a result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Economists say for now that it is unlikely that there will be widespread price increases like after the invasion, when inflation in the US reached nine percent.
A fragile ceasefire is in place in the Middle East war, but little has changed in the Strait of Hormuz, through which millions of barrels of oil flow in peacetime.
(BETA)
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said that 13 members of the state security forces were killed in an Israeli attack on a government building in the southern city of Nabatieh.
In a statement, Aoun condemned the continuation of Israeli attacks and said that targeting state institutions would not deter Lebanon from defending its sovereignty, Reuters reports.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has requested a postponement of his testimony in his long-running corruption trial, which was scheduled to continue next week, citing the current security situation in the region, his lawyer said in a court filing.
Netanyahu's trial was due to resume on Sunday, after Israel lifted a state of emergency imposed over its war with Iran following the declaration of a ceasefire on Wednesday. The defense said it was ready to resume hearing testimony from prosecution witnesses.
"Due to confidential security and diplomatic reasons related ... to the dramatic events that have recently taken place in the State of Israel and throughout the Middle East, the Prime Minister will not be able to testify in these proceedings for at least the next two weeks," the filing to the Jerusalem District Court said, Reuters reported.
It added that a sealed envelope explaining the confidential reasons was submitted to the court, and the court will make a decision after the prosecution submits a response.
Netanyahu, the first Israeli prime minister to be indicted while in office, denies charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust, brought in 2019 after a years-long investigation.
His trial, which began in 2020 and could result in a prison sentence, has been postponed several times due to his official commitments, and the end of the proceedings is still not in sight.
The charges against Netanyahu, coupled with Hamas attacks on Israel in October 2023, have dented his standing. Israel is due to hold elections in October, and according to polls, Netanyahu's coalition, the most right-wing in Israeli history, is likely to lose, Reuters reports.
Kuwait's military said the Iranian attack targeted several important National Guard facilities, wounding several people and causing significant material damage, Reuters reported.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said that two previously agreed measures, a ceasefire in Lebanon and the release of frozen Iranian assets, must be implemented before negotiations can begin.
In a post on the X network, Ghalibaf said the steps were part of the commitments made by the parties and warned that talks should not begin until they are fulfilled, amid growing disputes over the terms of the ceasefire and the continuation of hostilities in Lebanon.
US negotiators intend to demand the release of Americans detained in Iran as part of upcoming talks aimed at ending the war, the Washington Post reported, citing people familiar with the plans.
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said today that Washington is trying to have stable relations with China, but that its involvement in Iranian issues contrary to Washington's interests would complicate those relations.
Greer told CNBC television that he expects US President Donald Trump to have a good meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping next month, Reuters reports.
He added that "not all challenges with China have been resolved."
China's Foreign Ministry claims that Beijing has made "active efforts" to end the conflict in Iran, CNBC reported today.
(BETA)
US Vice President JD Vance said he looked forward to the upcoming negotiations with Iran and expected the talks in Islamabad to be positive.
Vance said this shortly before leaving Washington for Pakistan, Reuters reports.
A senior official from the Lebanese president's office confirmed to the BBC that Lebanon will participate in direct negotiations with Israel next week, but only if a ceasefire is established first.
The date and time of the meeting have not yet been determined.
Direct talks between Lebanon and Israel are not unprecedented, but they are rare. The two countries mostly communicate through intermediaries, such as the United States.
Efforts to establish negotiations have been ongoing since the November 2024 ceasefire agreement, with US envoys previously mediating indirect talks between the two sides.
(BBC/RTS)
Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem called on the Lebanese government to stop making "free concessions" to Israel, as the two governments are set to begin talks in Washington next week.
"We will not accept a return to the previous situation and we call on officials to stop offering free concessions," Qassem said in a written message broadcast on the party's Al-Manar television, in which he also condemned "Wednesday's bloody criminal action," when Israeli attacks in Lebanon killed more than 300 people.
Hezbollah said it had targeted an Israeli naval base in Ashdod with rockets, two days after deadly Israeli airstrikes on Beirut that killed more than 300 people.
"In response to the enemy's violation of the ceasefire and its repeated attacks on Beirut, and after the Resistance adhered to the ceasefire while the enemy did not, Islamic Resistance fighters targeted... the naval base in the port of Ashdod with rockets," the group said in a statement.
Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs, Majid Taht Ravanchi, said Tehran does not want a ceasefire that would allow the US and Israel to attack again.
Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency reported his statements from a meeting today with foreign ambassadors and heads of organizations in Tehran.
"We do not want a ceasefire that would allow the aggressor enemy to rearm and launch a new aggression," he said, according to the Guardian.
He also claimed that "it was agreed that the Iranian 10-point plan would be the basis for negotiations."
Most of the ships that passed through the Strait of Hormuz in the past 24 hours were Iran-bound, shipping tracking data showed, while other companies are still delaying voyages despite a two-week ceasefire agreed this week between Tehran and Washington, according to data and shipping industry sources.
Three tankers - a crude supertanker capable of carrying two million barrels of oil, a bunker tanker and a smaller oil tanker - have all left Iranian waters in the past 24 hours, according to separate analyses of data from Kpler and Lloyd's List Intelligence, Reuters reports.
Four bulk carriers - including one carrying iron ore from Iran to China - also set sail over the past day, the data showed.
The Israeli military claims to have destroyed more than 200 Hezbollah rocket launchers since the start of the conflict.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had destroyed more than 200 rocket launchers, including about 1.300 launch tubes, belonging to the Iran-backed militant group since March 2.
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir said that Israeli forces are continuing combat operations in southern Lebanon and are "not in a ceasefire" with Hezbollah, according to statements released by the IDF.
During a visit to the area near Bint Jbeil in southern Lebanon, Zamir said:
"The IDF is in a state of war, we are not in a ceasefire, we continue to fight here in this sector, this is our main combat sector. In Iran, we are in a ceasefire and we can return to fighting there at any time, and in a very strong manner."
A powerful wave of Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon killed more than 300 people on Wednesday, according to Lebanese authorities, making it the deadliest day for the country since the latest round of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah began on March 2.
Several world leaders, including the United Kingdom, condemned the Israeli attacks and called for Lebanon to be included in a ceasefire between the US and Iran.
Iran is taking steps to maintain control of maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, aiming to put pressure on the United States, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) research center said.
The consequence of this is that oil prices will remain high, so that Iran can enter the upcoming negotiations with the US with more influence and be able to force concessions, according to ISW.
According to ISW, Iranian officials have said that Iran will not allow more than 15 ships to pass through the strait per day. Before the war, up to 140 ships passed through the strait per day.
Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization published a graphic on April 8 instructing ships to follow specific entry and exit routes, coordinated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) navy, to pass through the strait. These routes divert international maritime traffic into Iranian-controlled waters. The graphic warns that ships outside these routes risk encountering mines, the Guardian reports.
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