Iran | Pakistan

World awaits Iran response to peace deal

Pakistan and Iran held talks on bilateral relations, railway connectivity, and the overall regional situation during a meeting between Railways Minister Hanif Abbasi and Iranian Ambassador Dr Reza Amiri Moghadam.

• Trump says Iran deal 'very possible', but threatens strikes if not • PM Shehbaz sounds optimistic • Tehran yet

The United States is “not looking for a fight” over the Strait of Hormuz, and its ceasefire with Iran still holds, but any attack on commercial shipping will be met with a “devastating” response, the Pentagon chief said on Tuesday. The warning from Pete Hegseth came on the second day of a US effort, dubbed ‘Project Freedom’, to facilitate the transit of commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran had closed in response to the US-Israeli war on the Islamic republic. “We’re not looking for a fight. But Iran also cannot be allowed to block innocent countries and their goods from an international waterway,” Hegseth told reporters. “If you attack American troops or innocent commercial shipping, you will face overwhelming and devastating American firepower.” US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen Dan Caine addresses reporters at the Pentagon on May 5, 2026. — AFP The Pentagon chief added that Washington is promising security for commercial vessels with a “red, white and blue dome” over the Strai...

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that war is not the answer to rising tensions in the region, stressing that diplomacy remains the only viable path to peace between Iran and the United States.

WASHINGTON: Public opinion within parts of the American-Jewish community on the US-led war against Iran has shown a noticeable shift, with support easing and opposition rising over time, according to a recent survey. While different polls focus on different segments of the community, both point to growing reservations about the campaign as it has progressed. The Jewish People Policy Institute’s “Voice of the Jewish People Index” survey, which tracks attitudes among a more connected segment of American Jews engaged with organised communal life, records a steady decline in support over the course of the conflict. Backing fell from 68 per cent in the war’s first week to 62pc in the third week, and further to 60pc in the week following the ceasefire, while opposition rose from 26pc to 34pc over the same period, the survey shows. A separate nationwide survey conducted by GBAO Strategies for the advocacy group J Street, which reflects a broader sample of American Jewish voters, suggests that scepticism is even more...

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that his representatives were having “very positive discussions” with Iran that could “lead to something very positive for all”. He made these remarks in a Truth Social Post, also announcing an initiative to guide vessels stuck in the Strait of Hormuz out of the waterway, hours after Tehran said on Sunday that the United States had responded to its 14-point proposal via Pakistan. Iranian state media quoted a foreign ministry spokesperson as saying that Tehran was reviewing the response. Later, US Special Envoy on Middle East Steve Witkoff told CNN the US was “in conversation” with Iran as they weighed negotiations to end the war. This was followed by Trump’s post on Truth Social, where he said: “I am fully aware that my Representatives are having very positive discussions with the Country of Iran, and that these discussions could lead to something very positive for all.” He also said that countries from across the world, “almost all of which are not involved in the Mid...

WASHINGTON: A man stands atop the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge on Saturday to protest the US-Israeli war on Iran. Guido Reichstadter climbed the bridge in Washington on May Day, stayed there overnight, and posted a sunrise photo from one of the bridge’s arches while calling for an end to the war on Iran. Speaking to the media from atop the 51-metre structure, the 45-year-old father of two called for peaceful means to build pressure on the authorities to end what he described as an ‘illegal war’.—Reuters • Iranian military warns renewed hostilities with Washington ‘likely’ • Trump boasts of Hormuz blockade, says ‘we are like pirates’ • Tehran reaches out to Qatar, South Korea to discuss ongoing negotiations • Israeli strikes in Lebanon kill over 12 people, injure dozens; Lebanese army chief meets US general TEHRAN/BEIRUT: Amid a surge in deadly strikes by Israeli forces in southern Lebanon and little headway in talks between the US and Iran, an Iranian military official warned against the ‘likely’ resump...

Foreign Office (FO) spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said on Thursday that Pakistan remained actively engaged with Iran and the United States to “achieve a resolution” of the conflict between the two sides. “As such, the status of talks now is that we remain actively engaged with both sides to achieve a resolution of this issue. The clock on diplomacy has not stopped. We remain hopeful of a negotiated settlement of this issue, and we will continue our sincere efforts for the cause of peace and prosperity in the region and beyond,” he said during a weekly FO briefing. The conflict, which is now almost two months old, began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28. And while hostilities have paused following a Pakistan-brokered two-week ceasefire on April 8 — which has now been extended indefinitely by US President Donald Trump — the world continues to face its consequences. It has led to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas supply used to pass in peacetime, re...

Rice supply is expected to fall this year as farmers cut planting acreage across Asia because of fertiliser shortages and soaring fuel costs from the Iran war, with an emerging El Niño also set to squeeze output of the world’s most consumed staple. Rice is central to global food security, and even modest supply disruptions can ripple through countries, lifting prices and straining household budgets, particularly among price-sensitive consumers in Asia and Africa. The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in April forecast rice output would expand by 2 per cent to a record high in 2025/26. The effects of the Iran war are impacting farmers in top exporters Thailand and Vietnam, as well as the import-reliant Philippines and Indonesia, growers and traders said. The war has cut fuel and fertiliser flows through the Strait of Hormuz, a key chokepoint that connects the Gulf to global markets. Southeast Asia’s mainly smallholder farmers also face mounting stress as the El Niño weather phenomenon is set to usher ...

European airlines are facing their biggest challenge ​since the Covid-19 pandemic as the US-Israel war on Iran pushes up jet fuel prices and buffets travel through the Middle East, casting a shadow ‌over the summer holiday season. Carriers have been largely riding out the crisis with hedges that have tamed costs even as the price of jet fuel has risen nearly 84 per cent since the start of the conflict on February 28, but they could face shortages if the war does not end soon. “There is a risk that we’ll see rationing of fuel supply, particularly in Asia and Europe,” ​Willie Walsh, head of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), told Reuters on Tuesday, while adding that supply remained robust for now. Walsh said, however, that the situation ​was not yet as bad as the disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, which led to travel demand ⁠plummeting and hundreds of billions of dollars in losses for the aviation sector. “I think Covid was on a completely different scale,” Walsh added. “What ...

Britain’s King Charles and Donald Trump hailed their countries’ longstanding ties at a White House state dinner Tuesday – despite the US president claiming the monarch agreed with him on Iran’s nuclear weapons. Over a lavish meal, Charles echoed the tone of his earlier speech to Congress in which he urged London and Washington to stick together, without directly mentioning the tensions over the US-Israeli war with Tehran. But in his toast to a gala dinner attended by tech titans and golfer Rory McIlroy, Trump made his first public comments on the sensitive topic during the four-day visit by the British royals. US President Donald Trump and Britain’s King Charles III raise a toast during a State Dinner in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on April 28, 2026. — AFP “We have militarily defeated that particular opponent,” Trump said at the White House dinner. “Charles agrees with me even more than I do — we’re never going to let that opponent have a nuclear weapon.” Trump has repeatedly lambasted...

• Iranian envoy lauds Pakistan for ‘persistent labour’ to pave way for dialogue • Trump claims Tehran asked him to lift Hormuz blockade • Spy agencies studying ‘likely response’ to US declaring victory • Iran’s military says ‘still in state of war’ • Vance questions Pentagon assessment of conflict with Iran • UAE tanker evades Hormuz blockade WASHINGTON: Even as US President Donald Trump appeared reluctant to accept an Iranian offer to end the Middle East war, reports suggested Tehran would share a fresh proposal with Pakistan “in the next few days”, despite a public show of defiance. According to CNN, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will consult Iranian leaders upon his return from Russia for the new proposal, but “process is slow” due to “difficulty in communicating with Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, whose location is being kept secret”. The development came as President Trump reviewed the Iranian proposals amid concerns over the Pentagon’s assessment of the ongoing war with Iran. Senior Iranian official...

US intelligence agencies are studying how Iran would respond if President Donald Trump were to declare a unilateral victory in the two-month-old war that ​has killed thousands and become a political liability for the White House, two US officials and a person familiar with the matter said. The intelligence community is ‌analysing the question along with others at the request of senior administration officials. The goal is to understand the implications of Trump potentially pulling back from a conflict that some officials and advisers worry could contribute to deep Republican losses at the midterm elections later this year, according to the sources. While no decision has been made, and Trump could easily ramp back up military operations, a quick de-escalation could ease political pressure on the ​president, even as it could leave behind an emboldened Iran. The sources spoke ​on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss sensitive intelligence matters. It is not clear when the intelligence community would c...

Iran warned last week that submarine cables in the Strait of Hormuz were a vulnerable point for the region’s digital economy, raising concerns about potential attacks on critical infrastructure. The narrow waterway, already a chokepoint for global oil shipments, is equally vital for the digital world. Several fibre-optic cables snake across the seabed of the strait, connecting countries from Southeast Asia to Europe via the Gulf states and Egypt. What makes undersea cables important? Subsea cables are fibre-optic or electrical cables laid on the sea floor to transmit data and power. They carry around 99 per cent of the world’s internet traffic, according to the ITU, the United Nations specialised agency for digital technologies. They also carry telecommunications and electricity between countries, and are essential for cloud services and online communications. “Damaged cables mean the internet slowing down or outages, e-commerce disruptions, delayed financial transactions … and economic fallout from all of th...

Five people were sentenced to life in Bahrain on Tuesday for plotting “terrorist and hostile acts” with Iran, which bombarded the tiny Gulf state during the Middle East war. Two Afghans and three Bahrainis were convicted and a fourth Bahraini was acquitted by the High Criminal Court, the public prosecution said. They were accused of monitoring and photographing “vital facilities” for Iran, it said. “The Public Prosecution affirms that the crime of communicating with hostile foreign entities against the Kingdom of Bahrain is considered one of the most serious crimes affecting national security,” the statement said. The public prosecution is considering appealing against the acquittal of the sixth defendant, it added. Iran launched waves of missile and drone strikes against Gulf states, including Bahrain, in response to US and Israeli attacks on the Islamic republic that sparked the Middle East war on February 28. Human Rights Watch last month expressed alarm over the arrests of “dozens of people” in the region...

• Putin says Moscow will do everything to secure peace deal • Araghchi blames ‘excessive US demands’ for failure of dialogue • White House stays mum as Trump meets security aides to discuss Tehran’s proposal • Rubio says Iran ‘serious’ about deal, cites bleak economic outlook • Iran, US clash at NPT summit; Tehran slams EU for not lifting sanctions ST PETERSBURG / WASHINGTON: As the peace talks between the US and Iran hit a roadblock over the nuclear deal and the Strait of Hormuz closure, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin assured Iran’s top diplomat Abbas Araghchi that Moscow would do everything it could to help secure peace in the Middle East. The remarks by the Russian president came during Araghchi’s visit to Saint Petersburg, where he met the Russian president to discuss the ongoing peace negotiations with the US. Araghchi had arrived in St Petersburg on the fourth leg of a whirlwind diplomatic tour, having sandwiched a trip to Oman in between two visits to Pakistan over the past few days. In Islamabad, h...

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Monday said he discussed with “friends in Pakistan” the “path and conditions” under which Tehran could continue its dialogue with Washington during his recent visit to Islamabad. After visiting Pakistan twice in two days and making a trip to Oman in between, Araghchi arrived in Russia on Monday as part of his regional tour. In a statement issued on his Telegram account, the Iranian FM provided an overview of his diplomatic engagements over the past few days. Terming his trips to Islamabad and Muscat as “bilateral”, Araghchi said: “As for Pakistan, this country has recently played an important role in mediating the negotiations between Iran and the United States, and it was necessary for us to discuss the latest developments. “However, there have been developments in the negotiations, and the wrong approaches and excessive demands of the United States have prevented the previous round of negotiations from achieving their goals despite the progress. Therefore, it was ne...

Britain’s King Charles and Queen Camilla will arrive in the United States later on Monday for a four-day trip, a tour which has taken on even greater prominence after the White House Correspondents’ dinner shooting and amid acrimony between the close allies. The state visit, by far the most high-profile and consequential of Charles’s reign, marks the 250th anniversary of the US declaration of independence from British rule, and is the first visit to the country by a British monarch for two decades. It begins with a private meeting with self-proclaimed royal fan US President Donald Trump, and includes an address to Congress and a lavish dinner at the White House. Press dinner shooting just days before visit But the long-planned trip has become enmeshed in the political spat between the two countries over the US-Israeli war on Iran, which led Trump to voice deep displeasure with the British government for failing to support the offensive. The shooting on Saturday at the White House Correspondents’ Association d...

The conflict in the Middle East has disrupted supplies of crucial raw materials and pushed up prices of the printed circuit boards (PCB) used in almost all electronic devices, from smartphones and computers to AI servers, industry sources and executives said. The disruption is a fresh blow to electronics manufacturers which are already grappling with soaring memory chip costs and highlights the broadening impact of the Iran war that has wreaked havoc on supply chains, plastics, and oil supplies. Iran struck Saudi Arabia’s Jubail petrochemical complex in early April, forcing a halt in production of high-purity polyphenylene ether (PPE) resin a critical base material used to manufacture PCB laminates. SABIC, which accounts for approximately 70 per cent of the world’s high-purity PPE supply and operates in the Jubail complex on the Gulf coast, has been unable to resume output, severely tightening the availability of the material worldwide, according to one source. Shipping in and out of the Gulf has also been se...