Middle East crisis live: US envoy and Trump’s son-in-law to travel to Pakistan amid hopes for renewed Iran peace talks

Iran requested an in-person meeting with the US government, according to reporting from Fox News, as US officials prepare a trip to Pakistan.

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On Saturday morning, special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner will be traveling to Pakistan for talks with the Iran’s foreign minister, the White House confirmed.

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The two will be heading to Islamabad, where Pakistan will be mediating talks with Iran.

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“Everyone will be on standby to fly to Pakistan if necessary, but first, Steve and Jared will be going over there to report back to the president, the vice president and the rest of the team,” Leavitt said on the Fox News show “America Reports.”

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The Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araqchi is expected in Islamabad on Friday to discuss proposals for restarting peace talks with the US.

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The White House also said that they have “seen progress” from the Iranian side of the negotiations in recent days.

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Here’s a snapshot of the latest Middle East news to bring you up to speed.

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  US defence secretary Pete Hegseth says transit is occurring in the strait of Hormuz, but limited and with risk. He says this is Iran’s fault for threatening vessels, including cruise ships.

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  Iran’s foreign minister set to travel to Pakistan, raising hope for renewed talks to end war. Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araqchi will begin a trip on Friday that includes visits to Islamabad, Muscat and Moscow, Iranian state media said.

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  Donald Trump has announced that a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon would be extended by three weeks. Trump, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office alongside the participants in the meeting, said he hoped the two countries’ leaders would meet during the additional three-week cessation of hostilities.

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  A leaked Pentagon internal email proposes that the US should reassess its support for Britain’s claim to the Falkland Islands because the UK did not do enough to assist the American bombing of Iran. The UK responded by saying that sovereignty of the Falkland Islands remains with the UK.

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  In the same leaked email, the US outlined other “retaliatory measures” it felt was suitable due to what it deemed a lack of support from Nato – including suspending Spain from the alliance. It is not clear there is any mechanism to suspend countries from Nato.

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  Human Rights Watch has called on Lebanon to join the international criminal court, after Israeli forces killed Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil and wounded her colleague Zainab Faraj in an airstrike earlier this week.

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Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araqchi will begin a trip on Friday that includes visits to Islamabad, Muscat and Moscow, Iranian state media said.

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“The purpose of this visit is to hold bilateral consultations, and discuss current developments in the region, as well as the latest situation in the war imposed by the United States and the Israeli regime against Iran,” the state news agency IRNA said.

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US defense secretary Pete Hegseth opens the press conference in much the same style as his previous ones: by trumpeting America’s military success in Iran and saying Iran has an opportunity to strike a “good deal”.

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He says the blockade in the strait of Hormuz is “growing” and has “gone global”, referring to the seizure of two Iranian dark fleet vessels.

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“We are in control; nothing in, nothing out,” he says. He adds that 34 ships have been turned away from the strait so far.

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Hegseth is now repeating the exact same lines from previous press conferences, speaking about the Iranian navy “sitting at the bottom of the sea” and praising president Donald Trump’s “fortitude”.

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At 8am ET (1pm BST), US defense secretary Pete Hegseth and chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine will be hosting a press conference on Operation Epic Fury.

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You can watch below. We will be reporting live as this happens.

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A leaked Pentagon internal email proposes that the US should reassess its support for Britain’s claim to the Falkland Islands because the UK did not do enough to assist the American bombing of Iran.

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It argues that the US could review a policy of endorsing European claims to longstanding “imperial possessions,” and highlighted sovereignty over the Falklands, subject of the 1982 war between Britain and Argentina.

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The memo, reported on by Reuters, was drawn up in response to White House frustration that other members of Nato did not provide sufficient support for the US-led 38 day bombing campaign against Tehran.

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It also argued that Spain should be suspended from Nato for refusing to allow US war planes to be based in or fly over the country during Operation Epic Fury, though it is not clear if there are mechanisms for doing so.

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When asked to comment on the email, Kingsley Wilson, press secretary for the US department of war, said: “As President Trump has said, despite everything that the United States has done for our Nato allies, they were not there for us.

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“The War Department will ensure that the President has credible options to ensure that our allies are no longer a paper tiger and instead do their part. We have no further comment on any internal deliberations to that effect.”

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Though the Falkslands proposal looks vague and there is no immediate sign of it being adopted, the reference to the islands appears deliberately designed to provoke a reaction in the UK, where memories of the 1982 war linger.

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Keir Starmer, the UK prime minister, largely kept the UK out of Iran war, though unlike other European countries, did allow the US to fly B-1 and B-52 bombers from RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire to strike Iranian targets, including missile launchers and anything used to target shipping in the strait of Hormuz.

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Donald Trump, however, repeatedly complained about the lack of military support provided by the UK complaining that Britain only wanted to help in protecting the strait after the war was over, that the Royal Navy’s aircraft carriers were ‘toys’ and compared Starmer to Neville Chamberlain.

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Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has played down reports that the Pentagon is considering punishing Nato allies deemed insufficiently supportive of the US offensive against Iran by suspending them from the alliance.

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A US official told Reuters that an internal memo was circulating at the highest levels of the Pentagon that outlined retaliatory options, including suspending Spain from the alliance and reviewing the US position on the UK’s claim to the Falkland Islands. It is not clear there is any mechanism to suspend countries from Nato.

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The official said the policy options were set out in an email that expressed frustration over some allies’ perceived reluctance or refusal to grant the US access, basing and overflight rights – known as ABO – for its strikes on Iran.

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The email described ABO is “just the absolute baseline for Nato”, and said that options included suspending “difficult” countries from important or prestigious positions within the alliance.

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Sánchez – who has been the most vociferous European critic of the US and Israel’s war in Iran – has also angered Donald Trump by refusing the US permission to use jointly operated bases in southern Spain to attack Iran. Trump responded by threatening to cut off al trade with Spain.

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prime minister Pedro Sánchez.”,”caption”:”Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez.”,”credit”:”Photograph: George Christoforou/EPA”}},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

The socialist prime minister previously riled Trump last year by rejecting Nato’s proposal for member states to increase their defence spending to 5% of their GDP, saying the idea would “not only be unreasonable but also counterproductive”.

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The UK, meanwhile, gave permission for the US to use British military bases for strikes on Iran, but only if those strikes were defensive – such as attacks on Iranian missiles sites.

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Speaking in Cyprus on Friday morning, where he was attending a meeting of EU leaders to discuss topics including Nato’s mutual assistance clause, Sánchez stressed that Spain was a “loyal” Nato member and one that complied with its responsibilities.

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“We don’t work on the basis of emails; we work with official documents and statements made by the US government,” he added. “The Spanish government’s position is clear: absolute cooperation with allies, but always within the framework of international law.”

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But Sánchez also went on to renew his criticisms of the US war in Iran.

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“The crisis that this illegal war has brought to the Middle East shows the failure of brute force – and has prompted demands for international law to be respected and for the multilateral order to be safeguarded and reinforced,” he said.

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Asked by Reuters about the memo, the Pentagon press secretary, Kingsley Wilson, said: “As President Trump has said, despite everything that the United States has done for our Nato allies, they were not there for us. The War Department will ensure that the president has credible options to ensure that our allies are no longer a paper tiger and instead do their part. We have no further comment on any internal deliberations to that effect.”

“,”elementId”:”fe779218-a3a1-4753-8ecf-5941ed9fb284″}],”attributes”:{“pinned”:false,”keyEvent”:true,”summary”:false},”blockCreatedOn”:1777022530000,”blockCreatedOnDisplay”:”05.22 EDT”,”blockLastUpdated”:1777027577000,”blockLastUpdatedDisplay”:”06.46 EDT”,”blockFirstPublished”:1777022683000,”blockFirstPublishedDisplay”:”05.24 EDT”,”blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone”:”05.24″,”title”:”Spain plays down reports of Pentagon Nato punishments”,”contributors”:[{“name”:”Sam Jones”,”imageUrl”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2025/12/31/Sam_Jones.jpg?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=5e4788db06894e248b8828ace4d754cb”,”largeImageUrl”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2025/12/31/Sam_Jones.png?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=b534a363f4a88437818fd12f3aa0a58e”}],”primaryDateLine”:”Fri 24 Apr 2026 16.55 EDT”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First published on Fri 24 Apr 2026 00.42 EDT”},{“id”:”69eb067e8f0881eff50e74c0″,”elements”:[{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

Here’s a snapshot of the latest Middle East news to bring you up to speed.

“,”elementId”:”90b250c5-8509-48dc-92b8-64bbe9a50d25″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

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  Donald Trump has announced that a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon would be extended by three weeks. Trump, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office alongside the participants in the meeting, said he hoped the two countries’ leaders would meet during the additional three-week cessation of hostilities.

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  When he was asked how long he was willing to wait for a long-term peace deal with Iran, he replied: “Don’t rush me”.

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  The US president had earlier ordered the US navy to “shoot and kill” small Iranian boats that deploy mines in the strait of Hormuz and claimed that US minesweepers “are clearing the strait right now” amid the standoff over the key waterway. US special forces earlier boarded a stateless oil tanker in the Indian Ocean which the Pentagon claimed was carrying Iranian crude oil, ratcheting up the standoff with Tehran over the strait.

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  Trump said the US had “hit about 75% of our targets” in Iran and that a deal had not yet been reached because Iran’s leadership was “in turmoil”.

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  Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said there were no “hardliners” or “moderates” in Iran, responding to the Trump claim of internal division in Iran’s leadership. Separately, Iran’s foreign minister, Seyed Abbas Araghchi, said Iranian state institutions “continue to act with unity, purpose and discipline”.

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  The US offered up to $10m for information on the leader of a Tehran-backed Shia militia in Iraq. The US state department’s “rewards for justice” program said Hashim Finyan Rahim al-Saraji was leader of the Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada and called it a terrorist group.

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  Israel’s killing of Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil, 43, in a strike has been met with international outrage as Lebanon’s prime minister described the attack as a “war crime”. Colleagues called it a sustained attack by Israeli forces and said rescuers attempting to dig her out of the rubble of a building were also targeted and prevented from providing life-saving assistance.

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  US journalist Shelly Kittleson, who was freed a week after being kidnapped in Baghdad late last month, has taken to social media to thank people for helping secure her release by the Iran-backed Iraqi militia Kataib Hezbollah. “Thank you all so very, very much,” she said.

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  Italian sports officials say Italy is not interested in replacing Iran at the upcoming World Cup after a suggestion to that effect by a Trump administration official.

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  Pope Leo urged the US and Iran to return to talks to end the war and condemned capital punishment, calling for a new “culture of peace” to replace the recourse to violence.

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Donald Trump has claimed that the infighting between moderates and hardliners in Iran’s leadership is so intense that Iranians have “no idea who their leader is”, but many experts questioned his analysis, saying – given the mass assassinations of senior commanders – the country had shown remarkable institutional cohesion.

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Trump’s allegations of “CRAZY” splits in the Iranian leadership – the second outing for this argument in three days – is remarkable since he has previously said either he has little knowledge of the new Iranian leadership or that there has already been regime change.

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Trump’s team, either through Pakistani mediators or more direct contacts, may be picking up that different factions are demanding different preconditions for the talks to restart. Trump at a minimum is implying that military hardliners have taken charge from the civilian diplomatic leadership.

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It is hardly a secret that Iran has been riven for decades over how to approach the US and the wisdom of negotiations, but some Iranian academics and observers are accusing Trump of cognitive warfare: attempting to create what Mohamed Amersi, a member of the Global Advisory Council at the Wilson Centre, described as “chronic systemic paralysis in which the country’s decision-making machine becomes deadlocked”.

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Read the full analysis here:

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The US has offered up to $10m for information on the leader of a Tehran-backed Shia militia in Iraq.

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The US state department’s “rewards for justice” program alleged Hashim Finyan Rahim al-Saraji was the leader of the Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada (KSS) and called it a terrorist group.

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The notice – posted on X – said:

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KSS members have killed Iraqi civilians and attacked U.S. diplomatic facilities in Iraq, as well as attacking U.S. military bases and personnel in Iraq and Syria.”

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As the Guardian’s Jason Burke has reported, Israel and the US have targeted Iran’s network of militant groups around the Middle East in response to their intensified attacks on Israel, the US and allies over the war against Iran. Iraq has emerged as a key front in this new and often clandestine confrontation.

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The militias are recruited among Iraq’s majority Shia community and follow orders from senior officers of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

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Asian stocks were mostly lower and oil prices extended their gains on Friday as talks on ending the war against Iran remained stalled.

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US futures edged lower after Wall Street pulled back from its all-time highs.

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Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.6%, led by heavy buying of technology stocks. On Thursday, it hit a record intraday high.

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Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.8% while the Shanghai Composite index fell 0.5%.

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South Korea’s Kospi shed 0.4%, and in Australia the S+P/ASX 200 dropped 0.6%, the Associated Press reports.

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Taiwan’s Taiex jumped 2.5% as chipmaker TSMC – which makes up a key part of the index – gained more than 4%.

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The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil to be delivered in June rose 3.1% on Thursday to settle at $105.07, and at one point topped $107. The price for a barrel of Brent to be delivered in July, which is the more popular contract for traders, settled at $99.35 after rising as high as $101.

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Early on Friday Brent crude was up 0.4% at $99.70 a barrel, while US benchmark crude was up 0.6% to $96.62 a barrel.

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Hello and welcome to our live coverage of events in the Middle East.

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Donald Trump has ordered the US military to “shoot and kill” small Iranian boats that deploy mines in the strait of Hormuz and claimed that US minesweepers “are clearing the strait right now” amid the standoff over the key waterway.

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Trump made the boats announcement in a social media post on Thursday after US special forces boarded a stateless oil tanker in the Indian Ocean which the Pentagon claimed was carrying Iranian crude oil, ratcheting up the standoff with Tehran over the Hormuz strait.

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The US president also announced that a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon would be extended by three weeks.

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Trump, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office alongside the participants in the meeting, said he hoped the two countries’ leaders would meet during the additional three-week cessation of hostilities.

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He also told reporters that Iran might have loaded up their weaponry “a little bit” during the two-week ceasefire. He said that the US military could “knock that out” in about one day.

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When he was asked how long he was willing to wait for a long-term peace deal with Iran, he replied: “Don’t rush me”.

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The Lebanese ambassador to the US, Nada Moawad, who went into the meeting seeking an extension of the truce, thanked Trump for hosting the talks, saing: “I think with your help, with your support, we can make Lebanon great again.”

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In other developments:

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  Trump said the US had “hit about 75% of our targets” in Iran and that a deal had not yet been reached because Iran was “in turmoil”. Trump added to reporters in the Oval Office that he would not use a nuclear weapon against Iran as the conflict continues without a clear end in sight.

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  Trump also said the US had “total control over the strait of Hormuz” – a claim that has drawn scepticism in the face of Iran’s seizure of two container ships and a US report warning it could take six months to clear the strait of mines.

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  Israel’s killing of a Lebanese journalist in a strike has been met with international outrage as Lebanon’s prime minister described the attack as a “war crime”. Amal Khalil, 43, was killed in what colleagues described as a sustained attack by Israeli forces, with rescuers attempting to dig her out of the rubble of a building also targeted and prevented from providing life-saving assistance.

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carry the coffin of Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil during her funeral procession in the village of Baisariyah, southern Lebanon, on Thursday”,”caption”:”Mourners carry the coffin of Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil during her funeral procession in the village of Baisariyah, southern Lebanon, on Thursday. “,”credit”:”Photograph: Wael Hamzeh/EPA”}},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

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  Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said there were no “hardliners” or “moderates” in Iran, responding a Trump claim there was internal division in Iran’s leadership. Separately, Iran’s foreign minister, Seyed Abbas Araghchi, said Iranian state institutions “continue to act with unity, purpose and discipline”.

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  Italian sports officials say Italy is not interested in replacing Iran at the upcoming World Cup after a suggestion to that effect by a Trump administration official. Sports minister Andrea Abodi said “it’s not a good idea” while finance minister Giancarlo Giorgetti called the suggestion “shameful”. The US said it had no objections to Iranian players participating in the Cup but they would not be allowed to bring along people with ties to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.

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  Pope Leo XIV urged the US and Iran to return to talks to end the war and condemned capital punishment, calling for a new “culture of peace” to replace the recourse to violence.

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  It remained unclear if the US and Iran would hold another round of talks in Pakistan amid efforts from mediators there towards a peace deal.

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Iraq’s prime minister ordered an investigation into two drones that were launched from the country and attacked two Kuwaiti northern border posts on Friday.

The drones caused some damage. There were no casualties.

Iraq’s interior minister condemned the attack in a call with his Kuwaiti counterpart.

Shah Meer Baloch

Iran has made no request for talks with the Americans and has so far completely rejected US requests for negotiations due to their excessive demands, Iran’s state media Tasnim News reported, rejecting the White House press secretary earlier remarks about Tehran’s request for talks.

Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani has been discussing the US-Iran ceasefire agreement in a phone call with Donald Trump, the Qatari state news agency reported.

Al Thani added Qatar would continue coordinating with partners to support mediation efforts led by Pakistan.

Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov and his counterpart from the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, called for the resumption of talks to secure a rapid, sustainable agreement to the Middle East crisis, the Russian foreign ministry said.

A statement said the ministers, in a telephone call, “expressed their shared view on the need to resume negotiations in order to promptly reach agreements on a long-term, sustainable resolution of the crisis, taking into account the legitimate interests of all countries in the region”.

The US government imposed new sanctions on Iranian cryptocurrency wallets, according to US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. According to the secretary, around $344 million in cryptocurrency was frozen.

US president Donald Trump told Reuters that Iran plans to make an offer aimed at satisfying U.S. demands, as talks were expected to resume in Pakistan.

“They’re making an offer and we’ll have to see,” Trump said during a phone interview.

Trump said he did not know what the offer would be yet.

When asked who the US was negotiating with, Trump said: “I don’t want to say that, but we’re dealing with the people that are in charge now.”

Trump plans to send special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to talks with Araqchi in Islamabad, and the pair will depart on Saturday morning, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Friday.

The Iranian delegation that will be engaging in talks with the US government this weekend arrived in Pakistan, Reuters reports.

Special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner will be meeting with the Iranian government representatives on Saturday.

The Strait of Hormuz’s closure is leading to a worsening crisis of food insecurity and malnutrition in countries that are already struggling, a representative from the World Food Programme told CNN today.

“It’s becoming like a crisis within a crisis. The markets are being inflated, the prices are affected and that will continue to send shockwaves across the globe,” said Samer AbdelJaber, the World Food Programme’s regional director for the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe.

AbdelJaber estimates 45 million people will be food-insecure if the crisis continues.

His comments come as a coalition of countries released a report on Friday, warning that food insecurity and malnutrition levels remain extremely high. The crises are concentrated in ten countries, the report from the Global Network Against Food Crises said.

The ten countries recognized in the report are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan, South Sudan, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic and Yemen.

Witkoff and Kushner headed to Pakistan for Iran talks, White House says

Iran requested an in-person meeting with the US government, according to reporting from Fox News, as US officials prepare a trip to Pakistan.

On Saturday morning, special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner will be traveling to Pakistan for talks with the Iran’s foreign minister, the White House confirmed.

The two will be heading to Islamabad, where Pakistan will be mediating talks with Iran.

“Everyone will be on standby to fly to Pakistan if necessary, but first, Steve and Jared will be going over there to report back to the president, the vice president and the rest of the team,” Leavitt said on the Fox News show “America Reports.”

The Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araqchi is expected in Islamabad on Friday to discuss proposals for restarting peace talks with the US.

The White House also said that they have “seen progress” from the Iranian side of the negotiations in recent days.

The Israeli military said its forces killed six Hezbollah fighters in a southern Lebanese town on Friday during a clash that included a firefight.

According to the military, troops identified six militants operating in the town of Bint Jbeil, an area that saw heavy fighting before a ceasefire was declared last week.

“Following the identification, an exchange of fire began between the terrorists and the soldiers, during which the soldiers eliminated two terrorists,” the military said.

“Subsequently, the soldiers struck the structure from which the terrorists had been operating. In the strike, the four remaining terrorists were eliminated.”

US president Donald Trump is sending special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Pakistan for talks with the Iran’s foreign minister, CNN reported on Friday, citing two administration officials familiar with the matter.

Vice-president JD Vance is not currently planning to attend but he will be on standby to travel to Islamabad if negotiations progress, CNN said.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hezbollah on Friday of trying to “sabotage” efforts to reach a peace agreement with Lebanon.

“We have started a process to reach a historic peace between Israel and Lebanon, and it’s clear to us that Hezbollah is trying to sabotage this,” he said in his first remarks after a ceasefire with Lebanon was extended.

The comments came as the Israeli military said it struck Hezbollah targets in a south Lebanon village in response to a “ceasefire violation”, after earlier warning residents to evacuate the community.

“A short while ago, the IDF struck military structures in the area of Deir Aames, from which rockets were launched toward the town of Shtula in Israel yesterday,” it said.

“The structures that were targeted were used by the Hezbollah terrorist organisation to advance terrorist activities against IDF soldiers and the State of Israel,” it added.

Jennifer Rankin

EU leaders have distanced themselves from a call by the German chancellor Friedrich Merz for the bloc to ease sanctions on Iran as part of a ceasefire deal.

Merz indicated that the EU was willing to gradually ease sanctions on Iran if a comprehensive agreement was reached.

“The easing of sanctions can be part of a process,” Merz said following talks with EU leaders in Cyprus. As Reuters reported, he said: “It is, so to speak, part of the contribution we can make to advance this process and, hopefully, lead to a lasting ceasefire.”

But the heads of the EU institutions said such a move was premature. The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, told reporters that sanctions relief “should be conditional on verification of de-escalation” but also “a change to the repression of [Iran’s] own people”.

She said:

That was the reason why we adopted the sanctions regime in the first place, the behaviour of the regime. We should not forget 17,000 young people have been killed in the first month of this year. So the reason for that has to be ended before we can speak about lifting sanctions.

The difference in tone was striking as von der Leyen, like Merz, is a German Christian Democrat, although she does not represent her country in the commission. Other groups outside Iran have estimated that up to 33,000 or more people were killed in the recent crackdown by the regime, before the US-Israeli airstrikes.

The EU currently has 263 senior Iranians and 53 organisations on its blacklist, including the Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the morality police, news agencies and prisons. It also imposes a ban on the sale of equipment or finance that could be used by Iranian authorities to repress their people.

The EU also implements wide-ranging UN economic and financial sanctions on Iran intended to curb the regime’s nuclear programme. The European Council president António Costa said it was “too early” to speak about lifting sanctions, adding that “we don’t have a good experience with Iran”. He said the Iranian regime had failed to persuade the international community they would not develop a nuclear weapon, adding:

And we cannot ignore the nature of the regime, the violence of the regime against their people and the thousands of people they killed very recently.

The immediate reopening of the strait of Hormuz without restrictions is “vital” for the world, European Council president Antonio Costa said Friday, after talks with regional leaders including from Lebanon and Syria.

“The strait of Hormuz must immediately reopen without restrictions and without tolling, in full respect of international law and the principle of freedom of navigation. This is vital for the entire world,” Costa told a news conference in Cyprus.

Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araqchi will hold bilateral talks during a brief visit to Pakistan on Friday, two Pakistani sources aware of the talks told Reuters.

Araqchi will discuss his side of the proposal for talks with the United States over the Iran war, which will then be conveyed to Washington, the sources said.

Indonesia once again strongly condemned an Israeli attack in Lebanon that resulted in the death of a fourth Indonesian peacekeeper, the foreign ministry said on Friday.

The peacekeeper sustained severe injuries due to an artillery explosion from an Israeli tank on 29 March and the ministry announced on Friday that he has passed away. Three other Indonesian peacekeepers had also died due to the attack.

Indonesia urged the UN to conduct a thorough, transparent and accountable investigation into the deaths of its Unifil peacekeepers.

Interim summary

Here’s a snapshot of the latest Middle East news to bring you up to speed.

• US defence secretary Pete Hegseth says transit is occurring in the strait of Hormuz, but limited and with risk. He says this is Iran’s fault for threatening vessels, including cruise ships.

• Iran’s foreign minister set to travel to Pakistan, raising hope for renewed talks to end war. Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araqchi will begin a trip on Friday that includes visits to Islamabad, Muscat and Moscow, Iranian state media said.

• Donald Trump has announced that a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon would be extended by three weeks. Trump, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office alongside the participants in the meeting, said he hoped the two countries’ leaders would meet during the additional three-week cessation of hostilities.

• A leaked Pentagon internal email proposes that the US should reassess its support for Britain’s claim to the Falkland Islands because the UK did not do enough to assist the American bombing of Iran. The UK responded by saying that sovereignty of the Falkland Islands remains with the UK.

• In the same leaked email, the US outlined other “retaliatory measures” it felt was suitable due to what it deemed a lack of support from Nato – including suspending Spain from the alliance. It is not clear there is any mechanism to suspend countries from Nato.

• Human Rights Watch has called on Lebanon to join the international criminal court, after Israeli forces killed Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil and wounded her colleague Zainab Faraj in an airstrike earlier this week.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday that he had received successful treatment for early-stage prostate cancer, without specifying when the treatment took place.

After the publication of his annual medical report, he said he is “in excellent physical condition” after successful surgery for an enlarged benign prostate.

In his social media post, he said he chose to undergo treatment because “when I’m given information in time about a potential danger, I want to address it immediately”.

Treatment had “removed the problem and left no trace of it”, he added. Netanyahu said that he had delayed the release of the medical report by two months to prevent Iran from spreading “false propaganda against Israel“. In March, during the fighting with Iran, rumours that circulated on social media and aired on Iranian state media claimed that Netanyahu had died.