US, Iran to hold high-stakes talks in Pakistan

The United States and Iran are set to hold high-stakes talks in Islamabad on Saturday aimed at ending their six-week war.

But Tehran’s demands for commitments on Lebanon and sanctions relief have cast doubt over whether the negotiations will be successful.

A US delegation led by Vice President JD Vance, accompanied by envoy Steve Witkoff and adviser Jared Kushner, is en route to Pakistan. Iran’s team, headed by parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, arrived on Friday.

“We have good intentions but we do not trust,” Qalibaf said, according to Iranian state TV, upon his arrival in Pakistan’s capital.

Qalibaf said talks would not begin unless Washington unblocks Iranian assets and extends the ceasefire to Lebanon, where Israeli attacks on Iran-backed Hezbollah militants have killed nearly 2,000 people since the start of the war on February 28.

The United States and Israel say Lebanon is not covered by the ceasefire, a position Iran rejects.

US President Donald Trump struck a hard line ahead of the talks, saying Iran had “no cards” to play other than blocking the Strait of Hormuz, which Trump described as “a short-term extortion of the World by using International Waterways.”

“The only ‌reason they are alive today is to negotiate!” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform.

The negotiations come amid a fragile two-week ceasefire that has paused US and Israeli strikes on Iran but failed to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or halt Israeli attacks on Lebanon, while Hezbollah rocket fire continued.

Good morning!

The US and Iran will hold talks in Islamabad on Saturday that could bring an end to their six-week war, though Tehran has cast doubt by demanding commitments on Lebanon and sanctions first.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who has helped broker the negotiations, has described the talks as a “make-or-break moment.”

Here are the main developments from Friday:

• Trump said the Strait of Hormuz will ‘open fairly soon’
• Lebanese officials said Israeli strikes on Lebanon on Wednesday killed 357 people
• German Red Cross chief warned of a humanitarian disaster in Lebanon
• Lebanon, Israel to hold US-mediated talks next Tuesday, Beirut confirmed
• Israel ruled out a ceasefire with Hezbollah ahead of the Lebanon talks

Our Friday live blog has all these and more in-depth coverage of the Iran war.