Iran's foreign minister heading to Islamabad for indirect talks with US

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi was expected in the Pakistani capital Islamabad on Friday to discuss proposals for restarting peace talks with the United States, but was not due to meet US negotiators.

Islamabad was the venue for talks between the U.S. and Iran on ending their war that collapsed earlier this week.

Araqchi said in a statement on X he was embarking on visits to Pakistan, Oman and Russia to coordinate with partners on bilateral matters and consult on regional developments, adding that Iran's neighbours remained Tehran's priority.

Two Pakistani government sources aware of the discussions said Araqchi's visit would be a brief one to discuss Iran's proposals for talks with the U.S., which mediator Pakistan would then convey to Washington.

There was no direct response from Washington to Araqchi's trip, but U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, speaking around the same time the news emerged, told a briefing 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 only talks held so far, earlier this month.

Pakistani sources had said earlier that a U.S. logistics and security team was already in place in Islamabad for potential talks.

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 U.S. 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.

Hezbollah dismisses Lebanon ceasefire extension

On Thursday, Israel and Lebanon extended a separate ceasefire for three weeks at a meeting at the White House brokered by Trump.

The war in Lebanon, which Israel invaded last month to root out Iran's Hezbollah allies after the militant group fired across the border, has run in parallel with the wider Iran war, and Tehran says a ceasefire there is a precondition for talks.

There was little sign of an end to the fighting in the south of the country, however, as ⁠Lebanese authorities reported two people killed by an Israeli strike and Hezbollah downed an Israeli drone.

While the ceasefire that came into force on April 16 has led to a significant reduction in hostilities, Israel and Hezbollah have continued to trade blows in southern Lebanon, where Israel has kept soldiers in a self-declared "buffer zone".

Responding to the extension, Hezbollah lawmaker Ali Fayyad said, "it is essential to point out that the ceasefire is meaningless in light of Israel's insistence on hostile acts, including assassinations, shelling, and gunfire" and its demolition of villages and towns in the south.

Trump said on Thursday he was in no rush to reach an agreement with Iran 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 said one of its ships had ⁠crossed, without giving details.

Though Trump has said that U.S. forces have destroyed Iran's naval threat, the use of a swarm of small, fast boats to seize the container ships on Thursday underscored Tehran's evolving tactics in the strait as it counters U.S. interception of Iran-linked oil tankers and other vessels.

Pressure for a way out of the war has mounted on Trump, meanwhile, as his fellow Republicans defend narrow majorities in Congress in the November midterm elections with U.S. gasoline prices high, inflation rising and his own approval ratings down.