Middle East Crisis live: JD Vance says US and Iran fail to reach a deal at peace talks in Islamabad | US-Israel war on Iran-Breaking News, Latest Updates

Middle East Crisis live: JD Vance says US and Iran fail to reach a deal at peace talks in Islamabad | US-Israel war on Iran

Based on recent updates, Middle East Crisis live: JD Vance says US and Iran fail to reach a deal at peace talks in Islamabad | US-Israel war on Iran.

This update shows key trends in current events.

No deal reached between US and Iran, JD Vance says

JD Vance is speaking now, and says “substantive discussions” have been ongoing with Iran for 21 hours.

“The bad news is that we have not reached an agreement,” he says.

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JD Vance is speaking now, and says “substantive discussions” have been ongoing with Iran for 21 hours.

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“The bad news is that we have not reached an agreement,” he says.

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JD Vance to give update on peace talks in Islamabad

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The US vice president is due to speak shortly, with his remarks to be streamed by the White House. Vance has led the American delegation at the talks, with the Iranian side led by parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf and Abbas Araghchi, the foreign minister.

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They have discussed with Pakistan how to advance the ceasefire already threatened by deep disagreements and Israel’s continued attacks against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, whose health ministry said the death toll has surpassed 2,000.

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    High-stakes negotiations between the US and Iran took place in Islamabad, with the talks lasting several hours and confirmed by the White House to be face to face. The meeting marked the highest-level direct engagement between Washington and Tehran in decades, aiming to secure a peace agreement to end the weeks-long war. The core US delegation is led by US vice-president JD Vance.

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    The strait of Hormuz remains among the main points of “serious disagreement” in talks between the US and Iran in Islamabad, Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported on Saturday. It added that consultations were continuing despite what it described as excessive US demands, while Iran insisted on preserving its military gains.

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    Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that Israel remains committed to keep fighting Iran, despite ongoing negotiations between the US and Iran. “Israel under my leadership will continue to fight Iran’s terror regime and its proxies,” Netanyahu wrote on social media. Israel is not present at the US-Iran talks in Islamabad.

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    Donald Trump told reporters outside of the White House that it makes “no difference” to him if a deal is reached with Iran, amid the ongoing peace talks in Pakistan. “Regardless of what happens, we win,” Trump said. “Whether we make a deal or not, makes no difference to me.”

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    The latest Israeli attacks on Lebanon have pushed the death toll to over 2,000 with more than 6,300 wounded, according to the Health Ministry. Earlier, the Iranian negotiators demanded a ceasefire in Lebanon, reparations and commitment to unblock frozen assets as part of a peace deal in a preliminary meeting with Pakistani mediators.

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    The US military says it “began setting conditions for clearing mines in the strait of Hormuz” in an update released on Saturday afternoon, saying two navy destroyers had transited the strait. A spokesperson for Iran’s joint military command later denied the claim by the US military that the navy destroyers transited the waterway.

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Historic talks between the US and Iran appeared to have concluded for now, Iran’s government said early on Sunday, following several hours of talks in Pakistan that are aimed at ending the weeks-long war between Washington and Tehran.

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Different Iranian media outlets, including Fars news agency and Tasnim news agency, are reporting that “serious disagreements” remain but at the suggestion of Pakistan, another round of talks will be held on Sunday morning.

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Donald Trump told reporters outside of the White House that it makes “no difference” to him if a deal is reached with Iran, amid ongoing peace talks in Pakistan.

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“Regardless of what happens, we win,” Trump said. “Whether we make a deal or not, makes no difference to me.”

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When asked about the prospect of unfreezing Iran’s assets, the president said: “We’ve defeated them militarily. They’ve dropped a couple of water mines … We’ve defeated all of their water boats, too.”

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“We’ve totally defeated that country and so let’s see what happens,” Trump added. “Maybe they make a deal, maybe they don’t, it doesn’t matter. From the standpoint of America, we win.”

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Trump acknowledged that the US is currently undergoing “very deep negotiations” with Iran, as vice-president JD Vance has been engaged in talks in Islamabad for several hours.

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Trump also issued a threat to China, telling reporters that the country will have “big problems” if it ships arms to Iran.

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in suit speaks outside to reporters”,”caption”:”Donald Trump speaks to the press as he departs from the White House in Washington, DC on 11 April.”,”credit”:”Photograph: Annabelle Gordon/Reuters”}}],”attributes”:{“pinned”:false,”keyEvent”:true,”summary”:false},”blockCreatedOn”:1775942481000,”blockCreatedOnDisplay”:”23.21 CEST”,”blockLastUpdated”:1775943408000,”blockLastUpdatedDisplay”:”23.36 CEST”,”blockFirstPublished”:1775943174000,”blockFirstPublishedDisplay”:”23.32 CEST”,”blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone”:”23.32″,”title”:”Trump says reaching a deal with Iran makes ‘no difference’ to him”,”contributors”:[],”primaryDateLine”:”Sun 12 Apr 2026 03.49 CEST”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First published on Sat 11 Apr 2026 04.39 CEST”},{“id”:”69dab76b8f08dd4830774769″,”elements”:[{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

The latest Israeli attacks on Lebanon have pushed the death toll to over 2,000 with more than 6,300 wounded, according to the health ministry.

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Mourners in Lebanon are burying 13 state security officers killed when Israeli airstrikes hit their office headquarters in the southern Lebanese town of Nabatiyeh. Funeral scenes similar to this one on Saturday have played out hundreds of times across the country in recent weeks, as Israel intensifies attacks against what it claims to be Hezbollah infrastructure and militants.

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Israel is not present at today’s negotiations in Islamabad as its military said yesterday it had bombed 200 Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, and Netanyahu said on Saturday that Israel remains committed to keep fighting Iran.

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Earlier, the Iranian negotiators demanded a ceasefire in Lebanon, reparations and commitment to unblock frozen assets as part of a peace deal in a preliminary meeting with Pakistani mediators, led by Pakistani prime minister Shehbaz Sharif.

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Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel remains committed to keep fighting Iran, despite ongoing negotiations between the US and Iran.

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“Israel under my leadership will continue to fight Iran’s terror regime and its proxies, unlike Erdogan who accommodates them and massacred his own Kurdish citizens,” Netanyahu wrote on social media.

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Israel is not present at the US-Iran talks in Islamabad.

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The White House has confirmed that the negotiations between the US and Iran currently under way in Islamabad are happening face to face.

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The meeting today marks the highest-level direct engagement between Washington and Tehran in decades. The core US delegation is led by Vice-President JD Vance, alongside special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, supported by senior advisers including Dr Andrew Baker and Michael Vance.

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This high-stakes diplomatic summit, facilitated by Pakistani prime minister Shehbaz Sharif and chief of army staff Asim Munir, aims to secure a peace agreement to end the weeks-long conflict.

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The White House also confirmed that a “full suite of US experts on relevant subject areas are present in Islamabad” and “additional experts are supporting from Washington.”

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In Lebanon, opinion was split over the government’s decision to negotiate directly with Israel, raising social tensions in the country already racked by a mass displacement crisis.

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A rally by Hezbollah supporters on Friday saw Hezbollah supporters march from the prime ministers’ office to Hamra in West Beirut. Shouting matches erupted between residents of Hamra, an area not typically supportive of Hezbollah, and protesters, with the latter chanting, “Shia, Shia,” – a reference to the majority Shia support base of the group.

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Hezbollah supporters staged another rally in front of the prime ministers’ office against negotiations on Saturday afternoon, with protesters waving Hezbollah flags and pictures of the late Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah. The Lebanese army deployed troops around the area, and warned that it would not tolerate any attempts to destabilise the country at “this sensitive moment”.

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Internal tensions in Lebanon had been on the rise since Israeli bombing over the last month displaced more than 1.2 million people across the country. Disagreements over Lebanon’s engagement with Israel threatened to further fracture the divided country.

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Residents of Lebanon were hopeful that Iran would make good on its promise to include Lebanon in its ceasefire with Israel and the US. Lebanese looked ahead to a meeting between Lebanon’s prime minister Nawaf Salam and US secretary of state Marco Rubio in Washington next week for potential progress on a ceasefire in Lebanon.

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Despite talk of a ceasefire, Israeli strikes and Hezbollah rocket fire continued. Israeli strikes on the southern towns of Kafr Sir, Zifta and Toul killed ten people overnight, while Hezbollah fired rockets at cities in Israel’s north. Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters continued to clash inside Lebanon, battling over the strategic city of Bint Jbeil.

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Al Jazeera, citing sources close to the mediation, has reported that the Iranian and US delegations are meeting face-to-face, with Pakistani mediators also present in the negotiating room.

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Reuters has also reported the same, citing a Pakistani source.

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The three-way talks are between US officials JD Vance, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Iran’s Mohammad Ghalibaf and Abbas Araghchi and Pakistan’s army chief Asim Munir.

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In previous US-Iran negotiations, including the indirect nuclear talks that took place in Oman in the days before the war began on 28 February, mediators would shuttle back and forth between the two disputing parties to relay proposals and other information.

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Donald Trump has claimed the US has begun clearing mines in the strait of Hormuz “as a favour to countries all over the world”.

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In a post on his Truth Social app, the US president said Iran’s minelaying ships “are also lying at the bottom of the sea”.

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While claiming all of the Iranian military’s air and naval capabilities have diminished and its missiles and drones “have been largely obliterated”, Trump added:

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\n

The only thing they have going is the threat that a ship may “bunk” into one of their sea mines which, by the way, all 28 of their mine dropper boats are also lying at the bottom of the sea. We’re now starting the process of clearing out the Strait of Hormuz as a favor to Countries all over the World, including China, Japan, South Korea, France, Germany, and many others. Incredibly, they don’t have the Courage or Will to do this work themselves.

\n

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He repeated an earlier comment that empty tankers “from many nations” are heading to the US for oil.

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Both CBS and Reuters are reporting that peace talks between the US and Iran have now begun.

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Iran’s Fars news agency is reporting the same thing.

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JD Vance, a vocal opponent of US wars in the Middle East, has gone quiet since the beginning of the current military campaign. He now faces off with Iranian negotiators who feel emboldened by their new control of the Hormuz strait and their resilience in the face of the largest US-Israeli onslaught in history. Vance’s presence at the talks as vice-president will make it the highest-level meeting since the Iranian revolution of 1979.

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His task is straightforward enough: to bridge the gap between a rhetorical ceasefire in serious peril and a more durable peace. But Vance will face a difficult choice in Islamabad: to either undersign considerable US concessions to Iran in order to hold the ceasefire and negotiate the opening of the strait of Hormuz – or effectively cut off negotiations, personally backing a return to war that is unpopular with the American public.

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The results could have a considerable impact on his expected run for the presidency in 2028, where his Maga credentials are already in question for failing to offer a more full-throated opposition to the war. Vance entered office calling for a more restrained foreign policy and an end to US forever wars in the Middle East – but the negotiations could drag him further into the largest US intervention in the region since the beginning of the Iraq war.

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Read more here:

“,”elementId”:”2f6e940f-95cb-4e88-9319-5cfbfbd1077a”},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.RichLinkBlockElement”,”prefix”:”Related: “,”text”:”JD Vance dispatched to negotiate Iran peace with few cards to play”,”elementId”:”ae2fbd09-ea8f-4fe9-b172-aa7e083ba110″,”role”:”thumbnail”,”url”:”https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/11/jd-vance-dispatched-to-negotiate-iran-peace-with-few-cards-to-play”}],”attributes”:{“pinned”:false,”keyEvent”:true,”summary”:false},”blockCreatedOn”:1775910477000,”blockCreatedOnDisplay”:”14.27 CEST”,”blockLastUpdated”:1775911107000,”blockLastUpdatedDisplay”:”14.38 CEST”,”blockFirstPublished”:1775911107000,”blockFirstPublishedDisplay”:”14.38 CEST”,”blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone”:”14.38″,”title”:”Analysis: Vance has few cards to play in peace talks”,”contributors”:[{“name”:”Andrew Roth”,”imageUrl”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2019/06/07/Andrew-Roth.jpg?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=cdbc60ad355fd8fcf3d98fbbbf89fa50″,”largeImageUrl”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2019/06/07/Andrew_Roth,_L.png?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=b43b83c4998787fd8c68631b800cb8f7″}],”primaryDateLine”:”Sun 12 Apr 2026 03.49 CEST”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First published on Sat 11 Apr 2026 04.39 CEST”},{“id”:”69da3ae58f08dd4830774407″,”elements”:[{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

Iran is unable to find the mines it laid in the strait of Hormuz and does not have the capacity to remove the explosives, preventing Iran from allowing more traffic through the waterway, the politics/iran-mines-strait.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share\”>New York Times reported, citing US officials.

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Iran laid mines in the strait of Hormuz last month after the US and Israel declared war against the country, dropping explosives throughout the waterway with small boats. The US was mostly unable to monitor the small boats which were mining the strait, leaving the country uncertain about the location and number of mines in the waterway.

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Maritime traffic through the strait ground almost to a standstill due to the mines, as well as Iranian drones and missiles that threatened to hit ships. A senior Revolutionary Guards official said on 2 March the country would set ships “ablaze” if they tried to traverse the strait.

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A small number of ships have continued to pass through after being given the go-ahead by Iran, which allowed vessels from friendly nations that paid tolls.

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US officials have said that Iran placed mines in the strait erratically, and may not have marked where it put all of them. Some mines also drifted or moved from their original location, US officials suggested.

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Read the full piece here:

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Donald Trump’s addiction to framing every event in the most apocalyptic terms is what allows conservative commentators such as Mark Levin to praise him as “a once-in-a-century president”.

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But Trump cannot play out his entire presidency on a reckless high wire without eventually falling off – potentially taking America with him into a steep decline into the unknown.

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Trump likes to portray Europe as being under civilisational threat from migration, but this week he threatened that a 7,000-year-old civilisation would “die … never to be brought back” if it did not comply with his demands.

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He swiftly discovered it was not a threat on which he could follow through, and had to be extricated from it in a rescue mission led by Pakistan and, ignominiously for him, China. He pulled back in a social media post issued just 88 minutes before the implied destruction of Iran.

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Not for the first time, Trump had disregarded Iran’s history of resilience. As the late Iranian essayist Bastani Parizi once wrote: “Sometimes the fate of this kingdom hangs by a hair, but that hair does not break.”

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Faced by Iran’s refusal to back down, symbolised by millions of Iranians volunteering to stand on the bridges of their homeland, a late-night White House scramble ensued to find a justification to bring his latest piece of brinkmanship to a semi-dignified end before his ghoulish deadline.

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Read on here:

“,”elementId”:”204eced7-e247-4205-93ca-55e8b3fe8e5a”},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.RichLinkBlockElement”,”prefix”:”Related: “,”text”:”Is Iran Trump’s Suez crisis, or just a passing thunderstorm?”,”elementId”:”61433194-59ac-4bfc-b2c9-1f743e3c578e”,”role”:”thumbnail”,”url”:”https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/11/iran-trump-suez-crisis-strait-of-hormuz”}],”attributes”:{“pinned”:false,”keyEvent”:true,”summary”:false},”blockCreatedOn”:1775908701000,”blockCreatedOnDisplay”:”13.58 CEST”,”blockLastUpdated”:1775908801000,”blockLastUpdatedDisplay”:”14.00 CEST”,”blockFirstPublished”:1775908801000,”blockFirstPublishedDisplay”:”14.00 CEST”,”blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone”:”14.00″,”title”:”Analysis: Is this Trump’s Suez crisis?”,”contributors”:[{“name”:”Patrick Wintour”,”imageUrl”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/static/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/contributor/2015/2/4/1423058508175/Patrick-Wintour.jpg?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=0214aa9c1e69866694a667e8b6f06d4f”,”largeImageUrl”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2017/10/09/Patrick-Wintour,-R.png?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=e0667fc9c61eae5efd46797b8b06c93c”}],”primaryDateLine”:”Sun 12 Apr 2026 03.49 CEST”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First published on Sat 11 Apr 2026 04.39 CEST”},{“id”:”69da352b8f08a86a0e563c1b”,”elements”:[{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

French president Emmanuel Macron said he met with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and discussed the importance of ensuring Lebanon is included in the US-Iran ceasefire.

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In a statement on X, Macron said:

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We first discussed the situation in the Middle East and Near East, calling for respect for the ceasefire and its implementation in Lebanon, respect for freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, and underscoring the need for a robust and lasting diplomatic solution.

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He added that the two leaders also discussed the war in Ukraine.

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Donald Trump has posted on his Truth Social app, saying a “massive” number of empty tankers are heading to the US to load up with oil and gas.

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He wrote:

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Massive numbers of completely empty oil tankers, some of the largest anywhere in the World, are heading, right now, to the United States to load up with the best and “sweetest” oil (and gas!) anywhere in the World. We have more oil than the next two largest oil economies combined – and higher quality. We are waiting for you. Quick turnaround!

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It is not entirely clear if this message is connected to Iran’s ongoing control, and effective closure, of the strait of Hormuz.

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US vice-president JD Vance is holding talks with Pakistani prime minister Shehbaz Sharif, the White House said.

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The US delegation also includes US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.

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The Iranian delegation led by parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and foreign minister Abbas Araghchi has met and held talks with the Pakistani prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported in a brief update.

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Sanctions, the strait of Hormuz, nuclear enrichment and Israel’s attacks on Lebanon are some of the key issues on the agenda in today’s Islamabad talks.

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    The US has demanded Iran to reopen the strait of Hormuz, the key shipping route that has been effectively shut since the start of the war on 28 February. Iran wants acknowledgment of its authority over the narrow waterway, and has suggested charging transit fees for ships seeking passage, a demand the US has rejected. Donald Trump, however, has floated the idea of a “joint venture” between the US and Iran to set tolls.

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    Iran, while claiming it is not seeking a nuclear weapon, wants recognition of its right to enrich uranium. The US has ruled this out and Trump has insisted “there will be no enrichment of uranium”. Iran’s nuclear programme has been at the centre of tensions between the two countries for decades, with the US imposing sanctions and other restrictive measures to end it.

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    Iran wants the ceasefire to include Lebanon, where the Israeli military’s attacks have killed more than 2,000 people since the start of the fighting on 2 March, according to Lebanese authorities. Israel claims the ceasefire does not cover its military operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon, and it continues to launch attacks in the country.

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    Iran has also demanded sanctions relief and a guarantee that the US will not attack Iran again, suggesting a permanent end to hostilities beyond the two-week ceasefire.

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For those of you just joining us, welcome to our live coverage of events in the Middle East with talks between Iranian and US officials scheduled to begin in Islamabad. Stay tuned here for all the updates – but first, a quick recap.

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  • \n

    The US delegation has touched down ahead of high-stakes talks with the United States on Saturday, joining Iran’s delegation which had arrived earlier. The US side is led by the vice-president, JD Vance, alongside the special envoy, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.

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    Iran’s delegation is headed by the powerful parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, reportedly accompanied by Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister; Ali Akbar Ahmadian, secretary of Iran’s defence council; Abdolnaser Hemmati, governor of Iran’s central bank; and several members of the Iranian parliament. Ghalibaf said earlier on Friday that two previously agreed measures – a ceasefire in Lebanon and the release of Iran’s blocked assets – “must be fulfilled before negotiations begin”. Israel and the US have denied that the ceasefire extends to Lebanon.

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    The planned talks come as Trump threatened fresh strikes if talks fail, adding that the Iranians “have no cards” and the only reason they are alive “is to negotiate”. Trump told the New York Post that the US is loading its warships with the “best weapons” in case talks with Tehran fail. “And if we don’t have a deal, we will be using them and we will be using them very effectively,” he said.

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    Meanwhile, Lebanon and Israel have agreed to meet in Washington on Tuesday to discuss a ceasefire and to set a date to begin talks. The conversation on Tuesday will be mediated by the US and take place at the state

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    Lebanon’s health ministry has updated the death toll from Israel’s most brutal strikes on the country in years on Wednesday to 357 killed. It brings the total killed in Lebanon since Israel renewed its offensive on 2 March to more than 1,953 people. The number of people wounded stands at 6,303, the health ministry added.

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    US intelligence reports that China is preparing to send new air defence systems to Iran over the new few weeks, CNN reports, citing anonymous sources. The US state department, White House and Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Reuters.

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A plane carrying the US envoys headed for talks with Iran has touched down in Pakistan’s Islamabad, sources told Reuters.

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The delegation is led by the US vice-president, JD Vance, and includes president Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and son-in-law, Jared Kushner. The Iranian delegation had already arrived earlier.

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About 100 members of an advance US team are already in the city, a Pakistani source told Reuters.

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The meeting is the first since the outbreak of the war more than a month ago. Both sides have claimed conditions before the onset of negotiations, with Iran demanding an end to Israeli strikes in Lebanon and the US concerned with nuclear weapons and the fate of transit through the strait of Hormuz.

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US intelligence indicates China is preparing to deliver new air defence systems to Iran within the next few weeks, CNN reports, citing three people familiar with recent intelligence assessments, according to Reuters.

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The network said Beijing could be routing shipments of shoulder-fired anti-air missiles known as MANPADs through third countries to mask their origin, citing unnamed sources. The US state department, the White House and the Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Reuters.

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President Trump and Pakistani officials have confirmed that China helped step in to push Iran to accept a tentative ceasefire. But while the Chinese government says it backs the ceasefire, it has not to date tried to claim any diplomatic credit as a security guarantor, with a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington merely saying “as a responsible major power, China will continue to play a constructive role and make efforts to de-escalate tensions”.

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Hello, and welcome to our live coverage of events in the Middle East with talks between Iranian and US officials scheduled to begin in Islamabad in just a matter of hours.

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Stay tuned here for all the updates. If you are just joining us, below is a quick recap of the latest news

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    Iran’s delegation has arrived in Islamabad ahead of high-stakes talks with the United States on Saturday, which the Pakistani prime minister described as “make or break” for achieving a permanent ceasefire. The delegation is headed by Iran’s powerful parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, and he is reportedly accompanied by Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, Ali Akbar Ahmadian, secretary of Iran’s defence council, Abdolnaser Hemmati, governor of Iran’s central bank, and several members of the Iranian parliament. Ghalibaf said earlier on Friday that two previously agreed measures – a ceasefire in Lebanon and the release of Iran’s blocked assets – “must be fulfilled before negotiations begin”.

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    US vice-president JD Vance, who is en route to Islamabad, said he was “looking forward to negotiations” and expected them to be positive – though he warned Iran not to “play” the US. He is leading the US delegation and will be accompanied by Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

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    The planned talks come as Trump threatened fresh strikes if talks fail, adding that the Iranians “have no cards” and the only reason they are alive “is to negotiate”. Trump told the New York Post that the US is loading its warships with the “best weapons” in case talks with Tehran fail. “And if we don’t have a deal, we will be using them and we will be using them very effectively,” he said.

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    Meanwhile, Lebanon and Israel have agreed to meet in Washington on Tuesday to discuss a ceasefire and to set a date to begin talks. The conversation on Tuesday will be mediated by the US and take place at the state department.

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    Lebanon’s health ministry has updated the death toll from Israel’s most brutal strikes on the country in years on Wednesday to 357 killed. It brings the total killed in Lebanon since Israel renewed its offensive on 2 March to more than 1,953 people. The number of people wounded stands at 6,303, the health ministry added.

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    Lebanon’s president, Joseph Aoun, said on Friday that 13 state security personnel were killed in an Israeli strike on a governmental building in the southern city of Nabatieh. In a statement, Aoun condemned continued Israeli attacks and said targeting state institutions would not deter Lebanon from defending its sovereignty.

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Key events

Vance is asked by a CNN reporter which of the US’s term’s Iran has not accepted.

Well, I won’t go into all the details because I don’t want to negotiate in public after we’ve negotiated for 21 hours in private.

But the simple fact is that we need to see an affirmative commitment that they will not seek a nuclear weapon, and they will not seek the tools that would enable them to quickly achieve a nuclear weapon.

That is the core goal of the President of the United States, and that’s what we’ve tried to achieve through these negotiations.

Again, their nuclear program, such as it is – the enrichment facilities that they had before – they’ve been destroyed.

But the simple question is, do we see a fundamental commitment of will for the Iranians not to develop a nuclear weapon, not just now, not just two years from now, but for the long-term?

We haven’t seen that yet. We hope that we will.

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More from JD Vance who says the US and Iran have not come to any deal:

We go back to the United States having not come to an agreement.

We’ve made very clear what our red lines are, what things we’re willing to accommodate them on and what things we’re not willing to accommodate them on.

And we’ve made clear as we possibly could.

And they have chosen not to accept our terms.

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No deal reached between US and Iran, JD Vance says

JD Vance is speaking now, and says “substantive discussions” have been ongoing with Iran for 21 hours.

“The bad news is that we have not reached an agreement,” he says.

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US-Iran talks hinge on refraining from ‘excessive demands’: Iran foreign ministry

The success of this weekend’s peace talks depends on Washington avoiding “excessive demands” and “unlawful requests,” the Iranian foreign ministry’s spokesperson said early today, reported by AFP.

“The success of this diplomatic process depends on the seriousness and good faith of the opposing side, refraining from excessive demands and unlawful requests, and the acceptance of Iran’s legitimate rights and interests,” Esmaeil Baqaei wrote on X.

He added that the two sides had discussed a range of issues including the strategic “Strait of Hormuz, the nuclear issue, war reparations, the lifting of sanctions, and the complete end of the war against Iran.”

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JD Vance to give update on peace talks in Islamabad

The US vice president is due to speak shortly, with his remarks to be streamed by the White House. Vance has led the American delegation at the talks, with the Iranian side led by parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf and Abbas Araghchi, the foreign minister.

They have discussed with Pakistan how to advance the ceasefire already threatened by deep disagreements and Israel’s continued attacks against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, whose health ministry said the death toll has surpassed 2,000.

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Two Pakistani officials have told Associated Press that discussions between the heads of the US and Iran delegations will resume following a break, after the historic face-to-face negotiations reportedly paused before dawn.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the press, said some technical personnel from both teams are still meeting – as the Iranian government said earlier.

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A Pakistani official has told the Agence France-Presse news agency that talks are “progressing in the right direction”.

“I can say that discussions are moving positively and the overall atmosphere is cordial,” they said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

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‘Mood swings from the two sides’ in first round of talks

In a post on X, Iran’s government said that after 14 hours, the talks had concluded and technical experts from both sides would exchange documents.

“Negotiations will continue despite some remaining differences,” the post added, though it did not say when they would restart. An Iranian state TV reporter said the talks would continue on Sunday, according to Reuters.

The Trump administration has not yet commented on whether the negotiations had concluded and what, if any, differences remain. Asked about the progress of the talks, a senior White House offical earlier told media: “15 hours and counting!”

“There were mood swings from the two sides and the temperature went up and down during the meeting,” a Pakistani source told Reuters in reference to the first round of talks.

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Summary of the day so far

  • High-stakes negotiations between the US and Iran took place in Islamabad, with the talks lasting several hours and confirmed by the White House to be face to face. The meeting marked the highest-level direct engagement between Washington and Tehran in decades, aiming to secure a peace agreement to end the weeks-long war. The core US delegation is led by US vice-president JD Vance.

  • The strait of Hormuz remains among the main points of “serious disagreement” in talks between the US and Iran in Islamabad, Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported on Saturday. It added that consultations were continuing despite what it described as excessive US demands, while Iran insisted on preserving its military gains.

  • Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that Israel remains committed to keep fighting Iran, despite ongoing negotiations between the US and Iran. “Israel under my leadership will continue to fight Iran’s terror regime and its proxies,” Netanyahu wrote on social media. Israel is not present at the US-Iran talks in Islamabad.

  • Donald Trump told reporters outside of the White House that it makes “no difference” to him if a deal is reached with Iran, amid the ongoing peace talks in Pakistan. “Regardless of what happens, we win,” Trump said. “Whether we make a deal or not, makes no difference to me.”

  • The latest Israeli attacks on Lebanon have pushed the death toll to over 2,000 with more than 6,300 wounded, according to the Health Ministry. Earlier, the Iranian negotiators demanded a ceasefire in Lebanon, reparations and commitment to unblock frozen assets as part of a peace deal in a preliminary meeting with Pakistani mediators.

  • The US military says it “began setting conditions for clearing mines in the strait of Hormuz” in an update released on Saturday afternoon, saying two navy destroyers had transited the strait. A spokesperson for Iran’s joint military command later denied the claim by the US military that the navy destroyers transited the waterway.

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US-Iran peace talks expected to continue later Sunday

Historic talks between the US and Iran appeared to have concluded for now, Iran’s government said early on Sunday, following several hours of talks in Pakistan that are aimed at ending the weeks-long war between Washington and Tehran.

Different Iranian media outlets, including Fars news agency and Tasnim news agency, are reporting that “serious disagreements” remain but at the suggestion of Pakistan, another round of talks will be held on Sunday morning.

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Qatar has announced the full resumption of all maritime navigation activities beginning on Sunday. The Ministry of Transport confirmed that “all categories of marine vessels and transport modes” will be permitted to operate between the hours of 6am and 6pm.

In an official statement, the ministry emphasized that all maritime operators must strictly adhere to safety protocols, including the continuous operation of tracking and communication systems.

It was not immediately clear whether the announcement meant that Qatari vessels would be allowed to transit the strait of Hormuz, which remained effectively closed as of Saturday.

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Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has warned that any attempt by military vessels to transit the strait of Hormuz would be met with “a strong response”, saying only non-military vessels would be allowed to pass under specific regulations, the IRGC said in a statement carried by Iranian media.

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It is now in the early hours of Sunday morning in Islamabad, around 3am local time, and negotiations are still reportedly ongoing.

A US delegation led by JD Vance and an Iranian delegation led by parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf first met with Pakistani prime minister Shehbaz Sharif before rounds of direct talks Saturday.

The meeting marks the highest-level direct engagement between Washington and Tehran in decades, aiming to secure a peace agreement to end the weeks-long war that has caused thousands of deaths and disrupted the global economy, particularly through Iran’s closure of the strait.

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Key takeaway

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