Pakistan’s foreign minister says Islamabad soon will host talks between the U.S. and Iran. Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar made the announcement Sunday. He did not specify whether the talks would be direct or indirect. There was no immediate word from the U.S. or Iran. Dar said the talks will happen in the “coming days.” He spoke in a televised speech after top diplomats from regional countries met in Islamabad. He said the foreign ministers of Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia endorsed Pakistan’s peace efforts. Pakistan has emerged as a mediator, having relatively good ties with both Washington and Tehran.
North Korea reports that Kim Jong Un watched a test of an upgraded solid-fuel engine for missiles that can reach the U.S. mainland. State media say the test boosts the country’s strategic strike capability. Experts say the claim may be exaggerated because key data is missing. Some say the program faces delays or seeks a better design. Solid-fuel engines help missiles move fast and hide before launch. North Korea has pushed hard to expand its nuclear arsenal since Kim’s high-stakes diplomacy with U.S. President Donald Trump collapsed in 2019.
Israel’s military says it intercepted a missile launched from Yemen toward Israel for the first time. The Houthis, a rebel group backed by Tehran that holds Yemen’s capital, did not immediately acknowledge launching the strike early Saturday. Attacks have appeared to intensify in the war in the Middle East including strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities and an Iranian missile attack that wounded U.S. service members and damaged planes at a base in Saudi Arabia. The Iranian ambassador to the United Nations on Friday said Tehran has agreed to “facilitate and expedite” humanitarian aid through the Strait of Hormuz. U.S. President Donald Trump has reiterated his desire for Saudi Arabia and Israel to normalize ties when the war ends.
Rubio pushes postwar plan for Strait of Hormuz after meeting G7 allies skeptical about Iran strategy
Deep divisions were apparent over the Iran war as top diplomats from the Group of Seven countries have met in France. But they agreed to call for an immediate halt to attacks against civilian populations and infrastructure after meeting Friday in France. The G7 meeting follows U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated complaints that allies have ignored or rejected requests for help confronting Iran’s retaliation, including the closure of the Strait of Hormuz to most international shipping. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio joined his G7 counterparts a day after Trump lobbed his latest round of insults at NATO countries.
Pakistan has emerged as an unexpected mediator, offering to help bring Washington and Tehran to the negotiating table as fears of a wider regional conflict escalate following U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran that began in late February. Islamabad isn’t often called on to act as an intermediary in high-stakes diplomacy, but it’s stepped into the role this time for a number of reasons, both because it has relatively good ties with both Washington and Tehran and because it has a lot at stake in seeing the war resolved. Pakistani government officials have said that their public peace effort follows weeks of quiet diplomacy and that Islamabad stands ready to host talks between U.S. and Iranian representatives.
President Donald Trump turned an otherwise serious Cabinet meeting into a long Sharpie story, arguing that it shows how he saves government money. He interrupted Thursday's talks on Iran, airport security lines, oil prices, and shaky markets to say the White House once used fancy pens that cost $1,000 each. Trump says he asked Sharpie for custom black markers with a gold White House logo that cost $5 each. The Sharpie monologue came after a number of his Cabinet secretaries offered sobering comments about missile strikes, Tehran’s uranium enrichment efforts and the troops that remain in harm’s way in the Middle East.
Trump says Iran is allowing some oil tankers through Strait of Hormuz as a sign of good faith for talks.
Iran dismissed an American plan to pause the war in the Middle East and launched more attacks on Israel and Gulf Arab countries. Iran’s defiance came as Israel launched airstrikes on Tehran on Wednesday and as the US deployed paratroopers and more Marines to the region. Two Pakistani officials familiar with the US ceasefire proposal said it addresses sanctions relief, a rollback of Iran's nuclear program and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for oil shipments that has been virtually shut since the war began late last month. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on state TV that his government has not engaged in talks to end the war, “and we do not plan on any negotiations.”
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel says that former President Raúl Castro is involved in talks between the island and the United States. The talks, which Diaz-Canel said are in the early stages, come at a time of increasing tensions between the two nations, with Cuba plagued by nationwide blackouts resulting from a crumbling power grid and an ongoing oil blockade implemented by U.S. President Donald Trump, who has threatened tariffs on any country that provides oil to Cuba. Trump recently said he’d have “the honor of taking Cuba” soon.
Denmark’s foreign minister and his centrist party are expected to decide who will lead the Scandinavian country’s next government after Tuesday’s parliamentary elections ended without a clear majority for any party or bloc. Center-left Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen could survive for a third term, despite a disappointing result. But she will need to negotiate a deal with the kingmaker, Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, if she is to lead a new coalition. The campaign focused on bread-and-butter issues rather than the crisis over U.S. President Donald Trump’s ambitions toward Greenland. The outgoing government resigned Wednesday.