Day 43 | US-Iran truce on edge as talks to begin in Pakistan on Saturday

US-Iran negotiations aimed at reaching a ceasefire agreement are expected to continue for several days, according to a Pakistani official cited by CNN.

The talks, held in Islamabad, bring together American envoys and Iranian representatives in an effort to reduce escalating regional tensions and establish a durable halt to hostilities.

Extended negotiations
The Pakistani official said the discussions will not conclude quickly, indicating that both sides are preparing for a prolonged diplomatic process.

The meetings are focused on securing a ceasefire framework and addressing broader security and political disputes driving the conflict.

China has denied claims that it plans to deliver new air defense systems to Iran within weeks, dismissing the reports as inaccurate.

According to CNN, a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington said Beijing has not supplied weapons to any party involved in the ongoing war.

The statement comes in response to circulating claims that China was preparing to boost Iran’s air defense capabilities, a move that could have escalated regional tensions.

Chinese officials stressed that such reports are unfounded, reiterating Beijing’s position of non-involvement in arming either side.

US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have arrived in Pakistan’s capital for talks with Iran, according to sources cited by Reuters, marking a renewed diplomatic push to de-escalate tensions in the region.

The delegation landed in Islamabad as part of a broader US effort to engage Iranian officials following weeks of conflict that have destabilized the Middle East and disrupted global energy flows.

The talks are expected to focus on maintaining a recently declared ceasefire and addressing key disputes, including sanctions and regional security concerns. Iranian officials have signaled that progress will depend on commitments related to Lebanon and the easing of economic restrictions.

Fire breaks out after ‘Israeli’ strikes hit electricity generators in the town of Jibchit in the southern governorate of Nabatieh.

Iran continues to possess thousands of ballistic missiles and retains the capacity to retrieve and reactivate launchers stored in underground facilities, according to a United States intelligence assessment reported recently by The Wall Street Journal.

The assessment indicates that, while more than half of Iran’s missile launchers have been destroyed, damaged, or trapped underground during recent US and ‘Israeli’ operations, many of the remaining systems can be repaired or excavated from hardened complexes.

Iran’s overall ballistic missile inventory has been reduced by approximately half, yet it still holds thousands of medium- and short-range missiles capable of deployment.

These findings emerge amid ongoing diplomatic efforts to secure a cease-fire that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz and halt further attacks on Iranian, American, and regional targets.

US officials are engaged in negotiations in Islamabad, Pakistan, where envoys are seeking to leverage military gains to address long-term threats from Tehran’s missile program.

Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth has described Iran’s missile capabilities as “functionally destroyed,” with launchers and stockpiles deemed “depleted and decimated.”

However, intelligence reports present a more nuanced view, highlighting Iran’s demonstrated resilience in reconstituting forces despite extensive aerial campaigns involving over 13,000 munitions.

‘Israeli’ officials corroborate that roughly two-thirds of Iran’s ballistic missile launchers were rendered inoperable, yet many trapped underground remain retrievable.

They also say Iran cannot currently manufacture more missiles, and the “rate at which Tehran may rebuild their program will depend on what kind of help they receive from Russia or China,” the report says

Prior to the conflict, Iran possessed an estimated 2,500 medium-range missiles; more than 1,000 are believed to survive, after accounting for those expended or destroyed.

Iran’s drone inventory has fallen below 50 percent of pre-war levels due to expenditures and targeted strikes on production sites, though the country could potentially acquire replacements from external suppliers such as Russia.

A limited stock of cruise missiles also persists, posing risks to maritime traffic and forward-deployed forces if hostilities resume.

Digital monitor Netblocks said Iran's internet blackout has lasted more than one thousand hours, in an X post on Sunday.

While Iran's domestic intranet remains operational -- supporting local messaging apps, banking platforms and other services -- access to the global internet has been severely restricted since early February.

US officials say that Iran remains unable to locate all the naval mines it deployed in the Strait of Hormuz last month, a situation that has hindered Tehran’s ability to restore full commercial shipping through the critical waterway, according to the New York Times.

The development follows a fragile ceasefire between the United States, ‘Israel’, and Iran, amid ongoing efforts to reopen the passage that carries approximately one-fifth of global crude oil and liquefied natural gas shipments.

The mines were laid by Iranian forces using small boats shortly after the onset of the US-‘Israeli’ military campaign against Iran in March 2026.

Combined with threats of drone and missile attacks, the operation sharply reduced maritime traffic, elevating global energy prices and providing Iran with significant strategic leverage during the conflict.

Iran has maintained a limited transit corridor, permitting certain vessels to pass upon payment of a toll, while the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has issued maritime warnings and published charts designating restricted zones to avoid potential mine hazards.

Nevertheless, commercial shipping volumes have remained minimal, with only a handful of Iran-linked ships transiting in recent days, leaving thousands of vessels stranded and disrupting international supply chains.

According to US assessments cited by the New York Times, the mines were emplaced in a haphazard manner, with incomplete records of their locations.

Some devices have drifted from their original positions, further complicating recovery efforts. Naval mine removal is inherently more demanding than deployment, and Iran lacks the rapid-response demining capabilities required to address the issue promptly, the report says.

Hezbollah said Saturday it attacked a “gathering” of the ‘Israeli’ military in a house in the southern Lebanese town of Shebaa using a suicide drone, adding it scored “direct hits”.

Hezbollah also said is targeted the northern ‘Israeli’ settlements of Kiryat Shmona, Metula, and Misgav Am with rockets

It also targeted Safed in northern ‘Israel’ with rockets, according to the group’s statements.

The Iranian negotiation delegation, which arrived in the Pakistani capital Islamabad to take part in the truce talks with the US, paid tribute to the victims of a strike on a school that took place on February 28, the first day of the ‘Israeli’-US war on Iran.

The delegation brought a collection of “items stained with the blood of Minab’s children,” who were killed in US-‘Israeli’ airstrikes, according to Mehr News Agency.

Iran’s Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Saturday morning that the United States “must accept” Iran’s rights, as a delegation from the Islamic Republic led by Ghalibaf arrives in Islamabad, Pakistan for truce talks with the US.

“Iran has come to the Islamabad talks with good intentions, but it does not trust America,” Ghalibaf said, in statements cited by Iran's news agency (IRNA).

“America has not kept its promises in the past in the talks,” he added.

The Iranian negotiating delegation is led by Ghalibaf, and he is accompanied by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, in addition to the defense council secretary, central bank governor, several members of parliament, and other senior political, military, and economic officials.

Lebanon's presidency said on Friday that a meeting would be held with ‘Israel’ in Washington next week to discuss a ceasefire in the ‘Israel’-Hezbollah war and the potential start of negotiations between the neighbours.

A presidency statement said that a first telephone call was held on Friday evening between the Lebanese and ‘Israeli’ ambassadors to Washington and the US ambassador to Lebanon, who was in the United States.

"During the call, it was agreed to hold the first meeting next Tuesday at the State Department to discuss declaring a ceasefire and the start date for negotiations between Lebanon and Israel under US auspices," the statement added.

The Christian Orthodox community in Gaza City marks Good Friday at the Church of St Porphyrius.

Thousands of Muslim worshippers perform the first Friday prayers after the reopening of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem which was closed since the Middle East war broke out.

Pakistan is set to host talks between Iran and the United States in a bid to turn a fragile two-week ceasefire into a lasting end to a war that has left thousands dead and roiled global energy markets.

Here are five things to know about the Islamabad talks:

The war behind the talks

On February 28, the United States and ‘Israel’ launched deadly coordinated strikes that killed supreme leader Ali Khamenei and struck Iran's military and nuclear infrastructure.

More than 3,000 people were killed in Iran in five weeks, according to Iranian media and US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).

Tehran responded by effectively closing the Strait of Hormuz, the Gulf waterway through which about a fifth of global oil and gas passes, sending energy prices soaring and disrupting trade worldwide.

On April 8, Washington and Tehran agreed to a two-week ceasefire brokered by Pakistan. The ceasefire is expected to expire April 22.

Pakistan's unlikely starring role

Pakistan's value as a mediator rests on an unusually broad diplomatic network.

Iran was the first country to recognise Pakistan's statehood following independence in 1947, with the two neighbours sharing a 900-kilometre (560-mile) border and deep historical, cultural and religious ties.

Pakistan is also home to more than 20 million Shia Muslims, the second-largest such population in the world after Iran.

Islamabad has cultivated strong ties with Washington, Riyadh and Beijing.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar visited Beijing at the end of March for talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who backed Islamabad's mediation efforts as "in keeping with the common interests of all parties".

Trump himself told AFP that China helped bring Iran to the negotiating table, an account backed by Pakistani officials.

"On ceasefire night, hopes were fading, but China stepped in and convinced Iran to agree to a preliminary ceasefire," a senior Pakistani official familiar with the negotiations told AFP on condition of anonymity.

What's on the table?

The gap between the two sides remains vast.

Washington's reported 15-point proposal centres on Iran's enriched uranium and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

Tehran has countered with a 10-point plan demanding control over the strait, a toll for vessels crossing the strait, an end to all regional military operations and the lifting of all sanctions.

Lebanon is also a major sticking point.

‘Israel’ has continued its strikes in the country targeting Hezbollah -- after the ceasefire came into force -- with ‘Israeli’ Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejecting Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's assertion that the truce included Lebanon.

US Vice President JD Vance appeared to take a softer tone, saying there may have been a "legitimate misunderstanding" from Iran that Lebanon would be included.

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian warned on X that ‘Israel's’ strikes on Lebanon rendered the negotiations "meaningless".

Iran has also long refused to concede to Washington's demands on its nuclear programme.

Iranian sources have also told Iranian media that Tehran won't attend the talks unless a ceasefire is in place in Lebanon.

Who are the negotiators?

Vance will lead the American team, joined by special envoy Steve Witkoff and presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner.

It marks the most senior US engagement with Iran since Secretary of State John Kerry negotiated the 2015 nuclear deal.

Witkoff held multiple rounds of Oman-mediated talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi before the war cut the process short.

Araghchi and Iranian parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, along with other security and economic officials, have arrived in Pakistan, Iranian state television and the Pakistani government confirmed.

Reporting their arrival, state broadcaster IRIB reiterated Tehran's position that talks will not begin unless its conditions are met, including a ceasefire in Lebanon.

Islamabad on lockdown

The talks are being held in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.

The government has kept its cards close to its chest, not confirming the venue, but the Serena Hotel -- located next to the foreign ministry in the capital's high-security Red Zone -- asked its guests to clear out on Wednesday.

Authorities in the capital announced a two-day public holiday on Thursday and Friday.

The streets of Islamabad are flooded with armed security personnel in military fatigues, traffic diversions are in place and police checkpoints are set up.

The talks are expected to be indirect: the two delegations sitting in separate rooms with Pakistani officials shuttling proposals between them, mirroring the format used in earlier Oman-mediated rounds.

Iran's delegation arrived in Pakistan on Friday for ceasefire negotiations with the United States as Tehran insisted on a truce in Lebanon and release of its blocked assets for the talks to go ahead.

Iranian state television said the delegation was led by parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and reiterated Iran's position that talks would only begin if Washington accepts its preconditions -- a Lebanon ceasefire and the unfreezing of Iran's assets.

US President Donald Trump vowed Friday to have the Strait of Hormuz open "with or without" Iran's cooperation, ahead of peace talks in Pakistan in which the key waterway will loom large.

"We're going to open up the gulf with or without them...or the strait as they call it. I think it's going to go pretty quickly, and if it doesn't, we’ll be able to finish it off," Trump told reporters as he left Washington for a domestic trip.

"We will have that open fairly soon."

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Read more: Day 42 | US-Iran truce on edge as talks set for Friday