Vance heads to Pakistan for peace talks as U.S. inflation soars

MS Now – Vance heads to Pakistan for peace talks as U.S. inflation soars

Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs says the Iranian delegation, including Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, have arrived in Islamabad.

In a statement posted to X, the Pakistani officials said they “expressed the hope that parties would engage constructively, and reiterated Pakistan’s desire to continue facilitating the parties toward reaching lasting and durable solution to the conflict.”

Ahead of peace talks in Islamabad, Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf posted a photo of himself on an aircraft viewing images of the young victims from the school strike in Minab.

The image, shared on X, included a hashtag referencing the 168 people killed in the attack.

During a gaggle with reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said he will not allow Iranian officials to impose fees for ships crossing the Strait of Hormuz.

“I’m not going to let that happen. It’s international water,” Trump said. “Nobody knows if they’re doing that, but if they do that, we’re not gonna let that happen.”

He also claimed the Strait of Hormuz “will open up automatically.”

He said he wished Vance “luck” ahead of the negotiations set to begin tomorrow.

The Iranian delegation, led by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, has arrived in Islamabad ahead of peace negotiations with the U.S., according to a report from Iranian state TV.

The local time in Islamabad, where negotiations will be held, is 1:12 a.m. Vance struck an optimistic tone before departing Washington for Islamabad this morning, saying he expects talks will be “positive.”

Ghalibaf, on the other hand, warned that two measures — a ceasefire in Lebanon and the release of Iran’s sanctioned assets — must be implemented before peace negotiations between the U.S. and Iran can begin. Ghalibaf described those terms as having been “mutually agreed upon” as terms for the two-week ceasefire between the U.S., Iran and Israel.

Iran’s parliamentary speaker will be joined by security, political, military, economic and legal teams, according to the state TV report, which was translated to English from Arabic by The Associated Press.

Rep. Jamie Raskin sent a letter today to the White House physician requesting Trump undergo a cognitive exam following his recent rhetoric on Iran.

“In recent days, the country has watched President Trump’s public statements and outbursts turn increasingly incoherent, volatile, profane, deranged, and threatening,” Raskin wrote in the letter. “His apparently deteriorating condition has caused tremendous alarm across the nation (and political spectrum) about the President’s cognitive function and continuing mental fitness for the office of President, and prompted concerns about the President’s well-being.”

On Easter Sunday, Trump unleashed an expletive-laced message to Iran: Open the strait or “you”ll be living in Hell.” Hours before the two-week ceasefire was announced Tuesday, Trump suggested “we’re blowing up the whole country” if a deal is not reached with Iran.

In the letter, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee made three requests:

The results of a comprehensive neuropsychological assessment should be released.
A detailed report of Trump’s current mental and physical health status should be provided, including medications he is taking and potential cognitive side effects.
The president should make himself available for a briefing under oath with Judiciary Committee members on the results of the assessment.
The letter also cited House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., previously calling former President Joe Biden’s mental acuity as “one of the greatest scandals in our nation’s history,” and noted that Comer had subpoenaed the White House physician.

“President Trump’s sharpness, unmatched energy, and historic accessibility stand in stark contrast to what we saw during the past four years when Democrats like Raskin intentionally covered up Joe Biden’s serious mental and physical decline from the American people,” White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said in a statement to MS NOW.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said he discussed the importance of sustaining a ceasefire between Iran and the U.S. as a pathway to achieving “lasting peace” during a call earlier today with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Sharif described the “warm” call and said he appreciates the support for Pakistan’s sincere diplomatic efforts from European allies during the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

“We agreed on the importance of sustaining the ceasefire to create the conditions for lasting peace and stability in the region,” Sharif posted on X. “Also discussed ways to further strengthen Pakistan-UK relations across all areas of mutual interest.”

Pakistan is set to hold peace talks on Saturday in Islamabad aimed at advancing a ceasefire and laying the groundwork for longer-term regional stability.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren said the American people are “paying the price” for Trump’s war with Iran.

In a post on X, Warren pointed to $4-per-gallon gas, increased airline baggage fees, higher U.S. Postal Service shipping surcharges and added fees on Amazon orders as growing burdens on families.

Warren warned that households nationwide are facing mounting financial strain, with everyday expenses rising.

A group representing European airports said they could face a fuel shortage within three weeks if the Strait of Hormuz is not reopened, the Financial Times reported.

The Airports Council International Europe made the warning in a Thursday letter to the European Commission, saying the shortage could hit just as the summer tourism season begins.

“A supply crunch would severely disrupt airport operations and air connectivity, with the risk of harsh economic impacts for the communities affected and for Europe in case of a systemic shortage of jet fuel,” the letter said, according to the Financial Times.

The group also called for the EU to begin systematically monitoring the fuel supply, per the Financial Times.

Several airlines, including Delta, United Airlines, JetBlue and Air New Zealand, have already raised prices as a result of the shortages.

Representatives from the U.S., Israel and Lebanon are holding a preparatory phone call today at 2 p.m. ET ahead of in-person direct negotiations in Washington on Tuesday, according to an Israeli official.

The preliminary conversation comes as Vance leads a U.S. delegation to Islamabad for Iran ceasefire talks, with Iran demanding the ceasefire include Lebanon as well.

Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter will lead the discussion on the Israeli side, both on the call and at next week’s meeting at the Department of State in Washington.

Lebanese Ambassador to the U.S. Nada Hamadeh Moawad and U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa are among the potential participants.

Speaking with MS NOW’s the Rev. Al Sharpton today at the National Action Network Convention in New York City, former Vice President Kamala Harris forcefully denounced Trump’s war with Iran, saying he was putting U.S. service members at risk and abandoning alliances.

She added that the U.S. has increasingly “lost influence” on the world stage due to its continued “mixed signals” on the war and its timeline.

Harris, a possible 2028 presidential contender, expressed concern that Trump is making the U.S. “unreliable” by “pointing fingers at NATO,” stating he is the first president since World War II “who does not believe in alliances we have with friendly nations.”

“I have been unequivocally opposed to this war of choice that Trump has entered,” Harris said. “My concern is not only just the fact of it, but it’s going to take a while and some serious work way beyond the end of this man’s term to regain whatever we had.”

Deadly attacks continued in Lebanon today, with one specific strike hitting an ambulance and killing two first responders, according to U.N. spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric.

“The health system in the country is critically overstretched,” Dujarric said today during the daily press briefing. “WHO warns that some hospitals may run out of trauma supplies within days due to the surging casualties.”

Dujarric went into more detail about the April 8 Israeli strikes that killed more than 300 people in Lebanon. The Israel Defense Forces stated that these strikes were aimed at Hezbollah locations specifically, with 100 targets hit in just 10 minutes. However, WHO Lebanon representative Dr. Abdinasir Abubakar said these locations included “densely populated areas in the capital.”

Dujarric told reporters today that these strikes heavily affected the country’s health care response, with three weeks’ worth of emergency supplies used in a single day.

Lebanon’s health care system isn’t the only part of the government feeling the strain of war. As Israel increases its displacement orders, more and more Lebanese civilians are without safe housing. Dujarric described the country’s shelters as overcrowded, “and nearly half of Lebanon’s public schools are functioning as shelters.”

Consumer confidence plunged to a record low this month as fears over rising energy prices, food costs and inflation have mounted as a result of the Iran war, according to the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment poll.

The study’s preliminary April results showed an 11% drop in overall consumer sentiment compared to March, extending a decline that began with the start of the Iran conflict. Outlook on current economic conditions and consumer expectations sank 10.2% and 10.8%, respectively.

“Open ended comments show that many consumers blame the Iran conflict for unfavorable changes to the economy,” said the survey’s director, Joanne Hsu.

The survey coincided with today’s release of the March consumer price index, which rose 0.9% in March, pushing the 12-month inflation rate to 3.3% amid elevated energy prices.

Hsu noted 98% of interviews for the survey were completed prior to the April 7 announcement of a temporary ceasefire, which may improve consumers’ economic outlook as they gain confidence that “supply disruptions stemming from the Iran war have ended and gas prices have moderated.”

Trump told the New York Post in a phone interview today that U.S. warships are being loaded up with “the best ammunition” in case this weekend’s peace talks in Islamabad go awry.

“We have a reset going. We’re loading up the ships with the best ammunition, the best weapons ever made — even better than what we did previously, and we blew them apart,” the president said, adding, “If we don’t have a deal, we will be using them, and we will be using them very effectively.”

Trump spoke to the Post shortly after Vance boarded Air Force Two en route to Islamabad, where the vice president will lead the U.S. delegation in the high-stakes negotiations as the war approaches its seventh week.

Asked if he believes the negotiations will be successful, Trump said, “We’re going to find out in about 24 hours. We’re going to know soon.”

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said today that two measures he described as mutually agreed upon must be implemented before peace negotiations between the U.S. and Iran begin in Pakistan tomorrow.

“Two of the measures mutually agreed upon between the parties have yet to be implemented: a ceasefire in Lebanon and the release of Iran’s blocked assets prior to the commencement of negotiations,” Ghalibaf wrote in a statement on X, which was translated from Arabic. “These two matters must be fulfilled before negotiations begin.”

The return of Iran’s frozen assets abroad was expected to be a key demand from Tehran going into the fragile negotiations. The U.S. has extensively sanctioned Iranian assets, freezing the estimated billions of dollars the regime has stored in foreign bank accounts overseas.

After announcing the two-week ceasefire agreement, Trump indicated the U.S. would be willing to ease primary and secondary sanctions on Iran.

“We are, and will be, talking Tariff and Sanctions relief with Iran,” Trump said earlier this week in a post on Truth Social.

More than 5,600 people have died in the Middle East, nearly one-third of them in Lebanon, since the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran in late February.

In Beirut and elsewhere, midweek strikes, which Israel called its most intense of the war, killed more than 300 people in Lebanon, the U.N. said today. Lebanon’s health ministry has not published finalized fatality numbers since Tuesday, before the bombardment, which came despite a ceasefire that Iran, Pakistan and others said was supposed to have included Lebanon.

The nonprofit Human Rights Activists News Agency has not reported any deaths in Iran since the U.S., Israel and Iran agreed to the ceasefire. As of Tuesday, HRANA said more than 3,600 Iranians have died in the war, including more than 1,700 civilians and at least 254 children.

Roughly 3.2 million Iranians and 1.1 million Lebanese have been displaced by the fighting, according to the World Health Organization. About 100 people have been killed in Iraq, and at least 35 have died in Israel.

Among NATO member nations, 13 U.S. service members, one French military officer, one Turkish soldier and two Turkish defense contractors have died in the war.

Three Indonesian U.N. peacekeepers were killed in southern Lebanon last week, which the U.N. is investigating. Four Red Crescent volunteers have been killed in Iran since the start of the war.

In a statement to MS NOW, the White House confirmed the delegation heading to Islamabad for Iran talks includes experts and officials from the National Security Council, the State Department and the Pentagon.

“President Trump tasked Vice President Vance, Special Envoy Witkoff, and Mr. Kushner with traveling to Islamabad to negotiate with Iran,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement. “Officials from the National Security Council, Department of State, and Department of War will also play a supportive role.”

“As the President said from the beginning, the Vice President, Secretary of State, Special Envoy, and Mr. Kushner have always been collaborating on these discussions, and the President is optimistic that a deal can be reached that can lead to lasting peace in the Middle East,” the statement continued. “President Trump has a proven track record of achieving good deals on behalf of the United States and the American people, and he will only accept one that puts America first.”

The U.N. World Food Programme warned today that a food security crisis is rapidly developing in Lebanon, with more than 80% of markets no longer functioning, forcing the country to increasingly rely on humanitarian convoys.

Aid deliveries have become “increasingly difficult,” with the agency reporting trips that normally take a few hours now taking more than 15 hours “as teams navigate a volatile environment.”

“Even before this latest escalation, about 900,000 people across Lebanon were facing food insecurity,” said WFP Lebanon Director Allison Oman Lawi. “This escalation is pushing vulnerable communities even closer to the edge.”

Tensions between Spain and Israel are mounting after Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez yesterday accused Netanyahu of having a “disregard for human life.”

In response, Netanyahu announced he has “instructed today to remove Spain’s representatives from the coordination center in Kiryat Gat, after Spain has chosen repeatedly to stand against Israel.” And Gideon Sa’ar, Israel’s minister of foreign affairs, said in a statement, “The Spanish government, led by Pedro Sánchez, has acted against the State of Israel by all possible means.”

Sánchez said yesterday that due to the Israeli strikes on Lebanon, the European Union should suspend its Association Agreement with Israel. The Lebanese Civil Defense told MS NOW that 303 people were killed in Lebanon during the April 8 Israeli airstrikes despite the ceasefire, which was brokered hours earlier. That number is expected to rise.

Prior to the deadly strikes, Sánchez criticized the ceasefire, saying that while ceasefires are always good news, “the Government of Spain will not applaud those who set the world on fire just because they show up with a bucket.”

A post on X by Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Asif calling Israel “evil” and a “curse for humanity” was deleted as Pakistan prepares to host U.S.-Iran talks in Islamabad this weekend.

The post accused Israel of committing “genocide” in Lebanon, saying “bloodletting continues unabated” across Gaza, Iran and Lebanon. Netanyahu’s office called the remarks “outrageous” and said they were unacceptable from any government positioning itself as a neutral facilitator of peace.

Israeli airstrikes in the southern Lebanon town of Nabatieh killed eight state security officers, injured others and caused extensive damage to a government building, Lebanon’s state-run media outlet, NNA, reported overnight.

The Israeli military said it killed Ali Kamel Abar al-Hassan, an artillery officer in Hezbollah’s Nasser Unit, in strikes overnight that “eliminated” more than 250 Hezbollah artillery operatives. The overnight barrage came after Netanyahu agreed to diplomatic talks with the Lebanese government in Washington next week. However, he said his country would not halt attacks on Hezbollah in the meantime.

Israel’s continued bombardment of Lebanon in its war against the Iran-backed militant group, Hezbollah, threatens to derail the fragile ceasefire agreement that has paused fighting between the U.S., Iran and Israel. Top Iranian officials have argued Lebanon was part of the original ceasefire terms, while Trump and Netanyahu have said it was not.

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