Author: Keyvan Rafiee

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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MENAFN – Five Things To Know About The Iran-US Talks In Islamabad

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:

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).International News Subscription.

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.

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.

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The Times of Israel – The US And Iran Head Into Very Difficult Talks

High-level US-Iran talks are due to begin in Islamabad on April 11, four days after the United States and the Iranian regime accepted a two-week ceasefire proposal brokered by Pakistan to pause the war in Iran.

The fighting erupted on February 28 after the United States and Israel launched joint air strikes in Iran. These attacks killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and almost 50 key political and military figures in the Iranian regime ranging from Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of the Defense Council, to Aziz Nasirzadeh, the defense minister.

Khamenei’s son and successor, Mojtaba, was wounded on the first day of the war and has yet to show his face in public.

When the ceasefire was announced, the Human Rights Activists News Agency reported that at least 1,665 civilians had been killed in Iran. In Israel, the civilian death toll stood at 20, with more than 7,000 wounded. Over the course of 39 days of war, Iran fired approximately 650 ballistic missiles and hundreds of drones at Israel. More than 90 percent were shot down. In the Gulf states, 32 people were killed. The United States lost 13 soldiers.

The negotiations in Pakistan’s capital are sure to be extremely arduous and lengthy because the ceasefire is clouded by ambiguities and complicated by issues that may well defy a resolution.

A resumption of the war is possible, though neither the United States nor Iran wish to renew hostilities.

The truce was hammered out shortly after US President Donald Trump issued an apocalyptic ultimatum threatening to extinguish Iran’s “whole civilization” if the Iranian regime did not fully reopen the strategic Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquified natural gas flows.

The day before, Trump sent a crude warning to Iran, “Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell — JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah.”

Justifying the Trump administration’s acceptance of the truce, US Vice President JD Vance said that American forces had “largely accomplished its military objectives.”

Echoing Vance’s assessment, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine, claimed that Iran’s military capabilities and industrial defense base had been decimated during the course of the US-Israel air campaign in Iran.

The US and Israel carried out 13,000 and 8,500 sorties respectively.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly urged Trump to press on with the war, arguing that a ceasefire at this point carried significant risks.

Trump, bent on extricating himself from a “forever” war and concerned that his presidency would be imperiled by the drastic uptick in the price of oil, decided that a ceasefire would be preferable.

All the same, the war has left Trump’s political base fractured, with some of his former supporters having accused him of violating his promise to keep the United States out of unwinnable wars in the Middle East.

As expected, critics seized on Trump’s decision to abandon fiery rhetoric and pursue diplomacy, denigrating him as “Taco” (Trump always chickens out).

While he and his team declared victory, Iran made an identical claim.

At a press conference on April 8, Hegseth said that the United States had won the war, and that Iran had “begged” for a ceasefire because it had run “out of options and out of time.” In his view, Operation Epic Fury was “a historic and overwhelming victory on the battlefield. A capital V military victory.” He added that the USand Israel had achieved “every single objective,” including the destruction of Iran’s navy, air defense system, and missile production capability.

The ceasefire means that Iran will “never, ever” possess a nuclear weapon. “We finished completely destroying Iran’s defense-industrial base, a core pillar of our mission. They can no longer build missiles.”

Hegseth admitted that Iran is not completely defenseless. “They can still shoot, we know that,” he said. “They can still shoot here and there, but that would be very unwise.”

Iran claimed it had achieved a “historic victory” over the United Stares and Israel.

There is some truth to its claim.

Iran, which faced severe internal unrest in January, successfully survived a ferocious onslaught. The US and Israel appear to have failed to dismantle Iran’s nuclear program, one of the stated goals of the operation. Iran bombarded Israel and the Arab Gulf states with an unending salvo of ballistic missiles and drones and remained defiant and unbowed. Iran took control of the Strait of Hormuz, causing global economic disruption.

Given these factors, state-orchestrated rallies in Tehran celebrated the truce as a “total and complete victory” over the United States and Israel.

Despite the heated rhetoric, the United States and Iran were primed for talks. Iran realized that a protracted war would further destroy or damage its critical infrastructure. The United States was aware that the disruption of energy supplies could set off a global recession that would inevitably affect its own economy.

China, worried by the mounting costs of the war, apparently pushed Iran, its ally, to show flexibility, defuse tensions, and embrace a ceasefire.

Apart from being tenuous, the truce is rife with question marks.

As Elliott Abrams, a former US diplomat and conservative commentator, wrote, “Well, there is a ceasefire. Or perhaps not. It includes Lebanon. Or it doesn’t. Iran’s 10-point plan is an acceptable working document for the United States. Or it isn’t the one US negotiators saw. The Strait of Hormuz will be open. Or passage requires Iranian approval and a toll.”

He added, “All this confusion is unsurprising, because the only meeting of the minds between President Donald Trump and whoever is ruling in Tehran was that the United States would stop attacking Iran. In return, Iran would stop attacking all its Arab neighbors and Israel — though not immediately, we soon learned. My own guess is that at the end of two weeks allotted for negotiations, two more weeks will be allotted, and then two more. There may never be much more than a ceasefire agreed, given the distance between Iranian and American demands.”

Robert Malley, a liberal who was President Joe Biden’s special envoy for Iran, said that the ceasefire is so ambiguous that the United States and Iran are already arguing over it. “It’s hard to know not just where you go from here, but where you are to begin with,” he told The New York Times. “The talks are starting on very weak grounds.”

Indeed.

The truce, in essence, has not even remotely resolved the fundamental issues that triggered the war.

It leaves a theocratic and autocratic government, backed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, in charge of a cowed population.

Trump claims that “complete and total regime change” has occurred, with “different, smarter, and less radicalized minds” governing the country. Trump’s claim is untrue. As Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, put it, “There has been personnel change in Iran, not regime change. Different men with the same ideology.”

In addition, Iran remains a cocky, dangerous and destabilizing force in the region.

Iran is supposedly still in possession of a stockpile of 440 kilograms of 60 percent enriched uranium, which is currently buried under the rubble of two shattered Iranian nuclear facilities. Iran has enough near-bomb-grade material to produce nearly one dozen nuclear bombs, as Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghachi told US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner at one of their meetings prior to the war. Trump claims that this nuclear “dust” should not be a problem. “We’ll always be watching it by satellite,” he said on April 1.

The Strait of Hormuz is effectively in Iran’s hands and few ships are getting through. Iran, too, has reportedly begun charging tankers exorbitant tolls. The Iranian regime exercised no such authority prior to the war.

The war has been a traumatic experience for Arab Gulf states. Countries like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were pummeled by Iranian missiles and drones, causing extensive damage to their petroleum industry. They feel vulnerable and believe that the United States did not protect them.

As the fragile ceasefire took hold, Netanyahu claimed that it did not apply to Israel’s current military campaign in Lebanon. Iran has threatened to resume the war and close the Strait of Hormuz if Israel does not halt its offensive in Lebanon.

Trump and Vance initially backed Israel’s position, while Pakistan and Iran claimed that Lebanon was included in the truce. Britain, France, Canada and the European Union have sided with Iran, with British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper having said that leaving Lebanon out of the ceasefire would “destabilize the whole region.”

Two days ago, following the deadliest Israeli air strikes in Beirut targeting Hezbollah offices, Trump partially backtracked and asked Netanyahu to scale back Israel’s bombing of Lebanon so as to preserve the ceasefire. After his phone call with Trump, Netanyahu said that Israel will continue to strike Hezbollah “with force, precision, and determination.”

He also announced that Israel would launch direct negotiations with Lebanon “as soon as possible” to disarm Hezbollah and reach a full peace agreement with Lebanon, which has been in a state of war with Israel since its creation in 1948. The conditions under which the talks would take place was immediately in dispute, with Lebanon demanding a ceasefire first and Israel insisting that negotiations be conducted under fire.

Meanwhile, negotiators in Islamabad will face immense stumbling blocks. Trump’s 15-point peace plan is greatly at odds with Iran’s 10-point plan.

Trump’s plan calls for the dismantling of Iran’s nuclear facilities in Natanz, Isfahan and Fordow, a permanent commitment from Iran never to develop nuclear weapons, the handover of Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium to the International Atomic Energy Agency, a commitment from Iran to allow the IAEA to monitor all elements of its remaining nuclear infrastructure, and iron-clad guarantees that Iran will no longer enrich uranium.

The plan also places strict limits on the range and number of Iran’s ballistic missiles, pressures Iran to end its support of regional proxies such as Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis, envisages the full reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, and envisages the removal of all sanctions imposed on Iran.

Iran’s 10-point plan is just as maximalist.

A commitment from the United States not to restart the war. The controlled passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz in coordination with the Iranian armed forces. An acceptance of Iran’s nuclear enrichment program. The lifting of all primary and secondary sanctions against Iran. The end of all resolutions against Iran at the IAEA and the United Nations Security Council. The withdrawal of US combat forces from all bases in the Middle East. Full compensation to Iran for damages caused during the war, to be secured through tolls paid to Tehran by vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz. The release of all Iranian assets and properties frozen abroad. The ratification of all these clauses in a binding United Nations Security Council resolution.

The gaps between the opposing proposals are so immense that it is inconceivable that they can be reconciled within the next two weeks, if at all. Months of extremely difficult and messy negotiations lie ahead.

It is safe to assume that Iran will consume Trump for a long time to come.

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Union-Bulletin – Trump threatens Iran as Vance heads to Pakistan for talks

President Donald Trump ramped up pressure on Iran as Vice President JD Vance traveled to Pakistan for talks to end the war, with Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon and the Strait of Hormuz’s effective closure looming over diplomatic efforts.

Trump posted on social media Friday that Tehran’s only leverage is “short term extortion of the world by using International Waterways” — a reference to Hormuz, a critical shipping lane for oil and natural gas that remains largely shut, raising global energy prices. Trump declared that the “Iranians don’t seem to realize they have no cards.”

While the two-week ceasefire was broadly holding across the Middle East, the situation with the strait and continued fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon threatened to complicate negotiations due to begin over the weekend in Islamabad.

The Iranian delegation, led by Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, has arrived in Islamabad, the semi-official Iranian news agency Tasnim reported Friday.

Before arriving, Ghalibaf pushed back, stressing on social media that a ceasefire in Lebanon is one measure that “must be fulfilled before negotiations begin.” The other is the “release of Iran’s blocked assets,” he added, without being more specific.

The president told reporters late Friday that he expected that the strait would be opened “pretty quickly” and warned that if it didn’t he could resume military action.

Trump earlier had detailed that threat to the New York Post, saying U.S. warships were being reloaded with “the best ammunition” to launch fresh attacks if talks faltered. When asked if he believed negotiations would be successful, Trump told the Post: “We’re going to find out in about 24 hours.”

Before departing for Pakistan, Vance told reporters Trump had provided “clear guidelines” for the talks and the vice president urged Iran to take the negotiations seriously, warning Tehran not “to try to play us.”

An Iranian delegation is expected to arrive in Islamabad on Friday night, officials in Pakistan’s capital said. Ghalibaf and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will lead the delegation, one of the people said, asking not to be identified because the discussions are private.

The Middle East war has killed thousands of people and damaged energy infrastructure across the oil-rich Persian Gulf in the past six weeks, while Iran’s ongoing shuttering of Hormuz has choked global fuel supplies. The strait — which handled about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas before the war — remains a central sticking point.

Traffic through the strategic waterway has shown little sign of a meaningful pickup since the truce began, as shipowners await clarification of its status. A Russian-flagged supertanker passed through the strait late Thursday, ship-tracking data show, but that was a rare example.

The ongoing blockage has maintained pressure on oil prices. U.S. crude swung between losses and gains all session as traders unwound positions into the weekend to stay neutral ahead of the talks on Saturday. Prices settled below $97 a barrel.

Wall Street traders bracing for the talks left stocks wavering. An advance in equities faded after Trump’s comments to the New York Post about preparing for further military action.

Trump, who has warned Iran against charging fees on tankers, said Friday the U.S. would not permit Tehran to collect tolls to transit the strait. “Nobody knows if they’re doing that, but if they’re doing that, we’re not going to let that happen,” Trump said.

Despite the challenges, Trump has said he’s optimistic about a deal with Tehran, describing Iran’s leaders during an NBC News interview as “much more reasonable” than their public comments would suggest.

Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, whose father was killed on the first day of the war, said in a statement on Telegram that Iran “will definitely bring the management of the Strait of Hormuz to a new stage,” though it was unclear whether he was referring to previous Iranian demands to retain control of the waterway that the U.S. has rejected.

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ABC News – Iran live updates: US-Iran-Pakistan trilateral talks ongoing, White House says

President Donald Trump announced “major combat operations” against Iran on Feb. 28, with massive joint U.S.-Israeli strikes targeting military and government sites.

Trump set a deadline for Iran to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face broad strikes on its critical infrastructure. Hours before the deadline expired, Trump said he had agreed to suspend planned bombing for two weeks if Iran agreed to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi then said that “safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz will be possible via coordination with Iran’s Armed Forces and with due consideration of technical limitations.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he supported the ceasefire with Iran, but that Lebanon — where intense Israeli strikes continued — was not covered by the agreement, despite Iranian protests.

Trump says it ‘makes no difference to him’ if US, Iran make a deal or not
Speaking to reporters at the White House before leaving for Miami, President Donald Trump said he doesn’t “care” what happens with Iran negotiations because “regardless what happens, we win.”

“Whether we make a deal or not makes no difference to me,” Trump said.

Throughout the gaggle, Trump repeatedly asserted that the United States emerges victorious, no matter the result of the ongoing negotiations in Islamabad, Pakistan.

“We’ll see what happens. Look, regardless we win. Regardless what happens, we win. We totally defeated that country. And so let’s see what happens. Maybe they make a deal. Maybe they don’t. From the standpoint of America, we win,” Trump said.

While claiming that the U.S. will open the Strait of Hormuz, the president repeated his usual criticism against other countries for their lack of assistance with the critical waterway.

Guided-missile destroyer USS Frank E. Petersen Jr. (DDG 121) sails in the Arabian Sea during Operation Epic Fury, on March 18, 2026.
U.S. Navy
“Now all we do is we’ll open up the strait even though we don’t use it, because we have a lot of other countries in the world that do use it, that are either afraid or weak or cheap,” he said.

Asked about Iran’s assets, which is a key point in the Iranian’s proposal, the president sidestepped and said the U.S. is in “very deep negotiations with Iran” before repeating the assertions that the U.S. will “win regardless.”

The president also repeated his claims from this morning that other countries are sending oil tankers to the U.S. to be filled with oil and gas, calling this a “beautiful thing.”

“One of the things that’s happening is that boats are sailing up and heading out to our country – big, beautiful tankers, and we’re loading them up with oil and gas and everything else and it’s pretty, beautiful thing to see,” he said.

Trump also acknowledged that Iran “probably [has] a couple of mines” in the Strait of Hormuz but emphasized that the U.S. has minesweepers to combat this.

“They probably have a couple of mines in the water. We have mine sweepers out there. We’re sweeping these straight. In addition to that, we’re negotiating,” Trump said.

Iran denies claims that US vessels entered Strait of Hormuz
A spokesperson for Iran’s joint military command denied a claim by the United States that two Navy destroyers transited the Strait of Hormuz, saying “the initiative for the passage and movement of any vessel is in the hands of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” according to Iranian state broadcaster IRIB.

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New York Times – Iran Has Been Consistent in War. Will It Be Consistent in Peace Talks?

From the moment the United States and Israel ignited their war against Iran, Tehran has maintained a markedly consistent set of demands, built around a permanent peace, economic relief and the right to pursue nuclear enrichment.

In contrast, President Trump frequently has recast the war’s aims — fluctuating among denying Iran nuclear weapons, inflicting devastating destruction, imposing regime change and achieving total victory — sometimes several times in one day.

Iran’s unwavering demands helped the regime to survive a war inspired at least partly by the hope that it would collapse, analysts said. The question is whether the two-week cease-fire that was announced Tuesday can endure should Iran maintain the same line during negotiations due to start Saturday in Pakistan. The maximalist demands put forth publicly in its 10-point plan for the talks appear both unrealistic and unworkable, not least because Mr. Trump has already been dismissive.

The United States is seeking major concessions, including Iran’s surrendering its highly enriched uranium and committing to no nuclear weapons as well as other limits on its military abilities; restoring unfettered transit through the Strait of Hormuz; and ending support for its regional proxies like Hezbollah. In posts on his Truth Social platform, Mr. Trump described Iran’s published demands as a “hoax,” while suggesting that Iran’s proposals behind closed doors are more reasonable.

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Human Rights Activists in Iran – On 26 March 2026, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced a recruitment campaign to encourage children as young as 12 to join and ‘help the defenders of the homeland’. Advertised roles include checkpoint duties, cooking and medical support, logistics, and security patrols. Children and students have been asked to participate in human chains to protect infrastructure from airstrikes. Iranian parents have been called on to send their children to checkpoints at night, for them to feel they are ‘heroes on the battlefield’ and to ‘turn sons into men.’

Despite a ceasefire, Basij checkpoints and security operations remain active. On April 9, images circulated showing children behind mounted machine guns on the backs of 4×4 trucks and dressed in IRGC uniforms. Eyewitness accounts collected through Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRA)’s network over the past 7 days indicate the widespread use of children at checkpoints across Tehran, as well as in Karaj, Mashhad, Isfahan, Ahvaz and Shiraz. Boys have been observed stopping and directing vehicles, transporting supplies, and generally supporting checkpoint operations. While HRA’s network confirms that girls are also supporting the Basij, they are mostly seen at government events and marches, handing out promotional flyers and supporting mobilization efforts.

“They go to the local mosque every day, and from there they get assigned a task— one day they’re at a checkpoint, another day they’re at a government march holding speakers, and sometimes they help with serving people. Their family encourages them to do this.”

Testimony indicates that child recruitment is largely driven by family influence and the social environment, rather than by financial incentives. The IRGC cited children’s enthusiasm and interest as justification for lowering the minimum age to 12. However, even where their involvement appears voluntary, the participation of children under the age of 18 is considered coercive under international law, given a child’s inherent inability to provide full, free, and informed consent. Their age makes them particularly susceptible to authority, ideological propaganda, and a desire for power and belonging.

“It’s the appeal of the uniform, the environment they’re in, the excitement and epic vibe created for them—even things like seeing weapons up close… they kind of feel like superheroes.”

“It’s mostly about social influence, encouragement from people around them, and a sense of feeling important, rather than money or direct coercion.”

The Iranian regime has a long and well-documented history of exploiting children to support armed groups and security structures, dating back to the Iran-Iraq war and through the establishment of the Basij organization. HRA has previously reported on IRGC coercion of Afghan immigrant children, some as young as 14, to fight in Syria in exchange for incentives such as residency rights.

While IRGC regulations set a minimum age of 16 years old for recruitment, this falls below international human rights standards, which define a child as any person under 18. Under customary international humanitarian law, the recruitment or use of children under 15 is a war crime. Legal gaps and ambiguity within Iran’s domestic law regarding the age of a child has enabled the historical involvement of children in security and military activities. The recent campaign lowering the recruitment age to 12 amplifies the urgency for the safety and protection of children in Iran.

In this context, the persistence of child recruitment over time, despite clear international prohibitions, supports the conclusion that it reflects a de facto state policy rather than isolated or unauthorized conduct.

The recruitment and use of children in armed forces and armed groups directly exposes them to a heightened risk of injury and death. This risk is particularly acute in Basij checkpoint operations, which have been repeatedly targeted in US and Israeli strikes, including during busy daytime hours when civilian presence is high. Since February 28, HRA has verified 43 attacks on checkpoints resulting in 44 casualties.

On 11 March, 11-year-old Alireza Jafari was killed by an IDF drone strike while volunteering at a Basij checkpoint in Tehran.

According to Jennifer Connet, HRA Legal Advisor, ‘the association of children with armed groups has lasting and profound consequences, including the potential for injury and long-term disability, psychological trauma, and the lifelong repercussions of a lost childhood. The exploitation of children by the IRGC further compromises the resilience and coping capacity of a generation of children living through the devastation of the current conflict.’

The recruitment or use of children in armed conflict is a war crime and a grave violation of children’s rights. The UN Security Council must consider expanding the children and armed conflict agenda to include Iran, and Iran should be listed in the UN Secretary-General’s Annual Report on Children and Armed Conflict. The establishment of a formal Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism would enable the systematic documentation of grave violations against children, including their association with armed forces and armed groups, and inform further action by the Security Council and relevant UN bodies.

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ANHA – Over 100 killed, injured in Eastern Kurdistan, Iran within 24 hours

The Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported on Tuesday that 109 people were killed and wounded in Iran over the past 24 hours as a result of continued U.S.-Israeli attacks.

In its daily report, the agency stated that around 215 attacks were carried out across 20 provinces and areas of Eastern Kurdistan, targeting 61 sites, including military bases, Revolutionary Guard headquarters, airports, police centers, oil depots, and nuclear energy facilities.

The report indicated that the airstrikes carried out by the United States and Israel focused on the provinces of Tehran, Fars, Khuzestan, Isfahan, Hormozgan, Alborz, and Sistan and Baluchestan.

According to HRANA, the total number of civilian deaths since the beginning of the war reached 1,665 as of yesterday, including 248 children under the age of 18.

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New York Times – Trump Renews Threat of Attacks on Iran’s Bridges and Power Plants

President Trump on Monday escalated his threats to devastate Iran if it does not agree to a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz by his Tuesday night deadline, even as he again floated the possibility that there could be a diplomatic resolution to the war.

“We have a plan, because of the power of our military, where every bridge in Iran will be decimated by 12 o’clock tomorrow night, where every power plant in Iran will be out of business, burning, exploding and never to be used again,” Mr. Trump said at a White House news conference. If the attacks take place, he added, “It will take them 100 years to rebuild.”

Mr. Trump also gave a laudatory depiction of the rescue of a missing American airman shot down over Iran. The mission involved 155 aircraft and hundreds of people, he said, though “a lot of it was subterfuge” designed to lead Iranian forces away from the aviator. He also revealed that the plane, a U.S. Air Force F-15E, had been downed by a single shoulder-fired missile.

His remarks to reporters came after Iran delivered a new 10-point peace proposal dotted with conditions that American representatives have already rejected as unacceptable. The full contents of the Iranian plan were not made public, but diplomatic efforts have yielded little so far, despite Mr. Trump’s repeated claims of progress.

“We have to have a deal that’s acceptable to me,” Mr. Trump said of the Iranian plan, which was made through Pakistani mediators, adding, “and part of that deal’s going to be we want free traffic of oil, and everything else.”

Later he said, “I can tell you that we have an active, willing participant on the other side. They would like to make a deal.”

He has threatened repeatedly to bombard critical Iranian infrastructure, like power plants and bridges, setting deadlines for opening the strait, and then repeatedly postponing them. On Sunday, he pushed back the deadline by a day, to Tuesday evening in the United States. Analysts say that without tangible progress toward peace, the postponements risk eroding the power of his warnings.

Here’s what else we’re covering:

Iran’s response: Iran said on Monday that it would retaliate forcefully if President Trump carried out his threatened attacks, which would affect millions of civilians, in what many legal experts argue could be considered war crimes under international law. “If attacks on civilian targets are repeated, the subsequent phases of our offensive and retaliatory operations will be carried out much more crushingly and extensively,” Ebrahim Zolfaghari, an Iranian military spokesman, said on Monday.

University bombed: Overnight airstrikes hit Sharif University of Technology in Tehran, Iran’s top science, engineering and math institute, prompting outraged responses from Iranians, including opponents of the regime. The university is under Western sanctions for ties to the Iranian military and agencies that develop weapons systems.

Rescued airmen: The two U.S. airmen who were rescued after being shot down over Iran were receiving care at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, a military hospital in Germany, a U.S. military official said.

Attacks across the Middle East: Israel said it had bombed a major Iranian petrochemical complex on Monday, just days after it struck a similar site — part of an avowed goal to destroy factories that fill Iran’s coffers. Another Israeli strike overnight killed Majid Khademi, the intelligence chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. Iran fired volleys of missiles at its neighbors and at Israel, where rescue workers retrieved the bodies of four people killed by a missile strike in Haifa, according to the Israeli authorities.

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Hurriyet Daily News – Strikes outside Tehran kill 18 people: Iranian media

A deputy governor of Alborz province said U.S.-Israeli strikes hit residential areas and that “the deaths of 18 of our fellow citizens have been confirmed, including two young children”, the judiciary’s Mizan Online website and the Fars news agency reported.

Twenty-four people were wounded in the early morning attack, the deputy governor added.

Iran’s government has not released an updated overall casualty toll for the war in recent days.

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said on April 6 that at least 3,597 people had been killed, including 1,665 civilians — among them at least 248 children — as well as 1,221 military personnel and 711 people whose status had not been classified.

 

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