Disputes over control of the Strait of Hormuz and uranium enrichment continue to hinder peace talks between the U.S. and Iran, as Pakistan stepped up mediation efforts during meetings in Tehran on Friday.
Pakistani Interior Minister Syed Mohsin Naqvi held talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi in Tehran, just two days after Tehran received Washington’s latest message, Iran’s IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency reported.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Thursday there had been “some good signs” in the talks, but said there could be no agreement if Iran attempted to impose a tolling system in the Strait of Hormuz, which it effectively closed to most shipping after the war began on 28 February.
“There's some good signs. I don't want to be overly optimistic ... So, let's see what happens over the next few days,” Rubio said.
A senior Iranian source told Reuters on Thursday that progress had been made, but that uranium enrichment and the Strait of Hormuz remained major obstacles.
U.S. President Donald Trump has strongly opposed Iranian proposals to charge ships fees for using the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway through which a quarter of the world’s seaborne oil passed before the conflict began.
“We want it open, we want it free. We don't want tolls. It's an international waterway,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Thursday.
Trump has also insisted that the U.S. would recover Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, which Washington believes is intended for use in a nuclear weapon, despite repeated denials from Tehran.
“We will get it. We don't need it, we don't want it. We'll probably destroy it after we get it, but we're not going to let them have it,” Trump told reporters.
Despite this, Iran’s Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, reportedly ordered on the same day that the country’s enriched uranium must not be sent abroad, in an apparent hardening of Tehran’s negotiating position.
The International Energy Agency has warned that the conflict has triggered the world’s worst energy shock.
It said on Thursday that peak summer fuel demand, combined with a lack of new supply from the Middle East, could push energy markets into the “red zone” in July and August.
Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the aims of the war were to curb Iran’s support for regional militias, dismantle its nuclear programme, destroy its missile capabilities and make it easier for Iranians to overthrow their rulers.
However, Iran has so far retained its stockpile of near-weapons-grade enriched uranium, as well as its ability to threaten neighbouring countries with missiles, drones and proxy militias.
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U.S. Donald Trump has said he has cancelled planned strikes on Iranian oil and gas ports announced earlier on Thursday. Trump said he made the decision after senior leadership in Iran agreed to peace talks.
Britain's Defence Minister, John Healey, and Armed Forces Minister, Al Carns, have resigned from UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government over a disagreement about defence spending.
Spanish football club Real Madrid has appointed José Mourinho as its new manager. The 63-year-old nicknamed “the special one” returns to the helm of Spain’s most successful football club, more than a decade since his last stint as the team's manager.
Canada’s Privacy Commissioner has found that xAI’s Grok chatbot and its parent company X Corp. violated federal privacy law by launching an AI image-generation tool without adequate safeguards, enabling the creation and distribution of non-consensual sexualised deepfakes.
Mexico and South Africa meet in Thursday’s World Cup opener in Mexico City, with both teams approaching the match from very different positions but facing their own pressures.
Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry says 19 citizens have been repatriated following a deadly drone attack on two cargo ships in the Sea of Azov on 5 June.
The Pakistani city of Karachi is struggling under severe heat and humidity as the country enters a prolonged heatwave period. The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has warned of above-normal temperatures across much of the country between 7 and 12 June.
Ukraine's military said it struck a Russian "shadow fleet" tanker in the Black Sea as part of ongoing efforts to disrupt Moscow's energy and logistics networks. The move underscores Kyiv's focus on targeting maritime assets it says are used to bypass sanctions on Russian oil exports.
U.S. forces say they have completed strikes on Iranian military sites near the Strait of Hormuz. Iran responded with missile attacks on an American base in Jordan, marking a sharp escalation in tensions between the two sides.
U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to seize Kharg Island and other major Iranian oil and gas facilities, escalating tensions between Washington and Tehran.
U.S. forces say they have completed strikes on Iranian military sites near the Strait of Hormuz. Iran responded with missile attacks on an American base in Jordan, marking a sharp escalation in tensions between the two sides.
Concurrent with the renewed military standoff between Iran and the U.S. in the Middle East, Tehran and Washington are clashing at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), where the U.N. nuclear watchdog’s Board of Governors is holding its quarterly meeting in Vienna.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has warned that escalating conflict in Iran and the wider region is placing multiple World Heritage sites at risk, with reports of damage to historic monuments caused by nearby airstrikes and shockwaves.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they had carried out attacks against a U.S. base in Jordan and 21 other targets in the Gulf on Wednesday in retaliation for American strikes around the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian media reported.
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