Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi spoke by phone with his Pakistani counterpart Mohammad Ishaq Dar and was briefed on Islamabad’s efforts to halt the Israel–U.S. war, official sources said on Monday (30 March).
Meanwhile, several Iranian parliamentarians have tabled two urgent draft bills calling for withdrawal from the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and for an excise tax on shipping services in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, according to local media.
As the war entered its 31st day, the state-run IRNA news agency reported that Pakistan’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister informed Iran’s top diplomat about the outcome of a meeting in Islamabad involving the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Türkiye, Egypt and Saudi Arabia aimed at ending the war and restoring regional peace and security.
Pakistan said the quadrilateral meeting backed its initiative to end hostilities between Iran and the U.S., and expressed Islamabad’s readiness to host meaningful talks between Tehran and Washington.
Earlier on Saturday, President Masoud Pezeshkian spoke by phone with Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, welcoming Pakistan’s diplomatic initiative.
“Attacks on infrastructure and assassinations of Iranian leaders and high-ranking officials by the aggressors showed that they cannot be trusted,” he was quoted as saying by the President’s Office.
Amid dim prospects for rapid de-escalation as the war entered its second month, two urgent draft bills were submitted to Iran’s parliament over the weekend for discussion in plenary sessions.
According to local media citing MPs, the first draft proposes Iran’s withdrawal from the NPT, invoking provisions that allow such a move under serious threats.
The second draft bill, concerning shipping security in the Strait of Hormuz, proposes environmental pollution levies and guidance service fees, while Iran has blocked the transit of adversaries’ oil and gas tankers through the waterway.
In a separate development, Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, marking the 30th day of the Israel–U.S. war, dismissed Washington’s 15-point ceasefire proposal as a “wish list.”
“These days, different words and statements are heard from enemy officials about negotiations. U.S. is expressing its desires and announcing what it has not achieved in the war as a list of 15 points and seeking it in diplomacy,” he said, according to IRNA.
Also, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei in an interview on Sunday said that U.S. proposals that reached Iran through mediators are “very illogical”.
"Those proposals are very radical and illogical. Talking about matters that are part of the inherent rights of Iranians is not a sign of good faith or seriousness in any diplomacy. They have tried this before,” he added.
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Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has backed diplomacy as a “rational choice” to protect national interests while maintaining Iran’s military posture following the Israeli-U.S. war on Iran.
Travellers worried about costs and flights by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East are changing their summer holiday plans, with lastminute bookings, safer destinations such as Spain, and rail travel all growing in popularity.
Iran warned of an “immediate, intense, and powerful” response to any renewed Israeli or U.S. attack, as efforts to secure an interim peace deal appeared to stall despite fresh diplomatic contacts.
Iran said on Sunday (10 May) that it had sent its response to a U.S. proposal aimed at launching peace talks to end the war, as signs of tentative movement emerged around the Strait of Hormuz despite renewed security incidents across the Gulf.
Kuwait arrested four members of an IRGC-linked group as they tried to enter the country by sea, the Gulf state's KUNA news agency reported on Tuesday. Meanwhile, a senior IRGC officer said Iran had expanded its definition of the Strait of Hormuz to include a far wider area.
Australia confirmed it will repatriate citizens from the MV Hondius cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak, with quarantine on arrival. Spain, France are evacuating nationals as three deaths are confirmed. In the U.S., two passengers have been isolated after testing positive for the virus.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday dismissed Iran’s response to a U.S. peace proposal as a “stupid proposal,” saying Tehran failed to commit to abandoning its pursuit of a nuclear weapon, while warning the fragile ceasefire was on “massive life support”.
Metropolitan Shio of Senaki and Chkhorotsku has been elected the 142nd head of the Georgian Orthodox Church at a meeting of clergy in Tbilisi following the death of longtime Patriarch Ilia II.
Afghanistan has signed a five-year gold mining contract with Afghan and Azerbaijani companies in a deal worth more than $20m, the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum has said.
A key border crossing between southeastern Türkiye and northern Syria reopened to limited civilian traffic on Tuesday after remaining closed since 2014 amid the Syrian conflict.
Three Afghan journalists have been detained by Afghan intelligence officials in Kabul, according to media support groups, raising fresh concerns about press freedom in Afghanistan.
Dozens of people, including two police officers, were killed and dozens more injured in a bomb blast at a market in north-western Pakistan on Tuesday (12 May), authorities said, in the second deadly attack in the region within four days.
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Tajikistan and China signed more than 50 agreements worth more than $8 billion during President Emomali Rahmon’s visit to Beijing, deepening economic ties and reinforcing China’s role as Tajikistan’s leading investor and creditor.
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