Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will visit Islamabad, Pakistan, tonight for “consultations”, followed by Muscat, Oman, and Moscow, Russia.
The visit comes amid deadlocked talks between the US and Iran, with questions persisting for days on whether Iran would agree to participate in further negotiations.
US Secretaty of Defense Pete Hegseth says that Iran still has an “open window” to make a deal and “abandon a nuclear weapon in meaningful and verifiable ways”.
US President Donald Trump says he hopes to host Israeli and Lebanese leaders “in the near future”, after announcing a three-week extension to the fragile ceasefire in Lebanon , which was due to expire on Sunday.
A third US aircraft carrier has arrived in the Middle East. The USS George HW Bush joined the USS Gerald R Ford and USS Abraham Lincoln in a massive build-up of Naval firepower.
The US Central Command has issued a statement saying the “blockade against ships entering or exiting Iranian ports continues,” with the US military having redirected 34 vessels since it began patrolling the waters around the Strait of Hormuz on April 13.
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth earlier said all vessels affiliated to Iran or traveling to and from Iran had been turned around.
Al Jazeera
