Pakistan foreign minister says ‘imperative’ for ceasefire to be upheld
Pakistan’s foreign minister Ishaq Dar insisted on Sunday that Washington and Tehran must uphold a ceasefire agreement, after marathon talks between the two sides to end the war in the Middle East ended without an agreement.
“It is imperative that the parties continue to uphold their commitment to ceasefire,” he said.
Pakistan has been and will continue to play its role to facilitate engagement and dialogue between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States of America in the days to come.
Key events
Six people have been killed in an Israeli attack on the town of Maaroub in southern Lebanon, according to the country’s national news agency.
The Israeli military has demolished entire villages as part of its invasion of south Lebanon, with airstrikes killing many civilians and damaging civilian infrastructure despite the IDF saying they are only targeting Hezbollah infrastructure.
The renewed Israeli assault on Lebanon was launched on 2 March when Hezbollah, the Iranian backed Lebanese militant group, launched rocket fire at Israel after US-Israeli airstrikes killed former Iranian supreme leader, Ali Khamenei.
The US is due to host talks between Israel and Lebanon next week. Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said he has given “approval” for negotiations on two conditions: Hezbollah dismantling their weapons and “a real peace agreement that will last for generations”.
Saudi says east-west pipeline, energy facilities restored to ‘operational capacity’ after attacks
Saudi Arabia’s energy ministry said on Sunday that its key east-west oil pipeline and other facilities had been restored following attacks by Iran on infrastructure across the Gulf, news agency AFP reports.
“Energy facilities and the east-west pipeline damaged by attacks have recovered and regained their operational capacity, enhancing the reliability of supplies,” the official Saudi Press Agency reported, citing an energy ministry statement.
It added that the attacks had led to a “loss of approximately 700,000 barrels per day of pumping capacity through the east-west pipeline” and work was underway to restore full production capacity at the kingdom’s Khurais oil field.
Tehran says no one had expectation of reaching agreement with US in one session: Iran state TV
Iran’s foreign ministry has downplayed the stalling of negotiations on Sunday.
“Naturally, from the beginning we should not have expected to reach an agreement in a single session. No one had such an expectation,” ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said, according to state broadcaster IRIB.
He said Tehran was “confident that contacts between us and Pakistan, as well as our other friends in the region, will continue”.
You can read more about the abrupt end to the talks here:
‘Everything is gone’
William Christou, Abbas Abdel Karim and Lucy Swan have reported today on Israel destroying entire villages as part of its invasion of southern Lebanon.
The Guardian reviewed three videos posted by the Israeli military and on social media, which showed Israel carrying out mass detonations in the villages of Taybeh, Naqoura and Deir Seryan along the Israel-Lebanon border.
Rights groups fear the tactic of “domicide” trialled in Gaza, where entire areas are made uninhabitable, is being used again.
The Israeli military has said they are targeting Hezbollah infrastructure such as tunnels and military facilities, which it claims the armed group has embedded in civilian homes, through these demolitions.
You can read the full story here:
IDF claims strike on rocket launcher in Lebanon that was ‘ready to launch’ toward Israel
A post about an hour ago on the Israel Defense Forces Telegram channel claimed that overnight, the IDF “identified a rocket launcher positioned and ready to launch toward the State of Israel in the area of Jouaiyya in southern Lebanon”.
Shortly after the identification, the launcher was struck and dismantled in a rapid closure cycle, thwarting the launch before it could be carried out.
The post included what the IDF said was footage of the strike, which the Guardian was not able to immediately verify.
According to an earlier update from Lebanon’s health ministry, recent Israeli attacks have pushed the death toll in Lebanon to more than 2,000, with at least 6,300 wounded.
Trump attends UFC fight as Middle East peace talks stall
As US negotiations with Iran were hitting an impasse, the US president attended a UFC fight, Associated Press reported.
Donald Trump entered the Miami venue alongside UFC president Dana White and several members of the Trump family soon after 9pm local time. As a Kid Rock song blasted from the speakers, Trump walked to his seat, where secretary of state Marco Rubio was waiting. Also nearby was Sergio Gor, the US ambassador to India.
Vance announced less than half an hour later, at around 6.30am in Islamabad, that US and Iranian negotiating teams had failed to reach a peace deal.
NYT White House correspondent Katie Rogers, who noted via her colleague Tyler Pager on Air Force Two that officials were deferring to Trump for “further comment about what is next for the US war with Iran”, said Trump remained at the Miami arena until at least 11.28pm local time.
Trump shares article highlighting possibility of naval blockade
The US president, Donald Trump, has not yet formally commented on the breakdown of peace talks with Iran in Islamabad. But he just shared a link in a post on his Truth Social platform, to an article titled “The Trump card the president holds if Iran won’t bend: a naval blockade”.
The article – by John Solomon, a controversial veteran US journalist, and published on Solomon’s conservative Just the News website – cites experts who suggest Trump “simply could out-blockade Iran’s hold over the Strait of Hormuz”.
Stephanie Convery
Australia’s foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, says it’s “disappointing” that peace talks have failed between the US and Iran, but has urged parties to return to negotiations as a matter of priority.
It is disappointing that the Islamabad talks between the United States and Iran have ended without agreement.
The priority now must be to continue the ceasefire and return to negotiations. We continue to want to see a swift resolution to this conflict.
Any escalation in the conflict would impose an even greater human cost and further impact the global economy.
A spokesperson for the Iranian foreign ministry has commented on the negotiations in Islamabad, saying the talks were conducted in an atmosphere of mistrust, and it was unrealistic to believe an agreement could be reached in one session, Reuters reports.
Contact and consultation between Iran, Pakistan and other allies in the region would continue going forward, the spokesperson said.
Pakistan foreign minister says ‘imperative’ for ceasefire to be upheld
Pakistan’s foreign minister Ishaq Dar insisted on Sunday that Washington and Tehran must uphold a ceasefire agreement, after marathon talks between the two sides to end the war in the Middle East ended without an agreement.
“It is imperative that the parties continue to uphold their commitment to ceasefire,” he said.
Pakistan has been and will continue to play its role to facilitate engagement and dialogue between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States of America in the days to come.
Pope Leo XIV himself stepped into the international political arena yesterday, the Guardian’s Edward Helmore reported, saying “enough of war” and decrying the “delusion of omnipotence” that drives leaders into global conflict, at evening prayers in St Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City.
Cardinal Robert McElroy, the archbishop of Washington and a close ally of Pope Leo XIV, has called for Catholics to take civic action against the “immoral” war on Iran.
Reporter Christopher Hale, whose Substack chronicles the Trump administration’s interactions with the papacy, shared a video of the archbishops’s address, in which McElroy called for his congregation to “move beyond prayer”.
As citizens and believers in this democracy that we cherish so deeply, we must advocate for peace with our representatives and leaders.
It is not enough to say we have prayed. We must also act. For it is very possible that the negotiations will fail because of recalcitrance on both sides, and the president will move to re-enter this immoral war.
At that critical juncture, as disciples of Jesus Christ called to be peacemakers in the world, we must answer vocally and in unison: ‘No. Not in our name. Not at this moment. Not with our country.’
What makes this especially interesting, a colleague of mine points out, is that JD Vance, who less than two hours ago led the US exit from peace talks with Iran, converted to Catholicism in 2019.
He recently announced a new memoir on the subject, which you can read more about here:
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency is citing an “informed source” saying Iran is in no hurry to negotiate, Reuters reports – and that as long as the US does not agree to a “reasonable deal”, there will be no change in situation in the strait of Hormuz.
As William Christou reported earlier, the opening of the strait of Hormuz – a chokepoint for a fifth of the world’s oil supply – is a primary demand of the US to end the war in Iran.
Opening summary
Hello, and welcome to our live coverage of events in the Middle East, as US-Iran peace talks in Islamabad seemingly broke down on Sunday.
After a marathon 21-hour first day of talks, US vice-president JD Vance announced on Sunday that his negotiating team was leaving Pakistan without reaching a deal.
Vance said Iran had chosen not to accept American terms, including a commitment to not build nuclear weapons.
Meanwhile, Iranian state media said the talks had failed due to the US’s “unreasonable demands”.
If you are just joining us, here is a quick recap of the latest updates from the past few hours:
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High-stakes negotiations between the US and Iran appeared to break down on Sunday, despite the historic and face-to-face meetings marking the highest-level direct engagement between Washington and Tehran in decades. The talks in Pakistan were aimed at securing a peace agreement to end the weeks-long war. The core US delegation was led by Vance, who has now left Pakistan.
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The Iranian foreign ministry had warned earlier that the success of this weekend’s talks depended on Washington avoiding “excessive demands” and “unlawful requests”. Among issues discussed were the strategic strait of Hormuz, nuclear development, war reparations, and sanctions.
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The strait of Hormuz remains among the main points of “serious disagreement”, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Saturday.
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Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that Israel remains committed to keep fighting Iran. “Israel under my leadership will continue to fight Iran’s terror regime and its proxies,” Netanyahu wrote on social media. Israel was not present at the US-Iran talks.
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Donald Trump told reporters outside the White House that it made “no difference” to him if a deal was reached with Iran. “Regardless of what happens, we win,” Trump said. “Whether we make a deal or not, makes no difference to me.”
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The latest Israeli attacks on Lebanon have pushed the death toll to more than 2,000 with more than 6,300 wounded, according to the health ministry. Earlier, the Iranian negotiators demanded a ceasefire in Lebanon, reparations and commitment to unblock frozen assets as part of a peace deal in a preliminary meeting with Pakistani mediators.
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The US military says it “began setting conditions for clearing mines in the strait of Hormuz” in an update released on Saturday afternoon, saying two navy destroyers had transited the strait. A spokesperson for Iran’s joint military command later denied the claim by the US military that the navy destroyers transited the waterway.
