Issued on: 25/04/2026 - 07:13Modified: 25/04/2026 - 22:12
President Donald Trump said he told top US envoys not to travel to Pakistan to negotiate with Iran, telling Fox News that ″they can call us anytime they want”. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi left Pakistan on Saturday evening, after talks with Pakistani leaders on what he called Iran's red lines for negotiations. Read our blog to see how the day's events unfolded.
Iran's Araqchi expected to visit Pakistan again after Oman trip, Mehr reports
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi is expected to visit mediator Pakistan again after completing his trip to Oman, before traveling to Russia, Iran's Mehr news agency reported.
Araqchi earlier left the Pakistani capital Islamabad without any sign of a breakthrough in peace talks with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and other senior officials over the Iran war.
Iranian leader knows the 'leverage' they have over the Strait of Hormuz, says admiral
Washington and Tehran are at an impasse as Iran has largely closed the Strait of Hormuz, which normally carries one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments, while the US blocks Iran's oil exports.
Iran's leaders knows the 'leverage' they have over the Strait of Hormuz and it's a core part of their playbook, said Vice Admiral Duncan L. Potts, director of Universal Defence and Security Solutions.
Pakistan PM says he spoke to Iran's President about regional situation
Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said he had spoken with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the evolving regional situation.
"Pakistan remains committed to serve as an honest and sincere facilitator - working tirelessly to advance durable peace and lasting stability in the region," Sharif said in a post on social media platform X.
Israel PM orders attacks on Hezbollah after army alleges truce violations
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the military to strike Lebanon's Hezbollah hard after what the army said was a string of ceasefire violations.
According to a brief statement from his office, the premier "ordered the IDF to forcefully attack Hezbollah targets in Lebanon", after the military said the Iran-backed group had violated a ceasefire that was extended earlier this week.
US says it's hunting for explosive mines in latest push to open the Strait of Hormuz
President Donald Trump says the US Navy is clearing Iranian mines from the Strait of Hormuz, a vital sea route for oil shipments whose disruption is increasingly threatening the global economy.
Sweeping for underwater explosives could take months despite a tenuous ceasefire between the United States and Iran in the weeks-long war, experts say. Any future claims that the US cleared the waterway where 20% of the world's oil typically passes might fail to convince commercial freighters and their insurers that it is finally safe.
“You don’t even have to have laid mines– you just have to make people believe that you’ve laid mines," said Emma Salisbury, a scholar at the Foreign Policy Research Institute’s National Security Program.
Six killed in Israeli strikes on south Lebanon, says health ministry
Lebanon's health ministry said Israeli strikes in the country's south killed six people, despite a ceasefire that was extended this week in the war between Israel and militant group Hezbollah.
"Two Israeli enemy strikes, on a truck and a motorbike, in the town of Yohmor al-Shaqeef in the Nabatieh district killed four people," a ministry statement said.
It later reported that an "Israeli enemy airstrike on the town of Safad al-Battikh, in the Bint Jbeil district, resulted in two fatalities and 17 injuries".
Trump says 'nobody knows who is in charge' of Iran as he cancels envoy trip
US President Donald Trump said it was unclear who was running Iran as he canceled his envoys' trip to Pakistan for negotiations towards ending the war.
"There is tremendous infighting and confusion within their 'leadership.' Nobody knows who is in charge, including them," Trump said on his Truth Social platform.
Iran FM says 'yet to see if the US is truly serious about diplomacy'
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that it remained to be seen whether the United States was "truly serious" about diplomacy, after he completed a visit to Pakistan where he met with senior officials.
In a post on X after leaving Islamabad, Araghchi said he had "shared Iran's position concerning (a) workable framework to permanently end the war", but he had "yet to see if the US is truly serious about diplomacy".
Shortly after his departure, US President Donald Trump said Washington would no longer be sending envoys to Islamabad for talks.
Trumps says he canceled envoys' trip to Iran talks in Pakistan
US President Donald Trump told Fox News he had ordered his envoys not to travel to Pakistan to continue talks with Iranian officials on ending the war.
"I've told my people a little while ago they were getting ready to leave, and I said, 'Nope, you're not making an 18 hour flight to go there. We have all the cards. They can call us anytime they want, but you're not going to be making any more 18 hour flights to sit around talking about nothing,'" Fox News reported the president as saying in a phone call.
Asked whether the cancellation meant he would resume the war, Trump told Axios: "No. It doesn't mean that. We haven't thought about it yet."
Iran president calls on people to save energy
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian called on his people to conserve electricity, warning that while there were no shortages at present, the US and Israel aimed to sow "dissatisfaction" among the Iranian people.
"We have asked our dear people, who are now ready and present on the ground, a simple request. And that is to reduce their own electricity and energy consumption," the president said on state TV.
"We do not need people to sacrifice for the time being, but we do need to control consumption. Instead of 10 lights, two lights should be turned on in the house – what is wrong with that?" he added.
Iran FM leaves Pakistan ahead of planned visit by US envoys
Iran's foreign minister wrapped up a diplomatic visit to Islamabad before the planned arrival of US negotiators, as Pakistani mediators pushed for new talks to end the Middle East war.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met Field Marshal Asim Munir, Pakistan's army chief and a key figure in the mediation effort, as well as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar.
Araghchi, according to an Iranian statement, thanked Pakistan for its efforts but "explained our country's principled positions regarding the latest developments related to the ceasefire and the complete end of the imposed war against Iran".
Iran rules out talks with US unless blockade of ports lifted
US envoys were expected in the Pakistani capital on Saturday to kickstart a new round of peace negotiations with Iran, although Iranian state media said Tehran's representatives had no immediate plans to hold face-to-face talks. "According to Tehran, until and unless that blockade (of Iranian ports) is lifted, the conditions are not ripe for diplomacy," FRANCE 24's Reza Sayah said, reporting from Tehran.
Iranian delegation flown out of Pakistan
Oil tanker hijacked off Somalia, says maritime agency
An oil tanker has been hijacked off the coast of Somalia and taken into its territorial waters, the British maritime security agency UKMTO said on Saturday.
The development added to risks for navigating in the Red Sea, which has become a more important supply route given the Iranian stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz at the entrance to the Gulf, on the other side of the Arabian Peninsula.
The tanker was seized northeast of the Somali city of Mareeyo on Tuesday, UKMTO said.
Despite Iran tensions, King Charles III will follow his mother's lead in celebrating US-UK bonds
The challenge for King Charles III when he embarks on next week's state visit to the US is, as always, to live up to his mother’s example.
The late Queen Elizabeth II wowed Congress in 1991 with a speech that celebrated the shared democratic traditions of Britain and the United States, quoted Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Ralph Waldo Emerson, and highlighted the deep bonds between the two nations.
Those themes will also be at the top of Charles’ agenda as he celebrates America's 250th birthday and seeks to calm tensions surrounding Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s refusal to support US President Donald Trump’s war against Iran, said Douglas Brinkley, a presidential historian at Rice University in Texas.
Trump to send envoys to Islamabad as Iran rules out direct talks
US envoys are expected to travel to Pakistan on Saturday in a new bid to salvage ceasefire talks with Tehran, even as Iran's top diplomat arrived in Islamabad and ruled out direct negotiations with US representatives.
The latest effort to broker a deal in Islamabad comes as an indefinite ceasefire has paused most fighting, but the economic fallout is still mounting with global energy shipments disrupted by the near closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Four killed in Israeli strikes on south Lebanon, says health ministry
Four people were killed in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon, Lebanon's state news agency reported.
On Friday, six people were killed in Lebanon, the deadliest day during the ceasefire that was recently extended.
Iran military says will respond if US blockade and 'banditry' continues
Iran's military said it would respond if the United States maintained its blockade of Iranian ports, calling it "banditry" and "piracy".
In a statement carried by state-run media outlet IRIB, the military's central command Khatam Al-Anbiya said that if "the invading US military continues blockading, banditry, and piracy in the region, they should be certain that they will face a response from Iran's powerful armed forces".
"We are ready and determined, while monitoring the behaviour and movements of enemies," it added.
Yesterday's key developments:
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in Islamabad on Friday, Pakistan's foreign ministry said, adding that he did not plan to participate in direct talks with the US.
US President Donald Trump said he was sending special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Islamabad for talks with Araghchi, CNN reported on Friday.
An Indonesian blue helmet stationed in Lebanon died as a result of wounds suffered on March 29 in an attack on his base the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, UNIFIL, announced on Friday.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
Keywords for this article
The content you requested does not exist or is not available anymore.
