Pakistan’s army chief Asim Munir has traveled to Tehran for meetings with senior Iranian officials, IRNA reported on Friday. A Qatari negotiating team arrived in Tehran on Friday in coordination with the United States to help secure a deal aimed at ending the war.
Iran’s state-affiliated ISNA news agency reported that the ongoing exchange of messages between Tehran and Washington is intended to establish a framework for a possible agreement.
The United States sanctions nine individuals, including Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, accusing them of obstructing Lebanon’s peace process and helping preserve Hezbollah’s influence over state institutions.
Republican leaders postponed a War Powers vote on Iran on Thursday, drawing criticism from Democratic Congressman Mike Levin, who said the move was meant to avoid a likely bipartisan rebuke.
President Donald Trump told reporters the United States will "get the highly enriched" uranium stockpiles from Iran. He also ruled out Iran's Hormuz toll plan.
France has drafted a UN Security Council resolution to create an international mission to restore shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the French Foreign Ministry said, as a rival US-Bahrain proposal remains stalled over possible Russian and Chinese vetoes.
Any understanding reached between Iran and the US would take the form of a one-page agreement called the “Islamabad Declaration", Al-Arabiya reported on Friday citing informed sources.
Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi's meetings in Tehran enabled the negotiations to progress "in an important direction," which is why Field Marshall Munir is coming to join the efforts, CBS reported citing a top Pakistani official.
Munir is expected to hold meetings with senior Iranian officials to discuss key regional and international issues, including the ongoing Iran-US negotiations, the report said citing sources.
EU nations moved Friday toward imposing sanctions on Iranian officials and others involved in blocking the Strait of Hormuz, calling the blockade “contrary to international law.”
The bloc took a technical step to expand its existing Iran sanctions framework, allowing more individuals to be listed under the regime.
“The EU will now be able to introduce further restrictive measures in response to Iran's actions undermining the freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz,” the European Council representing EU nations said.
"We all would love to see an agreement with Iran in which the straits are open and they abandon their nuclear ambitions... That's what we would all hope for... But we also have to have a plan B," US Secretary of State Maro Rubio told reporters in Sweden.
A Qatari negotiating team arrived in Tehran on Friday in coordination with the United States to help secure a deal aimed at ending the war and resolving outstanding disputes, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Doha had largely avoided a mediation role in the conflict after Iranian missile and drone attacks targeted Qatar during the latest fighting, despite its broader role in regional diplomacy.
Tabriz’s Friday prayer leader said Iran would turn any conflict into an international war if attacks against the country continued.
Ahmad Motahari Asl said Tehran had previously warned it could expand fighting across the region and threatened further escalation if what he called “aggression” against Iran and its allies persisted.
“Rehearsals for a Revolution,” Iranian director Pegah Ahangarani’s documentary tracing decades of political repression and resistance in Iran, won the L’Oeil d’or prize for best documentary at the Cannes Film Festival on Friday.
Accepting the award alongside Cannes delegate Thierry Frémaux, Ahangarani dedicated the prize to the people of Iran. The film combines archival footage and personal narratives to recount more than four decades of upheaval and crackdowns in Iran.
Ahangarani’s Rehearsals for a Revolution has also been scooped up by Sony Pictures Classics.
Ahvaz’s Friday prayer leader says Iran would flatten Tel Aviv and regional capitals including Riyadh, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait City and Manama if its enemies made what he called a “strategic mistake.”
Mohammad Nabi Mousavifard said Tehran would deliver a forceful response against the United States to establish “full deterrence” and rejected calls for compromise with Washington.