Iran on Sunday conveyed its response to a 15-point US proposal to end the ongoing Middle East war through Islamabad, as Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey held talks about trying to end the Gulf war.
Pakistan has emerged as a key facilitator between Iran and the United States as their war drags on, relaying messages between the two sides.
It is seeking to capitalise on its longstanding links with Tehran and close contacts in the Gulf, and the personal rapport that prime minister Shehbaz Sharif and army chief Asim Munir have struck up with US president Donald Trump.
Foreign minister Ishaq Dar said the talks, held under tight security at his ministry but without any US, Israeli or Iranian representation, came a ‘critical moment’.
‘Our candid and constructive discussions focus on the evolving regional situation and advancing peace and stability, while strengthening our partnership and deepening cooperation,’ he wrote on X.
Dar, who is also Pakistan’s deputy prime minister, held separate bilateral talks with his counterparts—Badr Abdelatty from Egypt, Hakan Fidan from Turkey, and Saudi Arabia’s Faisal bin Farhan. All three visitors also met Munir.
Tehran has refused to admit to holding official talks with Washington but has passed a response to Trump’s 15-point plan to end the war via Islamabad, according to an anonymous source cited by the Iranian Tasnim news agency.
The speaker of Iran’s parliament accused the United States on Sunday of plotting a ground attack despite publicly pushing for a negotiated deal, after a US warship with around 3,500 military personnel arrived in the Middle East.
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf’s comments come after more than a month of aerial bombardments by Iran by US and Israeli forces, and as key regional players met to hold talks in Pakistan.
The war has escalated into a regional conflagration as Iran has retaliated with attacks on Gulf states, sending energy markets into a tailspin and threatening the world economy.
‘The enemy publicly sends messages of negotiation and dialogue while secretly planning a ground attack,’ Ghalibaf said in a statement carried by the official IRNA news agency.
‘Our men are waiting for the arrival of the American soldiers on the ground to set them on fire and punish their regional allies once and for all,’ he added.
The Washington Post reported the Pentagon was preparing plans for weeks of ground operations—potentially including raids on sites near the Strait of Hormuz—though US president Donald Trump has yet to approve any deployment.
In Tehran, two blasts shook the city early Sunday, an AFP journalist said, although it was not clear what was targeted.
The Qatari news channel Al Araby said an Israeli missile hit the building housing its office in the city.
Iranian forces said they had fired a volley of missiles and drones at plants belonging to two of the world’s largest aluminium producers in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, targeting what they described as industries linked to the US military.
Emirates Global Aluminium said an Iranian attack wounded six and caused significant damage to its plant, while Bahraini state media said two Aluminium Bahrain employees were injured in a second attack.
As the spectre of a widening conflict grew, Yemen’s Houthis on Saturday claimed their first attack of the war, firing what they described as ‘a barrage of cruise missiles and drones’ at strategic sites in Israel.
The attacks raised concern about the war spreading to the Red Sea, with Saudi Arabia rerouting much of its oil exports there to avoid Hormuz.
On another front, Israeli attacks have continued in Lebanon, which was drawn into the war when Tehran-backed Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel on March 2.
On Saturday, the Israeli military killed three journalists in the south.
Hundreds of people gathered in the rain for the funeral of the three journalists near Beirut on Sunday.
Hundreds gathered in Tel Aviv and some other Israeli cities on Saturday to protest the Middle East war, in unauthorised demonstrations that security forces sought to disperse.
Numbers attending weekly protests against the war appear to be rising, though they are far from the tens of thousands who filled the streets last year to protest the conflict against Hamas in Gaza.
The American University of Beirut on Sunday said it would operate remotely over the next two days, following the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ threat to target US universities in the region.
‘Like many of you, we learned early this morning of threats issued against American universities in the region,’ AUB president Fadlo Khouri said in a statement.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard on Sunday threatened to target US universities in the Middle East after saying US-Israeli strikes had destroyed two Iranian universities.
Iran’s nationwide internet blackout was on its 30th consecutive day Sunday, leaving millions cut off from information and communication since the war with the United States and Israel erupted.
‘Iran’s internet blackout has now entered day 30 as the nationwide censorship measure continues into its fifth week after 696 hours,’ internet monitoring group NetBlocks said on X on Sunday.
