US-Iran negotiations stretched into a second day in Islamabad on Sunday, with a White House official telling US media the talks had run '15 hours and counting.' Expert-level committees covering economic, military, legal, and nuclear issues exchanged written texts following in-person sessions at the Serena Hotel, marking the most substantive direct engagement between the two governments in years. The US delegation is led by Vice President JD Vance, accompanied by Jared Kushner and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff; Iran's delegation is led by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, with Supreme National Defence Council Secretary Ali Akbar Ahmadian and central bank governor Abdolnaser Hemmati also present. The talks take place inside a two-week ceasefire Pakistan brokered on April 8, pausing a US-Israeli war against Iran that began February 28. Iran entered with preconditions, a halt to Israeli strikes in Lebanon and release of approximately $7 billion in frozen assets, with Tehran conditioning continued participation on both. Core gaps remain wide: the US seeks enrichment limits and nuclear material removal; Iran demands full sanctions relief, recognition of nuclear rights, Strait of Hormuz navigation guarantees, and frozen fund access. Officials and analysts caution that a substantive breakthrough within the two-day window is unlikely, with the more realistic outcome being a framework for continued talks.
Iranian armed forces attacked a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, briefly halting traffic through the waterway. The strike threatens a fragile US-Iran arrangement and could push shipping insurance costs and oil prices higher.
The US has struck Iran, with President Trump citing an Iranian attack on a ship in the Strait of Hormuz as justification. The action raises immediate risks for global oil flows through one of the world's most critical shipping chokepoints.
The US struck ten Iranian targets on the second consecutive day of military action, putting a fragile ceasefire under serious pressure. The escalation raises immediate risks for Gulf shipping, global oil supply, and regional stability.
Venezuela's twin earthquakes, magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5, have killed at least 164 people and injured 971, interim president Delcy Rodriguez confirmed Thursday. The quakes are the country's strongest since 1900, collapsing buildings across Caracas and prompting a state of emergency, with the death toll expected to rise as
