Pakistan Readies for Peace Talks as Iran Charges U.S. with Ground Attack Plans

Pakistan’s Role in Regional Diplomacy

Pakistan has announced its intention to host “meaningful talks” aimed at ending the ongoing conflict involving Iran, with the potential for discussions between the United States and Iran taking place in the coming days. Despite this, Iran has indicated that it is prepared to respond if the U.S. decides to deploy ground troops.

Following a meeting of regional foreign ministers, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar highlighted the efforts made to explore ways to bring an early and permanent end to the conflict in the region. He also mentioned the possibility of U.S.-Iran talks in Islamabad.

“Pakistan will be honored to host and facilitate meaningful talks between the two sides in the coming days, for a comprehensive and lasting settlement of the ongoing conflict,” Dar stated. However, it remains unclear whether the U.S. and Iran have agreed to participate in such discussions.

The U.S. State Department and the White House have not yet responded to requests for comment on the potential talks in Pakistan.

Challenges in Negotiations

Complicating Pakistan’s efforts are the maximalist positions held by the United States, Israel, and Iran regarding what it would take to end the conflict. Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, accused the U.S. of sending messages about possible negotiations while simultaneously planning to send in troops. He added that Tehran was ready to respond if U.S. soldiers were deployed.

“As long as the Americans seek Iran’s surrender, our response is that we will never accept humiliation,” he said in a message to the nation.

Regional Powers Propose Plans to Reopen Strait of Hormuz

Initial discussions between Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Egypt focused on proposals to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to shipping, according to sources familiar with the matter. Iran’s effective blockade of oil and gas shipments through the strait since the U.S. and Israel began attacking the country on February 28 has caused economic pain around the world.

As the conflict entered its second month, it showed no signs of slowing down. Israel’s military reported launching over 140 air strikes on central and western Iran, including Tehran, over the 24 hours to Sunday evening, targeting ballistic missile launch sites and storage facilities, among other locations.

Iranian state media reported that strikes had hit Mehrabad airport and a petrochemical plant in the northern city of Tabriz. The director of the World Health Organization noted that Israel’s expanding military operations in southern Lebanon resulted in the death of “yet another” health worker after 51 had already been killed. Israel claims that Iran-backed Hezbollah militants use medical facilities for cover, which the group denies.

A chemical plant in southern Israel near the city of Beer Sheva was hit by a missile or missile debris as Israel fended off multiple salvos from Iran, prompting official warnings to the public to stay away due to “hazardous materials.” Another missile hit open ground near homes in Beer Sheva, located near several military bases, injuring 11 people.

The war has killed thousands of people and affected countries across the Middle East: major aluminium plants in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates were damaged by air strikes over the weekend.

The UAE is seeking reparations from Iran for attacks on civilians and vital facilities and guarantees to prevent any repetition, an adviser to the president said.

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis joined the conflict on Saturday, launching their first attacks on Israel and raising the prospect they could target and thus block a second key shipping route, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Israeli authorities said on Sunday that they had intercepted two drones launched from Yemen.

U.S. Marines have started arriving in the Middle East. Washington has dispatched thousands of Marines to the Middle East, with the first of two contingents arriving on Friday aboard an amphibious assault ship, the U.S. military has said. The Washington Post quoted U.S. officials as saying the Pentagon was preparing for weeks of ground operations in Iran, adding that it was not yet clear if President Donald Trump would approve such plans.

has reported that the Pentagon has considered military options that could include ground forces. Trump faces a stark choice between seeking a negotiated exit or a military escalation that risks a protracted crisis that would likely weigh further on his already low approval ratings.

Washington said last week it had offered a 15-point ceasefire plan, with a proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and restrict Iran’s nuclear programme, but Tehran has rejected the proposal and put forward alternatives of its own.

Israel’s Continued Strikes on Iran

An Israeli official said Israel would continue carrying out strikes against Iran on what were described as military targets, adding there was no intention to scale back the campaign ahead of any possible talks between Washington and Tehran. A building housing Qatar’s Al-Araby TV in Tehran was hit on Sunday, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported.

“The missile hit. The ceiling and everything fell on our heads. … There was no military target here,” said Al-Araby camera operator Mohammadreza Shademan.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said on Sunday that Iran’s heavy water production plant at Khondab, which the country reported had been attacked on Friday, had suffered severe damage and is no longer operational. The installation contains no declared nuclear material, the U.N. nuclear watchdog added in a social media post on X.

The increasingly unpopular war has weighed on Trump’s Republican Party. Demonstrators took to city streets across the U.S. on Saturday in protests against the conflict. U.S. political figures offered sharply different assessments on the duration of the conflict and its aims.

“It is going to be a matter of weeks when all of the objectives will be carried out,” Republican Senate candidate Andy Barr said on the “Fox News Sunday” program. “This is not going to be an occupation of Tehran.”

But Democratic lawmakers said the strategy was failing, citing U.S. casualties and Iran’s ongoing attacks on nearby regions. “This president is pushing us further and further into a conflict with no foreseeable off-ramp,” Senator Cory Booker, a New Jersey Democrat, told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”