Web Desk/AFP

Barakah power plant. (File photo: X/WAM news agency)

Middle East

Abu Dhabi’s media office says the fire broke out outside the facility’s inner perimeter and was brought under control while IAEA confirms radiation levels remain normal; Israeli forces continue to attack Lebanon and Gaza, violating the ceasefire.

Middle East roundup: UAE says drone that hit nuclear site crossed western border

Web Desk

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Saturday reaffirmed support for sustained diplomacy and regional peace, as Pakistan stepped up efforts to maintain momentum following recent Iran-related negotiations in Islamabad. The 50-minute call comes at a sensitive stage in regional diplomacy, after weeks of conflict between Iran and the United States disrupted energy flows, pushed oil prices sharply higher and rattled global markets. A fragile ceasefire brokered through Pakistan&rsquo;s mediation earlier this month created space for talks aimed at reducing tensions. During the conversation, Pakistani premier thanked Tehran for sending a high-level delegation led by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi to Islamabad for talks on April 11-12, and welcomed Araghchi&rsquo;s recent Friday visit to Pakistan for consultations on regional developments. According to Pakistan&rsquo;s Prime Minister&rsquo;s Office, PM Sharif said his recent diplomatic outreach to leaders in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and T&uuml;rkiye had helped build &ldquo;broader consensus&rdquo; in support of dialogue and diplomacy, with the aim of securing lasting peace in what it described as a war-affected region. Pakistan has positioned itself as a central mediator in the ongoing diplomatic process, facilitating initial contacts between Washington and Tehran while urging all sides to uphold the ceasefire. The talks have focused on key issues including regional security, sanctions, the Strait of Hormuz and broader stability. The Strait of Hormuz, through which a significant portion of the world&rsquo;s oil supply passes, became a major flashpoint during the conflict, triggering sharp rises in oil prices and adding to inflationary concerns globally. Its reopening under the ceasefire helped ease market pressures and renewed hopes for a diplomatic breakthrough. PM Sharif also thanked the Iranian leadership for what the Prime Minister&rsquo;s Office described as &ldquo;fruitful discussions&rdquo; with Pakistan&rsquo;s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, during his recent visit to Tehran, highlighting continued military and diplomatic coordination. President Pezeshkian thanked Sharif, according to the statement, Munir and Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar for their &ldquo;significant contribution&rdquo; to peace efforts and reaffirmed Iran&rsquo;s desire for peace, according to the statement. Both leaders agreed to maintain close coordination as diplomatic engagement continues.

Foreign Affairs

PM Sharif and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian reaffirmed support for diplomacy and peace, praised ceasefire efforts, highlighted Pakistan’s mediation role, and agrees to stay in close contact for continued dialogue.

Pakistan, Iran reaffirm diplomacy as regional peace efforts intensify

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday extended Eid al-Fitr and Nowruz greetings to Iran&rsquo;s President Masoud Pezeshkian, while expressing solidarity with the Iranian people amid what he described as &ldquo;ongoing hostilities&rdquo; in the region, the prime minister&rsquo;s office said. During his virtual call, Pezeshkian reciprocated the greetings and conveyed his best wishes for the people of Pakistan, the statement added. PM Sharif expressed &ldquo;deep condolences&rdquo; over the loss of lives and prayed for the recovery of those injured and displaced, the statement said. He also voiced &ldquo;serious concern&rdquo; over the situation in the Gulf, calling the hostilities &ldquo;dangerous&rdquo; and urging collective efforts for de-escalation and a return to dialogue and diplomacy among neighboring countries, the statement said. The prime minister stressed the importance of unity within the Muslim world, adding that Pakistan would continue diplomatic outreach and play a constructive role in promoting regional peace, according to the statement.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday extended Eid al-Fitr and Nowruz greetings to Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, while expressing solidarity with the Iranian people amid what he described as “ongoing hostilities” in the region, the prime minister’s office said

Pakistan PM extends Eid greetings, expresses solidarity with Iran amid ‘ongoing hostilities’

<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: source-sans-pro, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 600; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: capitalize; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: nowrap; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; display: inline !important; float: none;" id="isPasted">GENEVA: Iran and the United States began indirect talks in Switzerland on Thursday, a last-ditch bid to avert war following the biggest American military build-up in the Middle East in decades. The Oman-mediated discussions follow repeated threats from Donald Trump to strike Iran, with the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/us-presses-missile-issue-as-new-iran-talks-to-open-in-geneva" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">US president</a>&nbsp;last Thursday giving Tehran 15 days to reach a deal. The US and Iranian delegations arrived at the venue at the Omani ambassador&#39;s residence amid tight security, following a protest by Iranian exiles at their talks last week who threw objects at the Iranian motorcade. Oman&#39;s Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi later confirmed that discussions had begun, saying the two sides had expressed &quot;unprecedented openness to new and creative ideas and solutions&quot;. Iran&#39;s president insisted ahead of the talks that the Islamic republic was not &quot;at all&quot; seeking a nuclear weapon. &quot;Our Supreme Leader has already stated that we will not have nuclear weapons at all,&quot; President Masoud Pezeshkian said, in a reference to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. United Nations nuclear chief Rafael Grossi would likely also attend the discussions in Geneva, Iran&#39;s foreign ministry spokesman said. While Iran has insisted the talks focus solely on its nuclear program, the US wants Tehran&#39;s missile program and its &#39;support&#39; for groups in the region curtailed. As part of the dramatic US build-up, the USS Gerald R Ford, the world&#39;s largest aircraft carrier, sent to the Mediterranean this week, left a naval base in Crete on Thursday, an AFP photographer said. The developments follow massive protests in Iran. &#39;Sinister nuclear ambitions&#39;&nbsp;In his State of the Union address on Tuesday, Trump accused Iran of &quot;pursuing sinister nuclear ambitions&quot;, though Tehran has always insisted its program is for civilian purposes. Trump also claimed Tehran had &quot;already developed missiles that can threaten Europe and our bases overseas, and they&#39;re working to build missiles that will soon reach the United States of America&quot;. The Iranian foreign ministry called these claims &quot;big lies&quot;. The maximum range of Iran&#39;s missiles is 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) according to what Tehran has publicly disclosed. However, the US Congressional Research Service estimates they top out at about 3,000 kilometers -- less than a third of the distance to the continental United States. Trump&#39;s State of the Union accusations in Congress were delivered in the same forum in which then-president George W Bush laid out the case for the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Ahead of Thursday&#39;s talks, Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that Iran must also negotiate on its missile program, calling Tehran&#39;s refusal to discuss ballistic weapons &quot;a big, big problem.&quot; He followed up by saying, &quot;The president wants diplomatic solutions&quot;. But US Vice President JD Vance told Iran to take Trump&#39;s threats &quot;seriously,&quot; saying the US president had a &quot;right&quot; to use military action. &quot;You can&#39;t let the craziest and worst regime in the world have nuclear weapons,&quot; Vance told &quot;America&#39;s Newsroom&quot; on Fox News. &#39;A historic opportunity&#39;&nbsp;Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who is leading the Iranian delegation at the talks, had called them &quot;a historic opportunity,&quot; adding that a deal was &quot;within reach.&quot; The US will be represented by envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who is married to Trump&#39;s daughter Ivanka. The two countries held talks earlier this month in Oman, then gathered for a second round in Geneva last week. A previous attempt at negotiations collapsed when Israel launched surprise strikes on Iran last June, beginning a 12-day war that Washington briefly joined to bomb Iranian nuclear sites. In Jan., Tehran launched a mass crackdown on nationwide protests. Protests have since resumed around Iranian universities.

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian reiterates that Tehran is not seeking nuclear weapons in line with the policy set by the country’s Supreme Leader; on Feb. 19, Trump said Iran had 15 days to make a deal.

Iran-US talks begin in push to avert war

TEHRAN: The son of Iran&#39;s president, who is also a government adviser, on Saturday called for internet connectivity to be restored, warning that the more than two-week blackout there would exacerbate anti-government&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/iran-says-internet-to-gradually-return-to-normal" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="noopener noreferrer">sentiment</a>. Yousef Pezeshkian, whose father, Masoud, was elected president in 2024, said, &quot;Keeping the internet shut will create dissatisfaction and widen the gap between the people and the government.&quot; &quot;This means those who were not and are not dissatisfied will be added to the list of the dissatisfied,&quot; he wrote in a Telegram post that was later picked up by the official IRNA news agency. Such a risk, he said, was greater than that of a return to protests if connectivity were restored. Iran&#39;s more than 90 million people have been largely cut off from the internet since authorities imposed a <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/iran-says-3117-killed-in-protests-sparked-by-economic-grievances" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="noopener noreferrer">blackout</a> on Jan. 8 amid major protests sweeping the country. Under the cover of the blackout, they launched a deadly crackdown on protesters, with rights groups documenting several thousand dead and the Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights saying the final figure could top 25,000. The Iranian government has put the toll at 3,117, including 2,427 it has labelled &quot;martyrs,&quot; a term used to distinguish members of the security forces and innocent bystanders from those described by authorities as &quot;rioters&quot; incited by the <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/trump-says-us-still-watching-iran-fleet-sailing-to-region" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="noopener noreferrer">US</a> and Israel. The younger Pezeshkian, a media adviser to the presidency, said he did not know when internet access would be restored. He pointed to concerns about the &quot;release of videos and images related to last week&#39;s &#39;protests that turned violent&#39;&quot; as a reason the internet remained cut off, but criticised the logic. Quoting a Persian proverb, he posted &quot;&#39;He whose account is clean has nothing to fear from scrutiny.&#39;&quot; The president&#39;s son blamed foreign interference for the protests&#39; violent turn, but said &quot;the security and law enforcement forces may have made mistakes that no one intends to defend and that must be addressed.&quot; He went on to say that &quot;the release of films is something we will have to face sooner or later. Shutting down the internet won&#39;t solve anything; it will just postpone the issue.&quot;

Yousef Pezeshkian, whose father Masoud was elected president in 2024, said, 'Keeping the internet shut will create dissatisfaction and widen the gap between the people and the government.'

Articles tagged with "Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian"

Middle East roundup: UAE says drone that hit nuclear site crossed western border

Pakistan, Iran reaffirm diplomacy as regional peace efforts intensify

Pakistan PM extends Eid greetings, expresses solidarity with Iran amid ‘ongoing hostilities’

Iran-US talks begin in push to avert war

Son of Iranian president calls for end to internet blackout