Islamabad, Pakistan \u2013<\/strong> Pakistan\u2019s Foreign Ministry on Thursday confirmed that the United States and Iran were in discussions \u2013 through Islamabad \u2013 to hold a second meeting between their negotiators to end their now nearly seven-week war, with a fragile ceasefire announced on April 8 days away from expiring.<\/span><\/p>\n But it added that <\/span>no date had been set for that next round of negotiations, even as Islamabad stepped up a parallel diplomatic push to keep the process alive.<\/p>\n list of 4 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n \u201cWho will come, how big the delegation will be, who will stay, and who will go is for the parties to decide,\u201d Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tahir Andrabi told reporters in Islamabad, referring to what upcoming talks might look like. \u201cAs a mediator, it\u2019s important for us to keep the talks confidential. We had the details and information of the talks entrusted to us by the negotiating parties.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Speaking of the first round of talks on April 12 in Islamabad, which concluded without a deal, Andrabi said:\u00a0\u201cThere was neither a breakthrough nor a breakdown.\u201d<\/p>\n The spokesperson confirmed that nuclear issues remained among the key subjects under discussion, but declined to elaborate.<\/p>\n His comments came as Pakistan\u2019s civil and military leadership is travelling across the region in what some observers have begun calling the \u201cIslamabad Process\u201d, reflecting the government\u2019s attempt to frame negotiations as an ongoing diplomatic effort rather than a one-off engagement.<\/p>\n Pakistan\u2019s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif arrived in Doha on Thursday, the second stop of a four-day regional tour that began with Jeddah on Wednesday, and will see him visiting Antalya next.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Pakistan\u2019s Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) Asim Munir arrived in Tehran on Wednesday with a delegation that included Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi.<\/p>\n Munir was received at the airport with a warm hug from Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who said he was \u201cdelighted\u201d to welcome the field marshal and expressed gratitude for Pakistan\u2019s \u201cgracious hosting of dialogue\u201d.<\/p>\n On Thursday, Iranian Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who led Tehran\u2019s delegation at the Islamabad talks, also met Munir.<\/p>\n Reza Amiri Moghadam, Iran\u2019s ambassador to Pakistan, said at an event in Islamabad that Tehran would not consider any venue other than Pakistan for talks with Washington.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will do talks in Pakistan and nowhere else, because we trust Pakistan,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Muhammad Faisal, a Pakistani security analyst and scholar at the University of Technology Sydney, said the parallel outreach reflected a deliberate division of labour.<\/p>\n \u201cPakistan\u2019s strategy appears to be dual-tracked: PM Sharif is reassuring Gulf allies and attempting to build a broader support coalition, while CDF Munir is engaged in hard negotiations between the two sides to narrow gaps between Iran and the US, with an eye on extending the ceasefire and reaching a broader understanding,\u201d he told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n Reports that Munir might travel to Washington, DC after Tehran were denied by security officials, who called them \u201cspeculative\u201d. Andrabi said he was not aware of any such development.<\/p>\n In Jeddah on Wednesday, Sharif met Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and expressed \u201cfull solidarity and support\u201d for the kingdom following regional escalation, according to Pakistan\u2019s Foreign Ministry. The crown prince praised what Riyadh described as the \u201cconstructive role\u201d played by both Sharif and Munir.<\/p>\n In Doha, Sharif met Qatar\u2019s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and discussed \u201cthe regional situation, particularly in the Gulf region\u201d, underscoring \u201cthe importance of de-escalation, dialogue and close international coordination to ensure peace and stability\u201d, the prime minister\u2019s office said.<\/p>\n From Doha, Sharif heads to Antalya with Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar. They are expected to meet counterparts from Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and potentially Egypt on the sidelines of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum on April 17.<\/p>\n The Antalya meeting is part of a broader diplomatic effort. Turkiye is preparing to host talks on a regional security platform involving Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and possibly Egypt, according to officials familiar with the discussions.<\/p>\n It would be the third such meeting in a month, following earlier rounds of talks in Riyadh and Islamabad.<\/p>\n The goal is to establish a platform for regular, structured cooperation on regional security issues, the officials said, stressing the discussions are distinct from current efforts to end the Iran war.<\/p>\n Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan confirmed that discussions were under way, but said no agreement had been finalised.<\/p>\n \u201cThis pact is necessary so that countries can be assured of one another,\u201d he told the state-run Anadolu Agency on Monday.<\/p>\n Turkiye also reaffirmed support for the US-Iran peace process on Thursday.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will continue to provide the necessary support for the ongoing ceasefire to turn into a permanent truce and eventually lasting peace, without becoming more complex and difficult to manage,\u201d the Defence Ministry said, adding that it expected \u201cthe parties will be constructive in the ongoing negotiation process\u201d.<\/p>\n Pakistan\u2019s Foreign Ministry said senior officials from the four countries had also met in Islamabad earlier this week to prepare recommendations for Antalya.<\/p>\n The two-week ceasefire brokered by Pakistan on April 8, which halted attacks in Iran and the Gulf, is due to expire on April 22. While still holding, it is under increasing strain.<\/p>\n A US naval blockade on Iranian ports remains in place, with the US Central Command saying its forces had turned away nine ships as of Wednesday.<\/p>\n Kamran Yousuf, an Islamabad-based journalist and expert on diplomatic affairs, said he expected the ceasefire to be extended.<\/p>\n \u201cI would be really surprised if the current ceasefire is not extended. There is little appetite on both sides to go back to war. There are enough signs on the ground that if there is no deal before the truce expires, the ceasefire will be extended,\u201d he told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n Faisal offered a more cautious assessment, warning that failure to secure a second round would shift Pakistan\u2019s role.<\/p>\n \u201cPakistan\u2019s mediation will not collapse immediately, but Islamabad\u2019s role will change from mediator to crisis manager. If hostilities resume, Pakistan will focus again on brokering a ceasefire,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Despite uncertainty, signals from both Washington and Tehran have remained cautiously optimistic.<\/p>\n White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said further talks would \u201cvery likely\u201d take place in Islamabad, adding, \u201cWe feel good about the prospects of a deal.\u201d<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said multiple messages had been exchanged with Washington through Pakistan since April 12.<\/p>\n US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that talks could resume within two days and that Washington was \u201cmore inclined to go\u201d to Pakistan.<\/p>\n The path to a second round remains complicated by unresolved disputes.<\/p>\n Iran has insisted that Lebanon be included in any agreement, arguing that ongoing Israeli strikes there, which have killed more than 2,000 people and displaced 1.2 million, cannot be separated from the wider conflict.<\/p>\n On April 14, the United States convened a trilateral meeting in Washington with the ambassadors of Israel and Lebanon, the first direct engagement between the two sides since 1993.<\/p>\n US Secretary of State Marco Rubio mediated the talks, which both sides described as \u201cproductive\u201d, but no ceasefire or follow-up meeting was agreed.<\/p>\n Washington has maintained that any Lebanon deal must remain separate from US-Iran negotiations, rejecting Tehran\u2019s position. On Thursday, Israel said its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would speak on the phone with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun \u2014 but Beirut had not confirmed any plans for a telephone conversation. The two countries do not have formal diplomatic relations.<\/p>\n At Thursday\u2019s briefing, Andrabi aligned Pakistan with Iran on this issue.<\/p>\n \u201cPeace in Lebanon is essential for US-Iran peace talks,\u201d he said, adding that \u201csigns of improvement on the Israel-Lebanon front over the past two days are encouraging.\u201d<\/p>\n Yousuf said a Lebanon ceasefire would send an important signal to Iran.<\/p>\n \u201cExtending the ceasefire to Lebanon will be an important confidence-building measure, a signal from the US that it is serious about a second round. It will also give Tehran good reason to return to the table,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n But he added that the deeper challenge remained Iran\u2019s nuclear programme.<\/p>\n \u201cThe nuclear issue is at the heart of the real problem. The flurry of shuttle diplomacy initiated by Pakistan is aimed at bridging the gap between the two sides,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Grace Wermenbol, a former US national security official and senior visiting fellow at the German Marshall Fund, said Washington\u2019s approach to Lebanon would hinge on Trump\u2019s willingness to pressure Israel.<\/p>\n \u201cA clear pathway to a cessation of hostilities in Lebanon exists,\u201d she told Al Jazeera. \u201cThe question is whether Trump will be willing to apply the pressure necessary on Israel to halt its military offensive and allow the Lebanese government to continue its military disarmament efforts. So far, and this is also true for the months preceding the latest escalation between Israel and Hezbollah, we have not seen this pressure materialise.\u201d<\/p>\n The Strait of Hormuz remains another major obstacle.<\/p>\n The waterway, through which roughly a fifth of the world\u2019s oil passes during peacetime, has effectively been blocked by Iran since early in the war, except for ships belonging to countries that have struck individual deals with Tehran.<\/p>\n Starting Monday, the US imposed its own naval blockade on the strait, to prevent any Iran-linked vessel from passing through.<\/p>\n \u201cIran\u2019s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz has emerged as the primary issue in US-Iranian negotiations. Opening it is crucial to easing upward pressure on oil prices and instilling confidence in global markets,\u201d Wermenbol said.<\/p>\n She added that Tehran appeared to be betting Washington would eventually back down.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no easy military option here,\u201d she said. \u201cThe only way to resolve this issue and remove the threat to maritime traffic will need to involve a diplomatic deal.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Islamabad, Pakistan \u2013 Pakistan\u2019s Foreign Ministry on Thursday confirmed that the United States and Iran were in discussions \u2013 through Islamabad \u2013 to hold a second meeting between their negotiators to end their now nearly seven-week war, with a fragile ceasefire announced on April 8 days away from expiring. But it added that no date […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19206,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19205\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n
Parallel diplomatic tracks<\/h2>\n
![\"This](\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/afp_69e0d64702b4-1776342599.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C513&quality=80\")
Regional security push<\/h2>\n
Ceasefire under strain<\/h2>\n
![\"INTERACTIVE](\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/INTERACTIVE-Alternative-route-through0Dthe-Strait-of-Hormuz-APRIL-14-2026-1776162674.png?quality=80\")
<\/p>\nSticking points remain<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"