The milestone came as mediator Pakistan delivered a message to Iran’s supreme leader following weeks of indirect negotiations punctuated by tit-for-tat threats and sporadic exchanges of fire.<\/p>\n
Efforts to turn a ceasefire into a lasting settlement have repeatedly stalled, while the war has rattled global markets and increased domestic pressure on US President Donald Trump ahead of midterm elections.<\/p>\n
The uncertainty is weighing on everyday Iranians too, with fitness trainer Elaheh from Ahvaz telling AFP: “I really have gone numb.”<\/p>\n
“Daily life? It’s a joke. Everything is horrible. We only try to survive,” the 32-year-old added, pointing to rising prices.<\/p>\n
Farhad, a 35-year-old chef, also said life was becoming “increasingly difficult”, noting economic hardship had set in even before the war.<\/p>\n
“Things that just a few months ago you might have considered buying have now become dreams and fairy tales,” he told AFP.<\/p>\n
Pakistan mediation<\/p>\n
But there were signs of fresh diplomatic efforts over the weekend, with Pakistan’s interior minister Mohsin Naqvi visiting Tehran.<\/p>\n
Naqvi said upon his arrival Saturday that he would deliver a “special letter” from Pakistani army chief to Iran’s supreme leader, as well as a message from the prime minister “regarding the current situation”, according to Iranian state television.<\/p>\n
“I think it’s a very important message,” said Naqvi, a frequent visitor to Iran.<\/p>\n
Pakistani military leader Syed Asim Munir has played a key role in mediating between Iran and the US following an initial round of direct negotiations in Islamabad.<\/p>\n
Also on Saturday, Lebanese army chief Rodolphe Haykal travelled to Pakistan for his own talks with Munir, as Beirut also seeks a permanent end to the parallel conflict playing out on its soil between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah.<\/p>\n
Iran insists Lebanon be included in any agreement to end the regional war, and a source with knowledge of Haykal’s visit said it was “linked to the Pakistani mediation” between Tehran and Washington.<\/p>\n
‘Deadlock’<\/p>\n
His trip came as US Central Command (CENTCOM) said it destroyed two Iranian drones “that threatened international maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz”.<\/p>\n
A previous drone interception and strikes on Iranian radar sites had prompted Tehran on Saturday to fire a salvo of missiles at US allies Bahrain and Kuwait.<\/p>\n
Farhad, the chef, told AFP such exchanges felt routine at this point.<\/p>\n
“I feel like this situation is going to stay like this for a while; a sort of suspended, up-in-the-air state where those guys fire a few missiles, these guys launch a few drones,” he said.<\/p>\n
Mohsen Rezaei, military adviser to Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, had earlier told CNN that negotiations with the US “are at a deadlock, and Trump must break this deadlock”, as he called for the release of some $24 billion in frozen Iranian assets.<\/p>\n
But Washington instead may seek to use those funds to pay for damage wrought by Iranian strikes on Gulf allies.<\/p>\n
The US will work “to allow Iranian assets to be made available to our Gulf allies to support rebuilding and repairs”, a source familiar with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s thinking said.<\/p>\n
Iran’s top diplomat Abbas Araghchi, in an intervew with CNN published Sunday, described negotiating with Washington as “very cumbersome”.<\/p>\n
“The main problem of negotiating with this administration is that you have to face so many changing positions, moving the goal posts, different statements, contradictory remarks,” he said.<\/p>\n
Lebanon front<\/p>\n
Lebanon was drawn into the wider war when Hezbollah attacked Israel on March 2 in support of Iran. <\/p>\n
An April ceasefire was never observed, while a new conditional truce agreement announced in recent days was rejected by Hezbollah almost immediately.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Sunday that his military had “struck a militant command centre” Sunday in Beirut’s southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, in response to “fire towards Israeli territory”.<\/p>\n
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said the strikes targeted two apartments in two buildings.<\/p>\n
An AFP photographer saw two apartments damaged in a building on a narrow street, and traffic congestion as residents tried to leave the suburb while the Lebanese army deployed to the area.<\/p>\n
Iran’s Araghchi had previously warned that any attack on Beirut would trigger a “full-scale resumption” of the Middle East war<\/p>\n
burs\/smw\/dc<\/p>\n
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