ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif held separate meetings on Saturday with the top American and Iranian delegations as high-stakes negotiations opened here to transform a fragile two-week ceasefire into a lasting end to the six-week Middle East war that has killed thousands, disrupted global energy supplies and shaken the world economy.
Lead
UPDATED – Islamabad braces for historic US-Iran face off
ISLAMABAD: United States Vice President JD Vance and his delegation arrived in Islamabad on Saturday morning for the first direct high-level negotiations between Washington and Tehran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, as Pakistan seeks to transform a fragile two-week ceasefire into a durable end to six weeks of war.
Islamabad braces for historic US-Iran face off
ISLAMABAD: A high-level Iranian delegation led by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in Islamabad early Saturday for the first direct negotiations between Washington and Tehran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, as Pakistan attempts to broker an end to the Middle East conflict that has roiled the region since late February.
Pakistan Navy rescues 18 crew members from distressed merchant vessel in Arabian Sea
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Navy on Friday evacuated 18 crew members, including foreign nationals from China, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Vietnam and Indonesia, from a merchant ship that issued a distress call while sailing in the North Arabian Sea roughly 200 nautical miles off Pakistan’s coast.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari warns of ‘no plan B’ if high-stakes US-Iran talks collapse
ISLAMABAD: Former Pakistani foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said on Friday that the international community has no fallback strategy if weekend peace negotiations between the United States and Iran collapse, urging both sides to seize the current two-week ceasefire and forge a lasting resolution to the conflict that has roiled the Middle East and sent economic shock waves worldwide.
Pakistan cuts diesel price by Rs135 a liter, petrol by Rs12 as Sharif hails ceasefire diplomacy
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced on Friday that Pakistan will slash the price of high-speed diesel by Rs135 a liter and petrol by Rs12 a liter, passing on relief from falling global oil prices to consumers and farmers as a fragile Middle East ceasefire takes hold.
US dispatches Vance to Pakistan for high-stakes Iran negotiations
ISLAMABAD: Vice President JD Vance departed on Friday for Islamabad, leading an American delegation to direct negotiations with Iranian officials in a bid to convert a fragile two-week ceasefire into a more durable accord.
Sindh orders early shop closings across Pakistan’s financial hub to curb energy use amid fuel crisis
KARACHI: The Sindh provincial government on Friday directed all shops, markets and shopping malls in Karachi and the province’s other divisional headquarters to shut by 9 p.m. every day of the week, including Saturdays and Sundays, as part of a sweeping set of austerity measures aimed at conserving energy during a global fuel crisis triggered by the U.S.-Israel war on Iran.
Pakistan economy on firmer footing but Middle East conflict clouds outlook, ADB warns
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s economy is expected to sustain its recovery over the next two years as manufacturing rebounds and private investment gathers pace, the Asian Development Bank said Friday, even as the escalating conflict in the Middle East poses “significant” risks to growth, inflation and external balances.
Pakistan hosts high-stakes US-Iran talks in Islamabad as shaky ceasefire strains under disputes over Lebanon and oil flows
By Staff Reporter ISLAMABAD: The streets of Pakistan’s capital lay eerily quiet Friday under a sweeping security lockdown, as authorities prepared to welcome senior American