Iran war live: Tehran rejects talks under siege, Trump cancels envoys’ trip

The IRNA news agency is reporting that Araghchi and his Egyptian counterpart, Badr Abdelatty, “discussed and exchanged views on issues related to diplomacy and ceasefire, as well as the latest regional developments”.

It said Araghchi also held a call with Turkiye’s Hakan Fidan, but did not provide further details.

Turkiye’s Anadolu news agency, meanwhile, reported that the talks between Fidan and Araghchi “focused on the latest developments in the negotiation process between Iran and the US”.

It said Fidan also held a call with Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on the same matter.

President Trump did hint at the potential for something happening on Tuesday, but he did not provide any concrete details as to what exactly that might be.

If we want to talk about what we can expect without speculating too much regarding these negotiations, I believe that the burden, really, will fall on third-party mediators like Pakistan, who will be having to relay messages between Iran and Washington moving forward.

Militarily, the US is also going to continue to enforce its naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and… targeting of all maritime activity by Iran to continue to pressure Tehran militarily.

Economically, for now, there’s still no timeline, exactly, for when we can expect these talks to resume. We can expect mediators to be employing different diplomatic tools to encourage both sides to remain at the negotiating table and to continue the dialogue.

More than anything, right now, the focus, at least from US diplomats, is going to be to take advantage of this ongoing ceasefire to prevent anything that could threaten this delicate truce and that would lead these two countries to once again fall into open conflict.

The Israeli military says the fighters included a commander who had infiltrated Israel during the Hamas-led attacks of October 7, 2023.

It said the others were a Hamas platoon commander, who “led numerous attacks” against Israeli forces in Gaza, and the third was an operative in the group’s military intelligence unit.

The statement did not specify where or when the men were killed.

There was no immediate comment from Hamas.

Israeli forces have killed at least 72,585 Palestinians in Gaza since launching their genocidal war on the territory in October 2023. The vast majority of the victims were women and children. Since the “ceasefire” agreement in October last year, at least 809 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza.

President Masoud Pezeshkian and the foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, handed what was described as a workable framework to the mediator in Islamabad this morning, but we don’t know the details of the document yet.

But if we step back and look at the phone call between the president and the prime minister of Pakistan, we can see the stance of the Iranian officials.

Pezeshkian, in his fifth call with Shehbaz Sharif, said that the main issue right now is trust. He is also stressing that this blockade and pressure over the Strait of Hormuz and this military presence in the Sea of Oman is one of the main obstacles.

Actually, in the past few days, he described it as an act of war, as an act of violation of the last ceasefire, before it was extended again by Trump.

So there is a huge gap between the Iranians and Americans.

But we know that the Iranians right now are emphasising that the diplomacy is ongoing. They are open to dialogue, but they need a respectful environment before any progress can be made in the upcoming days.

UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan has met with India’s national security adviser, Ajit Doval, in Abu Dhabi, according to the WAM news agency.

The two men discussed the situation in the Middle East and its implications for regional and international security, stability, and global energy security.

#رئيس_الدولة يستقبل مستشار الأمن الوطني في الهند، ويبحثان تطورات الأوضاع في منطقة الشرق الأوسط وما تنطوي عليه من تداعيات خطيرة على الأمن والاستقرار الإقليمي والدولي وأمن الطاقة العالمي#وام https://t.co/IukUhil5mc pic.twitter.com/A3A2QhoLle

— وكالة أنباء الإمارات (@wamnews) April 25, 2026

Translation: The president receives the national security adviser of India, and they discuss developments in the situation in the Middle East region and the serious repercussions it entails for regional and international security, and stability, and global energy security

President Trump abruptly cancelling this planned trip to Islamabad by his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, certainly casts doubt over this latest round of negotiations that was supposed to take place in Islamabad.

It began as a social media post by Trump on his Truth Social account, saying that this meeting had been cancelled, after which he spoke to reporters at great length. He spoke about the document that was reportedly left in Islamabad by Iranian negotiators for their American counterparts. He said that the Iranians offered something, but that it was simply not enough.

The president also said that this trip would take too long and there was no justification for sending his top negotiators for something that would not yield results favourable enough to the US interests.

President Trump reiterated that the US has all the cards, but has still left many questions here unanswered.

I think one of the things that’s very important to underscore here, however, is that even though these latest round of talks have stalled, it doesn’t mean that the diplomatic window has closed. On the contrary, President Trump, in his own words, quite literally said that if Iran wants to talk, all they have to do is pick up the phone and call.

Trump’s decision to cancel a planned delegation to Pakistan comes amid confusion over whether new talks with Iran will take place.

Tehran has repeatedly denied that any direct negotiations with Washington were planned, insisting that engagement would only happen through mediators.

In the video below, we look at Pakistan’s efforts to keep diplomacy alive.

• US President Donald Trump has cancelled his envoys’ visit to Pakistan for negotiations, saying Iran did not make a satisfactory offer.
• Trump’s announcement followed the departure of Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, from Pakistan, where he presented mediators with a potential framework for ending the conflict.
• Araghchi is now in Oman for discussions on regional developments, and Iranian media say he is expected to return to Islamabad before travelling on to Russia.
• Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian has told Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif that Tehran will not enter into negotiations with the US under threats or siege.
• US Central Command said a Navy helicopter is escorting the M/V Sevan, an intercepted ship affiliated with the Iranian “shadow fleet”, back to Iran.
• Israel carries out more attacks in southern Lebanon after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu orders “forceful” strikes, accusing Hezbollah of sabotaging peace efforts.

Hello, and welcome to our live coverage of the ceasefire in the United States and Israel’s war on Iran.

Stay with us for the latest news and analysis from across the Middle East and beyond.

You can find our updates from Saturday, April 25, here.