Pakistan says it is helping repatriate 30 Iranians
Pakistan is helping repatriate 30 Iranian nationals, including 22 crew members from a vessel recently interdicted by US authorities, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said on Wednesday.
“This includes 8 Iranian fishermen rescued at sea by the British vessel MMA Valour after their boat ran aground, and 22 Iranian crew members from the vessel Lenore/Davina, recently interdicted by US authorities,” he wrote on X.
They are expected to transit through Karachi in the coming days, he said, adding that Pakistan was coordinating with Iranian, US and UK authorities to ensure their safe return.
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar discussed the recent understandings between the United States and Iran in a phone call with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, Pakistan’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday.
“The two leaders exchanged views on the recent understandings reached between the United States and Iran and the forthcoming signing of the Memorandum of Understanding in Bürgenstock, Switzerland, on Friday,” the ministry said.
An Iranian lawmaker said on Wednesday that any diplomatic gains from US talks should not come at the expense of what he called “victories achieved through war and resistance.”
Ghasem Ravanbakhsh described Iran’s battlefield gains as failure to topple the Islamic Republic, control the Strait of Hormuz or prevent strikes on US bases in the region and targets in Israel.
“We are waiting from today for victories that come from the field of negotiations,” he said. “But never mind victory in diplomacy; do not turn the victories of resistance into defeat.”
Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon said on Wednesday that the international community “must not remain indifferent” to Iran’s repression, citing torture, mass graves, forced disappearances and families left without answers.
“The Iranian regime’s history is written in the suffering of its own people: torture chambers, mass graves, forced disappearances, and families left without answers. The victims of Iran’s repression, and their families, deserve truth, transparency, and accountability,” Danon said on X.
G7 leaders for a family photo before a cultural performance and concert during the G7 summit, in Evian-les-Bains, France, June 16, 2026.
G7 leaders welcomed on Wednesday the announcement of a deal between the United States and Iran, saying it offered a major opening to prevent Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon and address regional and missile-related threats.
“We welcome the announcement of a deal between the United States and Iran, secured under the strong leadership of President Trump, with the support of mediating countries,” the leaders said in a statement on geopolitical issues.
They said the agreement provided “an historic opportunity to prevent Iran from acquiring any nuclear weapon and tackling the threats related to its regional and ballistic activities.”
“We support and are ready to contribute to its implementation,” the statement said.
The Group of Seven also backed further diplomacy after the US-Iran memorandum of understanding, saying any follow-on negotiation should address threats posed by Iran “in the region and beyond” and include relevant partners, including the International Atomic Energy Agency.
“We reaffirm that Iran will never obtain a nuclear weapon,” the leaders said.
On Lebanon, the G7 tied its support to an immediate ceasefire and the disarmament of Iran-backed Hezbollah.
“In Lebanon, we support, through an immediate robust ceasefire, the Lebanese leadership’s efforts to achieve the disarmament of Hezbollah and the monopoly of arms, and to protect Lebanon’s territorial integrity and sovereignty with the appropriate international security guarantees,” the statement said.
The leaders also backed the resumption of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, saying “the right of transit passage without restrictions or tolls is the bedrock of international trade.”
They said a multinational defensive initiative led by France and the UK could help protect merchant vessels, reassure shipping operators and verify the removal of mines.
The G7 also pledged to reduce global vulnerability to the Strait of Hormuz by accelerating the diversification of energy supply routes and increasing energy stocks.
Qatar has begun bringing some of its liquefied natural gas tankers back toward the Middle East as it prepares to ramp up exports once the Strait of Hormuz reopens under a US-Iran deal, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, citing ship-tracking data.
At least four empty LNG vessels owned by Qatar recently began heading back toward the region after idling or sailing in another direction, while another Qatar-chartered ship is also heading there, the report said.
The tankers are signaling Ras Laffan, the world’s largest LNG export plant in Qatar, as their next destination.
Four other Qatar-linked tankers are idling in the Gulf of Oman and could try to pass through Hormuz into the Persian Gulf, Bloomberg reported. It said Qatar has not brought an empty vessel into the Persian Gulf since the war began in February.
