Iran downplays deal hopes as Pakistan pushes talks and US weighs strikes

Pakistan’s army chief Asim Munir met Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf in Tehran as part of ongoing diplomatic efforts over regional tensions, Iranian state media reported.

Munir also met Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian during his visit to Iran, with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi present, according to the report.

Al Arabiya, citing informed sources, reported that Munir had carried US messages to Tehran and that the messages included a threat to resume the war.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency said it received reports from several sources of suspicious activity in the Gulf of Aden.

UKMTO said a large skiff with two outboard engines had been observed carrying both ladders and weapons.

Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization said it had issued no new official aviation notice imposing restrictions on the country’s airspace and that flight conditions remained normal.

The organization’s spokesperson said flights were continuing according to schedule.

“Conditions in the country’s airspace remain as before, and flights are operating according to plan,” the spokesperson said.

Without giving details of the notice to airmen, or NOTAM, the spokesperson denied a notice recently circulated on social media.

The denial came after Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization said Friday that activity at airports in the western part of Iran’s flight information region, known as the Tehran FIR, had been suspended until Monday, with only a limited number of airports allowed to operate.

That earlier notice said several airports, including Urmia, Kerman, Abadan, Shiraz, Yazd, Kermanshah, Rasht and Ahvaz, were exempt from the restrictions but could operate only from sunrise to sunset.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy said 25 ships crossed the Strait of Hormuz over the past 24 hours.

Iran’s internet blackout has entered its 13th week, with international networks largely cut off for more than 2,016 hours, internet monitor NetBlocks said.

NetBlocks said daily life for most Iranians is now shaped by lost opportunities and limited access to information that people elsewhere can reach in seconds.

White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales said the United States has “met or surpassed all of our military objectives in Operation Epic Fury,” defending President Donald Trump’s handling of the Iran war.

“President Trump holds all the cards and wisely keeps all options on the table,” she added.

Alaeddin Boroujerdi, a member of Iran’s parliament National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, warned that the Islamic Republic would respond firmly and without restraint to any new hostile action.

Mohammad-Hassan Nami, a special aide to Iran’s interior minister, said 57 Muslim countries could become the world’s greatest power if they united and formed what he called an “Islamic NATO.”

Nami said such an alliance would benefit from major economic capacity and strategic locations, including the Strait of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab.

Iranian government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said Iran had stopped its enemies behind the country’s borders and secured its independence despite what she called aggression by the strongest military force in history, Mehr News Agency reported.

In a note defending President Masoud Pezeshkian’s “national unity” strategy, Mohajerani said the government had taken office at a critical moment after the death of Ebrahim Raisi and as tensions in West Asia were reaching a boiling point.

She said Iran had drawn on its military, logistical, economic,administrative and social capacity to withstand two wars – one in June and the more recent conflict that began in February.

She said Pezeshkian’s government had tried to avoid unnecessary political disputes, defend public rights, including women’s rights, and improve cooperation between branches of government.

“The government and the president will not take a step back from the path of national unity,” she wrote, adding that ignoring the government’s role in Iran’s wartime resilience would be unfair.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and his Omani counterpart Sayyid Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi discussed ongoing diplomatic efforts to prevent escalation in a phone call, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said.