ISLAMABAD — Pakistan announced Sunday that it will soon host talks between the U.S. and Iran, though there was no immediate word from Washington or Tehran, and it was unclear whether the talks on the monthlong war would be direct or indirect.
"Pakistan is very happy that both Iran and the U.S. have expressed their confidence in Pakistan to facilitate the talks. Pakistan will be honored to host and facilitate meaningful talks between the two sides in the coming days,” Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said in a speech after top diplomats from Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia met in Islamabad. They are expected to meet again Monday.
Pakistan's foreign ministry did not answer questions. Islamabad has emerged as a mediator, having relatively good ties with Washington and Tehran. Pakistani officials have said their public effort follows weeks of quiet diplomacy.
Earlier, Iran's parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, dismissed the talks in Pakistan as a cover after some 2,500 U.S. Marines trained in amphibious landings arrived in the Middle East. He said Iranian forces were "waiting for the arrival of American troops on the ground to set them on fire and punish their regional partners forever," according to state media.
Meanwhile in Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military will widen its invasion of Lebanon, expanding the "existing security strip" in that country's south while targeting the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group. No details were released.
War has threatened global trade
The war has threatened global supplies of oil, natural gas and fertilizer and disrupted air travel. Iran's grip on the strategic Strait of Hormuz has shaken markets and prices, and now the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels ' entry into the war could threaten shipping on another crucial waterway, the Bab el-Mandeb strait to the Red Sea.
“We don’t know at what moment our homes could be targeted,” said Razzak Saghir al-Mousawi, 71, describing relentless airstrikes as Iranians crossing into Iraq urged the United States to end the war. “I am definitely afraid.”
Witnesses reported more strikes Sunday night in Tehran, and state media cited Iran’s energy ministry as saying power was cut in Tehran and Alborz provinces after attacks on electricity facilities.
More than 3,000 people have been killed in the war that began with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran that triggered Iranian attacks on Israel and neighboring Gulf Arab states. The war continues on the digital front as well.
Egypt says meetings aim for ‘direct dialogue’
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said the meetings in Pakistan are aimed at opening a "direct dialogue" between the U.S. and Iran, which have largely communicated through mediators. Both this war and last year's 12-day war began during rounds of indirect talks. Pakistan said the foreign ministers met Sunday without U.S. or Israeli participation.
Iranian officials have rejected a U.S. 15-point “action list” as a framework for a possible peace deal and publicly dismissed the idea of negotiating under pressure. But Iran’s state broadcaster reported last week that Tehran had drafted its own five-point proposal reportedly calling for a halt to killing Iranian officials, guarantees against future attacks, reparations and Iran’s “exercise of sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz.”
Iran has eased some restrictions on commercial ships in the strait, agreeing late Saturday to allow 20 more Pakistani-flagged vessels to pass through. It "sends a clear signal that Iran remains open for business with the world, provided the United States abandons coercion," said Asif Durrani, Pakistan's former ambassador to Iran.
An adviser to the United Arab Emirates, Anwar Gargash, called for any settlement to the war to include “clear guarantees” that Iranian attacks on neighbors will not be repeated. He said Iran's government has become “the main threat” to Persian Gulf security, and called for compensation for attacks on civilian infrastructure.
Iran threatens strikes on Israeli and US universities
Iran warned of escalation after Israeli airstrikes hit several universities, including ones that Israel claimed were used for nuclear research and development. Concerns over Iran's nuclear program are at the heart of tensions.
The paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said Iran would consider Israeli universities and branches of U.S. universities in the region "legitimate targets" unless offered safety assurances for Iranian universities, state media reported.
“If the U.S. government wants its universities in the region spared, it should condemn the bombardment” of Iranian universities by midday Monday, the Guard said.
U.S. colleges have campuses in Qatar and the UAE, including Georgetown, New York and Northwestern universities. The American University of Beirut moved classes online and called it a precautionary measure.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said Saturday that dozens of universities and research centers have been hit, among them the Iran University of Science and Technology and Isfahan University of Technology.
Both sides in the war have threatened to attack civilian facilities, which critics have warned could be a war crime.
Death toll climbs
In Lebanon, officials said more than 1,200 people have been killed. There were fears of more deaths after Netanyahu, speaking on a visit to northern Israel, said Israel was "determined to fundamentally change the situation in the north." He said Hezbollah "still has residual capability to fire rockets at us."
Iranian authorities say more than 1,900 people have been killed in the Islamic Republic, while 19 have been reported dead in Israel.
In Iraq, where Iranian-supported militia groups have entered the conflict, 80 members of the security forces have died.
In Gulf states, 20 people have been killed. Four have been killed in the occupied West Bank.
Thirteen American service members have been killed in the war.
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Metz reported from Ramallah and Magdy from Cairo. Associated Press writers Josef Federman in Jerusalem and Samya Kullab in Basra, Iraq, contributed to this report.
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