Top updates: Iranian, US delegations arrive in Islamabad for talks

An Iranian delegation led by Parliament Speaker Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf has landed in Pakistani capital Islamabad for talks with the United States, CNN reported.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Akbar Ahmadian and Central Bank Governor Abdolnaser Hemmati are part of the delegation, according to the country’s semi-official Fars News Agency.

A US government plane ​carrying top ‌officials from Washington, including US Vice-President JD Vance, also landed in ​Islamabad on Saturday for the talks with ⁠Iran, the BBC reported. Vance is heading his country’s delegation for the negotiations.

This comes three days after Iran and the US arrived at a two-week ceasefire agreement, allowing for further negotiations to end the war.

Here are more top updates from the conflict in West Asia:

• Ghalibaf on Friday said that two previously agreed measures – a ceasefire in Lebanon and the release of Iran’s blocked assets – are yet to be implemented. “These two matters must be fulfilled before negotiations begin,” he asserted in a social media post.
• On arriving at the Islamabad airport, Ghalibaf told Iranian state media that his delegation has goodwill but does not trust its counterparts from the United States. However, he said that if the US was ready for a “genuine agreement”, Tehran could be willing as well. “Unfortunately, our experience of negotiating with the...

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