Ceasefire Day 18: Hopes Fade after U.S.–Iran Talks Scrapped

Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi left Islamabad Saturday evening local time, after attending events in Pakistan. Iran says that they did not hold any direct talks with the U.S. in Pakistan, with Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei writing on X that “no meeting is planned to take place between Iran and the U.S.” 

Iran says that their return to negotiations is conditional on the U.S. lifting its naval blockade. 

U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who were scheduled to travel to Pakistan today, will not be traveling anymore, President Donal Trump told Fox News on Saturday.

Drop Site News reported, based on ongoing conversations with an anonymous senior Iranian official, that Iran has skepticism toward Jared Kushner in particular, who they perceive as biased toward Israel, and will not participate in a meeting with Kushner or Witkoff without a figure like Vice President J.D. Vance present. Their reporting echoes the assessment of an unnamed Gulf mediator who spoke to the Guardian in March. “We regarded Witkoff and Kushner as Israeli assets that dragged a president into a war he wants to get out of,” the diplomat said.

The Pentagon told Congress in a classified hearing on Tuesday that clearing Iranian mines from the strait could take up to six months and is unlikely to begin before the war ends, reported the Washington Post. Iran’s parliamentary commission is reviewing a plan that would place management of the Strait of Hormuz under Tehran’s authority, which will include formalizing transit fees on foreign vessels, commission member Fadahossein Maleki told Tasnim News Agency on Saturday. 

Israeli media reported that Hezbollah fired two rockets and one drone at northern Israel, with no casualties reported. The IDF said it killed several “Hezbollah terrorists” in southern Lebanon. Lebanon’s state news agency reported that Israeli air strikes on southern Lebanon killed four people on Saturday, following airstrikes on Friday which reportedly killed six people. Local journalist Hadi Hoteit in Lebanon said Israel launched five more airstrikes in southern Lebanon, with an unknown number of casualties. Videos posted to X on Saturday showed Israel’s demolition of civilian infrastructure in southern Lebanon.

A UN Human Rights report covering the first three weeks of renewed fighting between Israel and Hezbollah released on Friday found that Israeli forces carried out direct attacks on civilians, struck residential buildings, and repeatedly hit healthcare workers and journalists.

“Israel’s vaguely communicated blanket evacuation warnings and displacement orders – covering almost 14 per cent of Lebanon’s territory,” the report said, “may amount to forced displacement, prohibited under international humanitarian law,” noting that 55 towns and villages remain under Israeli evacuation orders today.

Hezbollah rocket fire into Israeli residential areas also drew scrutiny, with the report labeling them possible “violations of international humanitarian law.” UN High Commissioner Volker Türk called for independent investigations and an arms transfer halt for all parties. 

Tehran has insisted since the beginning of the ceasefire with the U.S. that the truce should cover Israel’s war in Lebanon.

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