Middle East crisis live: Iranian officials arrive in Islamabad for conditional peace talks with US

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Islamabad continues to prepare for the upcoming ceasefire talks and the arrivals of delegates in Pakistan’s capital. Here are some new images coming into the newsroom today.

A man rides his motorbike past a billboard installed alongside a road as Pakistan prepares to host the U.S. and Iran for peace talks, in Islamabad, Pakistan. — A man rides his motorbike past a billboard installed alongside a road as Pakistan prepares to host the US and Iran for peace talks in Islamabad, Pakistan. Photograph: Waseem Khan/Reuters

A worker bundles freshly printed copies of the Daily Times newspaper with a headline about the U.S. and Iran talks in Islamabad. — In Lahore, Pakistan, a worker bundles freshly printed copies of the Daily Times newspaper with a headline about the talks. Photograph: Murtaza Ali/Reuters

A convoy believed to be carrying the officials from Saudi Arabia. Photograph: Waseem Khan/Reuters

Security personnel halt traffic as motorcade vehicles carrying US security officials make their way toward the venue. Photograph: Aamir Qureshi/AFP/Getty Images

A Pakistani security official stands guard as vehicles carrying US officials pass after their arrival at Nur Khan air base. Photograph: Sohail Shahzad/EPA

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Hello, and welcome to our live coverage of events in the Middle East with talks between Iranian and US officials scheduled to begin in Islamabad in just a matter of hours.

Stay tuned here for all the updates. If you are just joining us, below is a quick recap of the latest news

Iran’s delegation has arrived in Islamabad ahead of high-stakes talks with the United States on Saturday, which the Pakistani prime minister described as “make or break” for achieving a permanent ceasefire. The delegation is headed by Iran’s powerful parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, and he is reportedly accompanied by Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, Ali Akbar Ahmadian, secretary of Iran’s defence council, Abdolnaser Hemmati, governor of Iran’s central bank, and several members of the Iranian parliament. Ghalibaf said earlier on Friday that two previously agreed measures – a ceasefire in Lebanon and the release of Iran’s blocked assets – “must be fulfilled before negotiations begin”.
US vice-president JD Vance, who is en route to Islamabad, said he was “looking forward to negotiations” and expected them to be positive – though he warned Iran not to “play” the US. He is leading the US delegation and will be accompanied by Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
The planned talks come as Trump threatened fresh strikes if talks fail, adding that the Iranians “have no cards” and the only reason they are alive “is to negotiate”. Trump told the New York Post that the US is loading its warships with the “best weapons” in case talks with Tehran fail. “And if we don’t have a deal, we will be using them and we will be using them very effectively,” he said.
Meanwhile, Lebanon and Israel have agreed to meet in Washington on Tuesday to discuss a ceasefire and to set a date to begin talks. The conversation on Tuesday will be mediated by the US and take place at the state department.
Lebanon’s health ministry has updated the death toll from Israel’s most brutal strikes on the country in years on Wednesday to 357 killed. It brings the total killed in Lebanon since Israel renewed its offensive on 2 March to more than 1,953 people. The number of people wounded stands at 6,303, the health ministry added.
Lebanon’s president, Joseph Aoun, said on Friday that 13 state security personnel were killed in an Israeli strike on a governmental building in the southern city of Nabatieh. In a statement, Aoun condemned continued Israeli attacks and said targeting state institutions would not deter Lebanon from defending its sovereignty.