Iran-US war latest: Tehran ‘lays out demands for US’ in Pakistan – but denies direct talks

The U.S. has burned through billions of dollars’ worth of its critical weapons stockpile in the war with Iran, according to a report. ​

The conflict, which began on February 28, has seen the Pentagon use more than 1,200 Patriot interceptor missiles, and each costs more than $4 million.

The military has also used up around 1,100 of its long-range stealth cruise missiles stockpiled for a potential war with China, according to congressional officials and internal Defense Department estimates obtained by the New York Times.​ More than 1,000 Tomahawk cruise missiles have been fired, too, which is around 10 times the amount currently bought by the U.S. Military each year.

US President Donald Trump has cancelled Witkoff and Kushner’s trip to Pakistan to meet with the Iranians, Fox News White House Correspondent Aishah Hasnie has reported.

She said in a post on X Trump ​told ‌Fox ⁠News about the ⁠trip’s cancellation during a phone call.

A Lebanese journalist who was wounded in an Israeli airstrike that killed her colleague this week described hours of agony as they waited for help to arrive, in an interview with The Associated Press on Friday.

Zeinab Faraj, a young freelance photographer and video journalist, frequently moved on assignment with Amal Khalil, a longtime correspondent in southern Lebanon with the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar.

The two were driving behind a relative of Faraj in the village of al-Tiri, about 8 kilometers (5 miles) from the border with Israel on Wednesday. That was five days after a fragile truce was implemented between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, planning to cover the post-ceasefire situation in the area.

It is the first time that the US has had three aircraft carriers in the Middle East since 2003, the year America invaded Iraq.

Iran’s delegation has left Pakistan, two Pakistani government sources have told Reuters.

Tehran had denied direct talks with Washington would take place in Islamabad and that Iran’s position would be communicated to Pakistan’s mediators instead.

Pakistan’s prime minister Shehbaz Sharif said that talks with Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi on Saturday were a “warm, cordial exchange of views on the current regional situation”.

Araghchi arrived in Islamabad for discussions about the future of a deal with the US but Tehran denied that the negotiations would encompass “direct talks” with American counterparts and said that their position would instead be conveyed by Pakistani officials.

“Was pleased to meet Seyed Abbas Araghchi, foreign minister of Iran, and his delegation in Islamabad today,” Mr Sharif wrote on X on Saturday.

“Had a most warm, cordial exchange of views on the current regional situation. We also discussed matters of mutual interest, including the further strengthening of Pakistan–Iran bilateral relations.”

Houssam Naddaf said no words could capture the shock of seeing an Israeli soldier smash a crucifix in his family’s private garden in the southern Lebanese village of Debel — an image he recognized instantly as it spread online.

“I saw it on the internet like everyone else,” he said. Naddaf had not been able to go to the house in person to see the damage because of restrictions on movement imposed by Israeli forces in the area.

Israeli forces took control of the area as part of the latest Israel-Hezbollah war, which began on March 2 when the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group fired a salvo of missiles over the border two days after the U.S. and Israel launched their war on Iran. Israel then launched a ground invasion of southern Lebanon and its forces have remained there despite the announcement of a truce last week.

Iran says it will not accept “maximalist” demands as the country’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi touched down in Islamabad, Pakistan for a second round of negotiations on Saturday.

Asked about Tehran’s reservations on the US position in the talks, an Iranian diplomatic source in Islamabad told Reuters: “Principally, Iranian side will not accept maximalist demands.”

The Israeli military said it had struck loaded rocket launchers belonging to Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in three locations in southern Lebanon overnight.

“These launchers posed an immediate threat to IDF (Israel Defense Forces) soldiers and to Israeli civilians,” it said in a statement.

It named the locations as Deir El Zahrani, Reman, and Al-Saamiya in southern Lebanon, all north of its so-called buffer zone.

It was unclear whether the deaths reported by the state news agency were linked to the Israeli strikes.

“Journalists and media workers play an essential role in putting the spotlight on the devastating reality of war,” read the statement posted on the UK foreign office social media account on Saturday.

“Attacks on journalists in Lebanon, including journalist Amal Khalil, killed in an Israeli strike on 22 April, are unacceptable.

“As co-chairs of the Media Freedom Coalition, the UK and Finland strongly condemn all violence directed against journalists and media workers.

“We call on the Israeli authorities and all other parties to make every effort to ensure that media workers in Lebanon can conduct their work freely and safely.”

The Committee for the Protection of Journalists has warned that Israel is engaging in the “deadliest and most deliberate effort to kill and silence journalists that the CPJ has ever documented”. A record 129 journalists were killed in 2025, according to the CPJ. Two-thirds of those were killed by Israel.