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Premier provides guidance to Mohsin Naqvi regarding the visit; Saudi Arabia says Iran's continued "blatant violations" risk further escalating tensions and instability across the region, adds they "undermine international efforts aimed at restoring security and stability."

Pakistan minister consults PM Sharif on upcoming visit of Tehran

Lebanese officials have described the most recent ceasefire agreement with Israel, mediated by Washington, as the country's 'last chance' to secure peace.


Middle East Roundup, June 5: Israeli strikes kill seven in south Lebanon's Tyre: Civil defense

HONG KONG:&nbsp;Asian equities went into reverse Friday on continued worries about the AI trade after disappointing forecasts from chip titan Broadcom, while investors were also keeping a wary eye on stuttering Middle East peace efforts. After leading several markets to record highs this year, technology firms are facing selling pressure on concerns that the eye-watering sums pumped into artificial intelligence may have been overdone and stock valuations are too high. Broadcom on Wednesday sparked concern among traders who have piled into all things AI when its revenue forecast for the third quarter came in below expectations, sparking a sell-off in Wall Street&#39;s Nasdaq as dealers took profits and rotated into other sectors. And the losses have bled through to Asia, where tech-heavy Seoul and Tokyo -- which have led the region&#39;s surge this year -- sank from record highs.&nbsp;Stocks tankSouth Korean stocks tanked almost 7% at one point Friday, having dropped 1.8% the day before. The Nikkei in Tokyo was off more than 1%, matching Thursday&#39;s retreat. The losses come as investors contemplate a coming IPO by Elon Musk&#39;s SpaceX, which is aiming to raise $75 billion in the biggest initial public offering ever.&nbsp; The company said in a regulatory filing that it would offer more than 550 million shares at&nbsp;$135 each next week, which could value the company at $1.8 trillion. There were also losses in Hong Kong, Sydney, Singapore and Taipei, though Shanghai, Wellington and Manila edged up. Jakarta extended losses amid building fears about the state of the Indonesian economy and the rupiah, which have been hammered by surging oil prices. &quot;Broadcom&#39;s revenue miss sparked profit-taking across the semiconductor sector and gave investors a reason to pause after the recent AI-driven rally,&quot; said City Index&#39;s Fiona Cincotta. &quot;Broadcom&#39;s results suggest investor expectations may have run ahead of fundamentals.&quot; The latest AI wobble came as investors grew nervous about grinding efforts to end the Middle East crisis. The head of Hezbollah on Thursday rejected a conditional truce announced by Lebanon and Israel, demanding a comprehensive ceasefire and full Israeli withdrawal from its northern neighbor.&nbsp;&lsquo;Last chance&rsquo;Naim Qassem&#39;s message came after the two sides agreed to a conditional ceasefire that Lebanon&#39;s president called the &quot;last chance&quot; for a durable end to the fighting. Talks between Iran and the United States also appeared to be going nowhere, with Iran reporting &quot;no tangible progress&quot;, even as President Donald Trump again voiced optimism, telling reporters a deal &quot;could happen... over the weekend&quot;. Still, oil prices held their recent losses amid lingering optimism a deal will be struck and the Strait of Hormuz -- through which a fifth of global oil usually passes -- will reopen. Official US jobs data due later in the day are also in focus following forecast-topping private data that indicated the economy remained healthy and fanned bets on the Federal Reserve hiking interest rates. <h2 style="line-height: 2;">Key figures at around 0230 GMT </h2>West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.1% at $93.16 a barrel Brent North Sea Crude: UP 0.5% at $95.47 a barrel Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.2% at 66,661.47 (break) Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.4% at 25,155.38 Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.3% at 4,067.78 Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1615 from $1.1610 on Thursday Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3427 from $1.3423 Dollar/yen: DOWN at 159.95 yen from 160.03 yen Euro/pound: UP at 86.51 pence from 86.50 pence New York - DOW: UP 1.7% at 51,561.93 (close) London - FTSE 100: UP 0.3% at 10,360.32 (close)

Business

After leading several markets to record highs this year, technology firms are facing selling pressure on concerns that the eye-watering sums pumped into artificial intelligence may have been overdone and stock valuations are too high.

Asian stocks take another hit from AI, Mideast worries

Web Desk/AFP

Trump says talks with Iran could yield results over the coming weekend and are going 'very well'; oil prices ease as reports of Israel-Lebanon ceasefire spark hope; death toll in Israeli strike on Gaza apartments rises to 9, including 4 children.




Middle East roundup, June 4: Pakistan rejects Rubio-Iran intelligence claim

Maham Khan

ISLAMABAD: The news cycle out of the Middle East runs on a reliable rhythm: an Iranian threat, an American countermove, oil prices spike, markets shudder. Since the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran on February 28, that cycle has repeated often enough to feel permanent. It is not. Beneath the escalatory optics &ndash; Iran&#39;s navy announcing the Strait of Hormuz &quot;completely closed,&quot; the US blockade forcing two dozen ships to turn back, ballistic missiles exchanged across four Gulf states &ndash; a parallel track has been running without interruption. Talks between Washington and Tehran have not stopped. The question shaping the next phase of this conflict is not whether a deal will be sought, but whether either government can sell one to its own people. The economics of quitting Iran&#39;s economy entered 2026 fractured. According to the International Monetary Fund&#39;s 2026 DataMapper projections, Iran&#39;s nominal GDP stands at $300.29 billion with per capita income of $3,410, masking severe conditions: the IMF projects a 6.1% real GDP contraction for 2026 with consumer price inflation at 68.9%. The World Bank reports a 2.7% GDP contraction in the 2025/2026 fiscal year and projects another 2.8% contraction for 2026, while the UN Development Programme notes that reimposed snapback sanctions on Iran&#39;s nuclear program have pushed larger segments of the population below upper-middle-income poverty thresholds. A government presiding over 68.9% inflation, a contracting economy, and a population priced out of basic goods does not have indefinite latitude to sustain a full military confrontation with the world&#39;s largest economy. The talks Trump says didn&#39;t stop On June 2, 2026, President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social: &quot;Fake News Reports that the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the USA, stopped speaking a few days ago are false and erroneous. The conversations between us have been going on continuously.&quot; As reported by Reuters on May 29, Trump stated he would make a &quot;final determination&quot; on a proposal to extend the early-April ceasefire by 60 days, allowing negotiators to forge a permanent end to the war. <img src="https://paktv-assets-7d41fab8.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/09e1f7b8-39b5-4552-8d06-5aec026d496a.png" style="width: 595px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib fr-fil"> A senior Iranian source told Reuters a potential agreement was &quot;close&quot; but not yet approved, and crucially, the deal under discussion does not include nuclear-related conditions contrary to Trump&#39;s public demands. That framing (fabricated victory) is essential context. Both governments communicate to two audiences simultaneously: a negotiating counterpart and a domestic constituency that must be managed. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told a Senate foreign relations committee hearing that Tehran had agreed to discuss nuclear program aspects previously refused, and confirmed that Iran&#39;s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, is alive and &quot;increasingly engaging,&quot; as reported by The Guardian. His testimony opened diplomatic doors even as Iranian state media announced the opposite. What Iran&#39;s hardline statements actually signal Iran&#39;s public posture has been deliberately combative. The joint statement issued by Iran&#39;s Armed Forces declared that &quot;the American and Zionist enemies will have no option but surrender,&quot; as reported by Tasnim News Agency. This insulates the negotiating team from charges of capitulation, making any eventual deal easier to present as a position of strength. Iran&#39;s opening and closing of the Strait of Hormuz has followed the same logic. As reported by Forbes on April 18, Iran&#39;s navy broadcast that the strait was &quot;completely closed again&quot; and blamed US government failure to fulfill negotiating commitments. Trump acknowledged &quot;very good conversations&quot; were continuing. Ship traffic has stayed far below prewar levels, a trickle instead of 100+ vessels daily. BBC&#39;s analysis captured the tension precisely: Iran &quot;wants the war to stop as quickly as possible, not at any price.&quot; The phrase &quot;not at any price&quot; is the constraint; &quot;as quickly as possible&quot; is the incentive. US domestic pressure According to Pew Research, 61% of Americans disapprove how the conflict was handled. YouGov/Economist polling found 58% of Americans oppose the war, with 70% across party lines saying the US should make a deal quickly. Global oil prices surged and crude oil futures leaping more than 7% on reports of escalation places additional pressure on the Trump administration to secure resolution ahead of congressional elections in November. Structure of a possible deal Negotiations have centered on a 60-day ceasefire extension, gradual removal of the US blockade on Iranian ports, and release of $12 billion in Iran&#39;s frozen assets, according to Reuters. Kazakhstan has signaled willingness to receive Tehran&#39;s enriched uranium stockpile as part of any deal, per IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi. Iran&#39;s conditions include full sanctions relief, US force withdrawal from the region, and ending Israel&#39;s offensive in Lebanon. The gap between news and reality Military escalation and diplomatic progress are not mutually exclusive, they occur simultaneously, with each side using kinetic activity as leverage. When Iran fires on a tanker, oil prices move and coverage shifts to crisis framing, but the diplomatic channel does not stop. The war has killed thousands and pushed global energy prices to emergency levels, producing a US public majority across partisan lines demanding it end. The parties need an exit. The question is which version each government can defend to its own people. That answer is being decided in rooms that generate no news coverage.&nbsp; One thing is clear: the talks are continuing.

Blogs

Officials and analysts say mounting economic pressures and rising domestic opposition push Washington and Tehran toward settlement, while public military escalation masks the continuous diplomatic negotiations occurring behind the scenes.

Why US-Iran diplomatic channels remain open despite regional attacks

Says negotiation itself is going very "well actually," adds potential deal can happen "over the weekend"; Iran FM warns any attack on Beirut will trigger "full-scale resumption of war"; IRGC denies responsibility for an attack on Kuwait's international airport that officials said left an Indian national dead, 63 people wounded; Hamas postpones talks with Gaza mediators in Egypt to Sunday.









Middle East roundup, June 3: Trump says Iran talks could yield result this weekend

Says conversations between US, Iran "have been going on continuously, including four days ago, three days ago, two days ago, one day ago, and today"; Lebanon says Israeli strikes on south kill 5, wound hospital staff.


Middle East roundup, June 2: Trump calls reports of halt in US-Iran talks false 

Europe

Says Benjamin Netanyahu has agreed not to send troops to Beirut, while Hezbollah has promised to stop attacks; European Union urges Israel to halt military escalation; French president says nothing justifies major escalation in ground assault.

Middle East roundup, June 1: Trump says Iran talks continuing 'at a rapid pace'

An Israeli strike near a hospital in Tyre, south Lebanon wounds 13 staffers, the Lebanese health ministry said, as Israeli PM pushes forces into Syria, Gaza, and Lebanon; Egypt and France condemn Israeli expansion in Lebanon.

Middle East Roundup May 31: Israeli strike near hospital in south Lebanon wounds 13 staffers

The US military shot down four drones launched from Iran and struck a control center in the port city of Bandar Abbas; Iranian forces fire at four ships attempting to cross the Strait of Hormuz; Israel's military issues evacuation warning for residents of the city of Tyre in southern Lebanon.







Articles tagged with "Strait of Hormuz"

Pakistan minister consults PM Sharif on upcoming visit of Tehran

Middle East Roundup, June 5: Israeli strikes kill seven in south Lebanon's Tyre: Civil defense

Asian stocks take another hit from AI, Mideast worries

Middle East roundup, June 4: Pakistan rejects Rubio-Iran intelligence claim

Why US-Iran diplomatic channels remain open despite regional attacks

Middle East roundup, June 3: Trump says Iran talks could yield result this weekend

Middle East roundup, June 2: Trump calls reports of halt in US-Iran talks false

Middle East roundup, June 1: Trump says Iran talks continuing 'at a rapid pace'

Middle East Roundup May 31: Israeli strike near hospital in south Lebanon wounds 13 staffers

Middle East roundup, May 28: US strikes Iran, drawing retaliatory attack on American base

Pakistan minister consults PM Sharif on upcoming visit of Tehran