Top diplomats from key regional powers gathered in Pakistan on Sunday to discuss how to end the fighting in the Middle East, but there were few signs of progress as Israel and the United States kept up strikes on Iran, and Tehran responded by firing missiles and drones across the region.

Pakistan said foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Egypt were participating in the talks in Islamabad.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said he and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian held "extensive discussions" on regional hostilities.

More than 3,000 people have been killed throughout the monthlong war that began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran, triggering Iran's attacks on Israel and neighbouring Gulf Arab states.

The US and Israel were not participating in the Islamabad talks. Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, dismissed the talks as a cover while the US dispatches additional troops to the Middle East. He warned against any ground invasion and said Iran was ready to set American troops "on fire" and punish Washington's regional allies, according to Iranian state media.

Israel announced waves of incoming strikes from Iran on Sunday and explosions could be heard throughout Tehran.

Egypt’s Badr Abdelatty, Türkiye's Hakan Fidan and Saudi Arabia’s Prince Faisal Bin Farhan were in Islamabad as part of talks scheduled days after the US offered Iran a 15-point "action list" as a framework for a possible peace deal.

Abdelatty said the meetings were aimed at opening a "direct dialogue" between the US and Iran, which have largely communicated through mediators during the war.

Yet during the talks, Iran has eased some restrictions on commercial ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz. It agreed late Saturday to allow 20 more Pakistani-flagged vessels to transit the critical passageway, Pakistani officials said, adding to the select few it has let through as Iran works to choke but not cut off the strait entirely.

The weekend provided little sign of the talks narrowing the disconnect between the US and Iran. US officials have insisted the war may be nearing an inflection point but Iranian leaders continue to publicly reject negotiations.

To the contrary, the Trump administration has dispatched thousands of additional Marines and paratroopers to the region. And the Iran-backed Houthis, who govern parts of Yemen, announced their long-awaited entry into the war, launching missiles towards what they called "sensitive Israeli military sites" for the first time on Saturday. (AP)


Edited by Edmond Fong