Pakistan confirmed that an Iranian reply had reached Islamabad after Washington proposed a settlement aimed at ending hostilities, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said, confirming Islamabad's continuing role as an intermediary between Tehran and Washington. No immediate US reaction to the Iranian reply was reported.
Iranian state television said Tehran's answer addressed ending warfare across the region, with particular attention to Lebanon, and protecting maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. It did not provide a timetable or mechanism for reopening the strategically important passage. The US proposal had sought an end to fighting before negotiations moved to harder issues, including Iran's nuclear programme.
Sharif announced the development at an event in Islamabad. He said Pakistan was pursuing regional and international peace with sincerity and that Field Marshal Asim Munir had informed him the message had arrived. The prime minister linked the exchange to Pakistan's earlier diplomatic work, including direct US-Iranian discussions hosted in Islamabad on April 11 and 12. Those were described as the highest-level direct meetings between the two governments since Iran's 1979 revolution.
Pakistan had since been carrying communications between the parties and pressing for a settlement to the extended confrontation. One senior official in Pakistan, speaking anonymously to Arab News, said preparations were underway for another round of talks in Islamabad and suggested an announcement could come within days. Because that information came from an unnamed source and described plans still in development, it did not establish that a second meeting had been finalized.
The diplomatic activity unfolded during an uneasy lull. Several Gulf governments reported unknown threatening aircraft in their skies that day after roughly 48 hours of relative quiet and intermittent clashes earlier in the week. The activity underscored the risk of renewed escalation despite a ceasefire that had been in place for about a month.
Control of the Strait of Hormuz remained central to the dispute and to the broader economic consequences. Iran had restricted the waterway since war began in February, according to the supplied report, while the United States imposed a counter-blockade on Iranian ports the following month. The strait carries major global energy and cargo flows, so prolonged disruption had contributed to an international energy crisis and pressure on the world economy.
The receipt of Iran's response marked a procedural advance, not an agreed settlement. Its contents, as described by Iranian television, connected a bilateral US proposal to fighting elsewhere and to shipping security. Pakistan's role gave both sides a channel for continuing diplomacy, but the evidence contained no accepted ceasefire terms, date for follow-up negotiations or indication that Washington regarded Tehran's answer as sufficient.
