Islamabad

Pakistan on Wednesday (September 2, 2026) said that it was “hopeful” for peace in West Asia despite recent escalation between the US and Iran, underlining the need for “dialogue and diplomacy” for stability in the region.

The remark made by Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi comes days after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit on Monday (August 31, 2026) and discussed the evolving regional situation.

West Asia conflict LIVE updates – September 2, 2026

“The prime minister had reiterated Pakistan’s commitment to peace through restraint, dialogue and diplomacy, while stressing that the Islamabad MoU offered the most viable pathway to lasting peace and stability in the region,” Mr. Andrabi said.

“Despite recent escalations, we remain hopeful, and we will continue to strive for dialogue and diplomacy,” Andrabi said at a weekly press briefing.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar also met Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on the sidelines of the summit on Monday (August 31, 2026) and underscored the need for dialogue and diplomacy to promote peace and stability in the region.

In June, the U.S. and Iran signed an MoU, aimed at bringing peace in West Asia. Pakistan also signed the document as a “guarantor”.

The negotiations collapsed in early July with renewed military strikes amid mutual accusations of agreement violations and deadlocked demands over the Strait of Hormuz – the Gulf chokepoint through which about a fifth of the world’s energy supplies passed in peacetime.

Mr. Andrabi said Army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir had also visited Tehran last week to facilitate an end to the U.S.-Iran conflict.

The visit “underscored Islamabad’s sincere and constructive role in bridging differences between Washington and Tehran,” he said.

Talking about the inaugural meeting of the Strategic, Political and Defence Committee established under the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement, on August 31, he said the three sides reaffirmed their resolve to work together for regional peace, stability and de-escalation, including through restraint and peaceful resolution of crises.

Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye signed the trilateral defence agreement, known as ‘Makkah Joint Defence Agreement’, on August 7. Under the agreement, an attack against one of the countries will be treated as an attack against all of them, amid increasing security concerns in the wake of escalating tensions in West Asia.

Mr. Andrabi said that the three countries agreed to further institutionalise cooperation under the agreement, strengthening solidarity, collective deterrence and defence, and cooperative security for “just, inclusive and lasting peace”.

A Secretariat headed by a secretary-general will be established in Saudi Arabia, initially led by a secretary-general from Pakistan for three years, Andrabi said.

Iran said on Friday (August 21, 2026) that its response to any new U.S. threats would be “devastating” after Washington pledged to impose ‌the toughest financial penalties in history with the aim of toppling the Iranian leadership.

U.S. Treasury chief Scott Bessent said ​he would give details on Monday of the planned sanctions, which follow a warning from President Donald Trump of economic ⁠consequences against any country that provided “any type of lifeline to Iran.”

The chief of staff of Iran’s Armed Forces, Major General Ali Abdollahi, said the Islamic Republic’s reaction would be broad and decisive.

“With preparedness across land, sea, air, air defence and cyberspace, Iran’s armed forces will respond to the enemy’s new threats with crushing, ‌punishing and devastating responses,” Abdollahi was quoted as saying by Iranian media.

Iran’s Parliament Speaker, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the country’s main negotiator in mediated talks with the United States, said Washington appeared to have concluded it could not prevail in its direct ‌military confrontation.

“We must make plans to deal with the unjust sanctions so that we can overcome them,” he said in neighbouring ‌Iraq, accusing ⁠the U.S. and Israel of resorting to what he said was economic and “cognitive” warfare.

Funeral ​for Iran’s ‌late Supreme Leader Ali ​Khamenei ⁠will begin in Tehran on ‌July 4 and ‌conclude with his ‌burial ⁠in ⁠the northeastern city of Mashhad ​on July ‌9, state media reported on Saturday (June 13, 2026).

West Asia war updates on June 13, 2026

Khamenei, was ‌killed in ​Israeli and U.S. strikes ⁠on Iran in February. His ‌death marked the end of more than three ‌decades at the ​helm of the Islamic ⁠Republic.

More details to follow…

An Iranian Health Ministry official said on Monday (May 25, 2026) the injuries suffered by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei in U.S.-Israeli strikes in late February were only “superficial”, offering a rare account of the day he was wounded.

The 56-year-old has not appeared publicly since he was named as Iran’s supreme leader on March 8, issuing only written statements, fuelling speculation about his health.

In March, U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said Mr. Mojtaba was “believed to be alive, wounded and disfigured”. Mr. Mojtaba succeeded his father, Ali Khamenei, who was killed in U.S.-Israeli strikes on February 28 that triggered retaliatory Iranian attacks across the region.

On Monday (May 25), Health Ministry spokesman Hossein Kermanpour described the day Mr. Mojtaba was wounded and his arrival at a hospital, which he did not identify.

He said Mr. Mojtaba arrived at the hospital around 1:00 p.m. Tehran time on February 28 and “entered the operating room along with several other wounded individuals.”

“Apart from superficial injuries to the face, head and legs, which caused neither amputation nor any particular medical problem, nothing major had happened,” Kermanpour told ILNA news agency.

“From my perspective as a physician these were not considered serious injuries and required no special procedures apart from one or two stitches.”

He added that Mr. Mojtaba, who was fasting until nightfall during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, “refused to break his fast and kept fasting until iftar, which itself showed his good health.”

Kermanpour said he was discharged from the hospital at around 2:00 a.m. on March 1, but did not say where he was moved. On May 7, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said he had met the leader and that their meeting lasted two and a half hours.

Three days later, Iranian state TV said the head of Iran’s military central command, Ali Abdollahi, met with the supreme leader who gave “new directives and guidance for the continuation of operations to confront the enemy.”

The U.S. announced Project Freedom on May 4 to end the Iranian blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. It was suspended the next day even as merchant ships and U.S. Navy craft came under attack.

Though U.S. President Donald Trump cited progress in negotiations with Iran as the reason for calling off the initiative project, Iran had shown it could escalate the situation if the U.S. persisted in its attempt to deny Iran stakes in the Strait of Hormuz and establish dominance in the Persian Gulf.

This was a far cry from 30 years ago, when the U.S. was able to intervene in the Tanker Wars and ensure a relatively smoother flow of ships in the region.

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Listing a range of advanced systems, including underwater drones and warships, the U.S. said multiple advanced military capabilities were being “harnessed” in Project Freedom to reopen safe navigation through the strait. As the initiative got underway, the U.S. claimed two U.S.-flagged merchant ships had crossed the strait freely, apparently not through the routes Iran had indicated, as a demonstration meant to encourage confidence. Iran had earlier indicated that only the area close to its coast was free of mines and marked a danger zone running almost the entire breadth of the strait towards Oman.

In a day, however, Mr. Trump declared Project Freedom was temporarily suspended. There were indications shipowners were not convinced to make the transit. The same day the project was announced, Hapag-Lloyd, one of the biggest container shipping companies in the world, said its risk assessment remained unchanged and that the Strait of Hormuz remained closed for its transits until further notice.

The industry sought more details since the U.S. indicated it was not going to escort ships individually, unlike 30 years ago when it largely succeeded in beating back Iranian initiatives to take control of the strait. Operation Earnest Will involved minesweepers, patrol boats and U.S. warships escorting merchant ship convoys with anti-missile batteries to counter Iranian attacks.

At the time, Iran had recently acquired Silkworm missiles that could be mounted on trucks and fired from land at merchant ships. It also had speedboats with machine guns and mines in its arsenal. Iran sought to attack Kuwaiti and Saudi ships because the two countries were supporting Iraq, its adversary.

During Operation Earnest Will, the U.S. Navy escorted nearly 130 fleets consisting of more than 250 ships in a 14-month period ending in September 1988. Though the Tanker Wars drove up insurance costs and reduced traffic, transits continued amid a few attacks and the strait remained open. After the U.S. launched a major operation destroying Iran’s Naval capabilities, Iran backed off and the Tanker Wars ceased.

Now, however, some experts say drones have changed the equation. A few low-cost weapons can inflict visible damage on merchant ships and even one hit from a swarm of drones could have a disproportionate impact, including on insurance costs that influence global ship movements. “The U.S. is still ahead of the game as far as countering Iranian surprises is concerned, especially if it is able to deploy its capabilities continuously,” said Commodore (retd.) R. Seshadri Vasan, defence expert.

But that commitment was not visible to the shipping industry since key operational details were missing. Meanwhile, at least two merchant ships, including a UAE tanker, were attacked and damaged. Two U.S. Navy destroyers were hit too, in a sign of Iranian firepower. “While a few ships made it out safely while Project Freedom was in place, it was clear that transits without coordination with Iran entailed significant risk,” said Jakob Larsen, chief safety and security officer of Bimco, a global industry body representing shipowners.

The U.S. military on Thursday (April 23, 2026) seized another tanker associated with the smuggling of Iranian oil, ratcheting up a standoff with Iran a day after its paramilitary Revolutionary Guards took control of two vessels in the crucial Strait of Hormuz.

The Defence Department released video footage of U.S. forces on the deck of the oil tanker Majestic X, which was seized in the Indian Ocean.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday (February 28, 2026) said the U.S. has begun “major combat operations in Iran” after Israel launched strikes.

“Our objective ​is ‌to defend the American ‌people by eliminating ​imminent threats from ⁠the Iranian ‌regime,” Mr. Trump said in a video ‌shared on ​social media. Mr. Trump claimed that Iran has continued to develop its nuclear programme and plans to develop missiles to reach the U.S.

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The strikes, which Trump said were aimed ‌at destroying Iranian missiles and annihilating its navy, follow repeated U.S.-Israeli warnings ‌that they would strike Iran ‌again ⁠if it pressed ahead with its ⁠nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

“I do not make this statement lightly. The Iranian regime seeks ​to kill,” Mr. Trump ‌said in a video shared on Truth Social.

“The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost and ‌we may have casualties that often ​happens in war, but we’re doing this, not for now. We’re ⁠doing this for the future, and it is a noble mission.”

Mr. Trump told the ‌members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, Iran’s armed forces, to lay down their weapons, promising that they would be granted immunity.

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The other option, according to Mr. Trump, is “certain death.”

Washington and Tehran ‌held a series of talks in recent ​weeks about Iran’s nuclear ambition. The most recent one was held ⁠on Thursday with no deal.

“Iran refused, just as ⁠it has for decades and decades. They rejected every opportunity to ‌renounce their nuclear ambitions, and we can’t take it anymore,” Mr. Trump said.

He further went on to appeal to the Iranian people to ‘take over your government — it will be yours to take’

Iranian media reported strikes nationwide. Roads to Khamenei’s compound in downtown Tehran had been shut down by authorities as other blasts rang out across the capital. Neighbouring Iraq closed its airspace, according to the Ministry of Transport.

Targets in the Israeli campaign included Iran’s military, symbols of government and intelligence targets, according to an official briefed on the operation, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss nonpublic information on the attack.

Read | Iran Army Chief warns U.S., Israel against attack, says forces on high alert

Mr. Trump wanted a deal to constrain Iran’s nuclear program, and he sees an opportunity while the country is struggling at home with growing dissent following nationwide protests. Iran had hoped to avert a war, but maintains it has the right to enrich uranium and does not want to discuss other issues, like its long-range missile program or support for armed groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.