By Asif Shahzad and Alexander Cornwell
ISLAMABAD/TEL AVIV, March 29 (Reuters) - Pakistan said on Sunday it was preparing to host “meaningful talks” to end the conflict over Iran in coming days even though Tehran earlier accused Washington of preparing a land assault while seeking negotiations.
Speaking after talks between regional foreign ministers, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said they had covered possible ways to bring an early and permanent end to the war in the region as well as potential U.S.-Iran talks in Islamabad.
“Pakistan will be honoured to host and facilitate meaningful talks between the two sides in coming days, for a comprehensive and lasting settlement of the ongoing conflict,” he said. It was not immediately clear if the U.S. and Iran had agreed to attend.
Complicating Pakistan’s bid are the maximalist positions set out by the United States, Israel and Iran on what it would take to end the conflict.
Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf earlier accused the U.S. of sending messages about possible negotiations while at the same time planning to send in troops, adding that Tehran was ready to respond if U.S. soldiers were deployed.
“As long as the Americans seek Iran’s surrender, our response is that we will never accept humiliation,” he said in a message to the nation.
REGIONAL POWERS PROPOSE PLANS TO REOPEN STRAIT OF HORMUZ
Initial discussions between Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt had focused on proposals to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to shipping, sources familiar with the matter said.
Iran’s effective blockade of oil and gas shipments through the strait since the U.S. and Israel began attacking the country on February 28 is spreading economic pain around the world.
As the conflict entered its second month, it showed no signs of slowing. Israel’s military said it had launched over 140 air strikes on central and western Iran, including Tehran, over the 24 hours to Sunday evening, hitting ballistic missile launch sites and storage facilities, among other targets.
The director of the World Health Organization said Israel’s expanding military operations in southern Lebanon had resulted in the death of “yet another” health worker after 51 had already been killed. Israel says Iran-backed Hezbollah militants use medical facilities for cover, which the group denies.
A chemical plant in southern Israel near the city of Beer Sheva was hit by a missile or missile debris as Israel fended off multiple salvos from Iran, prompting official warnings to the public to stay away due to “hazardous materials”.
Another missile hit open ground near homes in Beer Sheva, located near several military bases, injuring 11 people.
The war has killed thousands of people and hit countries across the Middle East: major aluminium plants in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates were damaged by air strikes over the weekend.
The UAE is seeking reparations from Iran for attacks on civilians and vital facilities and guarantees to prevent any repetition, an adviser to the president said.
Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis joined the conflict on Saturday launching their first attacks on Israel and raising the prospect they could target and thus block a second key shipping route, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Analysts say renewed attacks there would pile further pressure on the world economy.
U.S. MARINES START ARRIVING IN MIDDLE EAST
Washington has dispatched thousands of Marines to the Middle East, with the first of two contingents arriving on Friday aboard an amphibious assault ship, the U.S. military has said.
The Washington Post quoted U.S. officials as saying the Pentagon was preparing for weeks of ground operations in Iran, adding that it was not yet clear if President Donald Trump would approve such plans.
Reuters has reported that the Pentagon has considered military options that could include ground forces.
Trump faces a stark choice between seeking a negotiated exit or a military escalation that risks a protracted crisis, and would likely weigh further on his already low approval ratings.
“President Trump has poor options all around to end the war,” said Jonathan Panikoff, former U.S. deputy national intelligence officer for the Middle East.
“Part of the challenge is the lack of clarity related to what a satisfactory outcome would be,” Panikoff added.
Washington said last week it had offered a 15-point ceasefire plan, with a proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and restrict Iran’s nuclear programme, but Tehran has rejected the proposal and put forward alternatives of its own.
ISRAEL HITS DOZENS OF TARGETS ACROSS IRAN
An Israeli official said Israel would continue carrying out strikes against Iran on what were described as military targets, adding there was no intention to scale back the campaign ahead of any possible talks between Washington and Tehran.
A building housing Qatar’s Al-Araby TV in Tehran was hit on Sunday, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported, with video showing walls and windows blown out of the multi-storey block.
“The missile hit. The ceiling and everything fell on our heads. Unfortunately, we couldn’t continue to work. It was a real miracle we survived,” said Al-Araby camera operator Mohammadreza Shademan. “There was no military target here.”
With U.S. midterm elections due in November, the increasingly unpopular war has weighed on Trump’s Republican Party. Demonstrators took to city streets across the U.S. on Saturday in protests against the conflict.
A European diplomat warned that any further military escalation could make it harder to bring the two sides together, potentially delaying the possibility by weeks, if not longer.
Iranian threats against ships have kept most oil tankers from attempting the waterway. Iran has agreed to let an additional 20 Pakistani-flagged vessels pass through the strait, Pakistan’s Dar said, calling it a “harbinger of peace”.
(Reporting by Reuters bureaux; Writing by David Stanway and Crispian Balmer and Philippa Fletcher; Editing by Helen Popper, Alexander Smith and Ros Russell)
