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Iran says time for US to decide ‘whether it can earn our trust’ after talks

After their face-to-face talks yielded no agreement , Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf on Sunday said it was now time for the United States to decide whether it can “earn” Tehran’s trust. In a post on X, written in Persian, Ghalibaf said: “America has understood our logic and principles, and now it’s time for it to decide whether it can earn our trust or not?” Ghalibaf, who led the Iranian delegation, recalled that before the negotiations, he “emphasised that we have the necessary good faith and will, but due to the experiences of the two previous wars, we have no trust in the opposing side”. “My colleagues on the Iranian delegation Minaab168 raised forward-looking initiatives, but the opposing side ultimately failed to gain the trust of the Iranian delegation in this round of negotiations,” he added. The Iranian parliament speaker went on to state: “We certainly consider diplomacy of authority to be another method, alongside military struggle, for achieving...

US authorities launch new effort to uncover birth tourism schemes

US President Donald Trump’s administration plans to crack down on networks it says help pregnant women lie on visa applications in order to secure US citizenship for their US-born babies, an issue that Trump has highlighted to justify his attempts to restrict birthright citizenship. In an internal email sent on Thursday and reviewed by Reuters , US Immigration and Customs Enforcement ordered investigative agents around the country to focus on a new Birth Tourism Initiative. The operation will seek to root out networks that help pregnant foreign nationals come to the US to give birth so their children can receive citizenship, it said. Trump, a Republican, has kicked off an aggressive push to reduce both legal and illegal immigration after taking office in January 2025. His administration has used the threat of birth tourism as a rationale for attempting to restrict the practice of granting automatic citizenship to children born on US soil. “Uninhibited birth tourism poses a tremend...

General elections in Gilgit-Baltistan to be held on June 7

General elections in Gilgit Baltistan will be held on June 7, the GB Election Commission announced on Saturday after a four-month delay. General elections for the assembly were scheduled for Jan 24, 2026 . However, days after the announcement, the elections were postponed indefinitely due to harsh weather conditions in the region. The GB Election Commission Secretariat, in a notification available with Dawn , announced June 7 as the poll day for the Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly general elections. The GB Chief Election Commissioner Raja Shahbaz Khan also confirmed the development. As for the local government election, Khan said a schedule will be issued later, and it will be held after the general election. He added that preparations were ready for both. LG polls in GB, announced after a gap of 20 years, were initially set for Feb 14, 2026 . Earlier this month, the GB chief election commissioner said the electoral watchdog was preparing to conduct the elections but had not yet deci...

From allies to adversaries: US-Iran relations since 1979

The United States and Iran have been sworn enemies since the 1979 Islamic revolution and the hostage crisis at the US embassy in Tehran. On Saturday, the arch-foes are set to hold talks in Islamabad to end more than a month of war in the Middle East, as a fragile ceasefire holds despite deep mutual mistrust. 1979: Hostage crisis On November 4, 1979, student activists demanding the extradition of Iran’s deposed monarch —Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who was undergoing medical treatment in the US — take staff hostage at the US embassy in Tehran. The move comes seven months after the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Some 52 hostages are held for 444 days. In April 1980, Washington breaks off diplomatic relations with Iran and imposes restrictions on commerce and travel. Nine months later, the last hostages are released. 2002: ‘Axis of evil’ On April 30, 1995, US president Bill Clinton announces a complete ban on trade and investment with Iran, accusing it of supporti...

In pictures: Heavy security in Islamabad ahead of US-Iran talks

The federal capital is on ‘ red alert’ ahead of crucial peace talks between the US and Iran, with more than 10,000 police and security personnel deployed to ensure the safety of visiting delegates. Sources say the multi-tiered security arrangement is being supervised by the military, assisted by paramilitary forces such as the Rangers, along with Islamabad Police and Punjab Police. The Islamabad Traffic Police and the National Highways and Motorways Police are deployed on roads to ensure smooth traffic flow. Below are some glimpses of the heavy security arrangements in Islamabad during the US-Iran talks. Pakistani army soldiers arrive for deployment at the Red Zone area of Islamabad on April 10, 2026. —AFP A US Air Force transport aircraft with “Charleston” written on its tail approaches PAF Base Nur Khan as Pakistan prepares to host the US and Iran for peace talks, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, April 10, 2026. —AFP An army soldier disperses locals who arrive to visit Faisal ...

At the impossible table: The diplomatic maze awaiting the world in Islamabad

All eyes are on Islamabad this weekend as the city braces to mediate one of the most consequential, high-stakes peace negotiations since the culmination of the Second World War. Starting today, American emissaries, led by Vice President JD Vance, will sit across the table from Iranian diplomats to negotiate a lasting settlement to a war that has rattled global power structures and stock markets alike. On the face of it, it is a welcome development from where the world found itself on Tuesday. As daylight drew to a close, the world watched in anticipation as Washington backed itself into an impossible corner, promising to annihilate “a whole civilisation” if Tehran did not give a safe passageway to traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. But a last-ditch diplomatic breakthrough by Pakistan managed to pull both sides from the brink of a potentially catastrophic escalation of unknowable consequences. For now, Islamabad seems to have bought both sides some time to turn a fragile truc...

Artemis II astronauts hurtle home from moon toward splashdown

The four Artemis II astronauts, returning from the world’s first crewed moon voyage in over half a century, hurtled back toward Earth on Friday aboard their gumdrop-shaped Orion spacecraft, headed for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off Southern California. The finale to NASA’s celebrated 10-day mission was expected to begin with separation of Orion’s crew capsule from its service module, followed by a fiery re-entry through Earth’s atmosphere and a six-minute radio blackout before the capsule parachutes into the sea. If all goes well, US astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, along with Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, will end up bobbing safely in the ocean aboard their Orion capsule, dubbed Integrity, shortly after 8 pm ET (0000 GMT) off the coast of San Diego. The quartet blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on April 1, lofted into an initial Earth orbit by NASA’s giant Space Launch System rocket before sailing on around the far side of the mo...