Washington-Islamabad: Europe and the Arabs

White House spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt said that President Donald Trump has expressed his willingness to allow additional time for a ceasefire with Iran, noting that Iran has expressed a desire to engage in direct talks.

According to the European news network Euronews in Brussels, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi arrived in Islamabad on Friday, coinciding with the White House announcement that special envoys Steve Wittkopf and Jared Kushner would travel to the Pakistani capital on Saturday morning. Tehran ruled out a direct meeting with the American side, with Iranian television confirming that Pakistan would act as an intermediary to convey Iran's messages regarding de-escalation.

The Washington Post reported that President Trump's envoys are moving towards including Israeli interests and objectives in the negotiating position with the Iranian side.

For her part, White House spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt explained that President Donald Trump has expressed his willingness to allow additional time for a ceasefire with Tehran, noting that Iran has expressed a desire to engage in direct talks. In southern Lebanon, military operations continue despite the ceasefire, with the Israeli army launching airstrikes on several towns, including Deir Amas and Qounine, in addition to bombings targeting residential neighborhoods in Bint Jbeil, according to local media reports.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hezbollah of attempting to obstruct the path to what he described as a "historic peace" between Israel and Lebanon, indicating that the recent military operations fall within this context.

Regarding the latest developments, Euronews published an article titled "Phone Call Between the Foreign Ministers of Egypt and Pakistan to Discuss Diplomatic Efforts Between the United States and Iran." The Egyptian Foreign Ministry announced that Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdel-Aty and his Pakistani counterpart, Ishaq Dar, held a telephone conversation to discuss ways to strengthen the diplomatic track between the United States and Iran.

This call comes as US President Donald Trump's envoys, Steve Wittkopf and Jared Kushner, prepare to travel to Pakistan. Tehran has stated that there will be no direct talks with Washington in Islamabad.

Under the headline "Starmer pledges legislation to ban Iran's Revolutionary Guard within weeks," the website reported that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said his government is working on legislation that would ban Iran's Revolutionary Guard within weeks. In his remarks to the Jewish Chronicle, he indicated that dealing with entities linked to states requires a clear legal framework to take action as soon as possible. Euronews, under the headline "Israel pushes for no retreat on naval blockade and coordinates with Washington for post-negotiations phase," reported that Israel's Channel 12 quoted officials as saying that Tel Aviv informed the United States of the necessity of not lifting the naval blockade, amid close coordination between the two sides that includes potential scenarios in case negotiations fail. Under the headline "Washington Freezes $344 Million in Digital Assets Linked to Iran," US Treasury Secretary Scott Bisent announced that the United States has frozen $344 million in digital assets linked to Iran, as part of escalating economic pressure on Tehran. He explained that the US Treasury Department will continue to target financial networks linked to Iran, including imposing sanctions on digital wallets, with the aim of limiting their ability to finance their activities and transfer funds.

This comes as a US destroyer intercepted a ship bound for Iran. US Central Command announced that the destroyer USS Rafael Peralta intercepted an Iranian-flagged vessel as it was heading to a port in Iran.