The Latest on developments in the Persian Gulf region and elsewhere in the Mideast amid heightened tensions between the U.S. and Iran (all times local):
12:20 p.m.
Oman's Foreign Ministry says it's working to "ease the tensions" between Iran and the U.S.
In this Monday, May 20, 2019 photo, released by U.S. Navy, an FA-18E Super Hornet from the "Jolly Rogers" of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 103 launches from the flight deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) on Arabian Sea. (Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Jeff ShermanU.S. Navy via AP)
The ministry in a series of tweets on Friday morning attributed the comments to Yusuf bin Alawi, the sultanate's minister of state for foreign affairs. They were published in Asharq Al-Wasat, the London-based newspaper owned by a Saudi media group long associated with the Al Saud royal family.
Bin Alawi warns war "could harm the entire world if it breaks out." He doesn't confirm any current Omani mediation but says both the U.S. and Iran realize the gravity of the situation.
Oman's Sultan Qaboos bin Said spoke last week by telephone with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Oman long has been an interlocutor of the West with Iran. The U.S. held secret talks in Oman with the Iranians that gave birth to the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.
11:40 a.m.
Iran's foreign minister is in Pakistan on a critically timed visit amid a crisis between Tehran and Washington and ahead of next week's emergency Arab League meeting called by Saudi Arabia as regional tensions escalate.
Mohammad Javad Zarif was holding talks on Friday with his Pakistani counterpart, Shah Mehmood Qureshi.
Ahead of his arrival in Islamabad, Pakistan's foreign ministry had called on "all sides to show restraint, as any miscalculated move, can transmute into a large-scale conflict."
Tensions have ratcheted up in recent months and the U.S. sent additional warships and B-52 bombers to the Gulf.
Pakistan walks a fine line with neighboring Iran, despite their sometimes prickly relationship, and ally Saudi Arabia, which this week announced a $3.2 billion deferred oil and gas payment package for energy-strapped Islamabad.