Pakistani delegation meets in Tehran hoping for more US-Iran talks before ceasefire ends

CAIRO (AP) — Pakistan’s army chief met Wednesday in Tehran with Iran's foreign minister in the latest diplomatic move to ease tensions in the Middle East and arrange a second round of negotiations between the United States and Iran after almost seven weeks of war.

The White House said any further talks would likely take place in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, though no decision had been made on whether to resume negotiations.

The U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports continued as the Trump administration warned it would ramp up economic pain on Iran with new economic sanctions on countries doing business with it, calling the move the “financial equivalent” of a bombing campaign.

Pakistan has emerged as a key mediator after it hosted direct talks between the U.S. and Iran in Islamabad that authorities said helped narrow differences between the two sides. Mediators are seeking a new round before the ceasefire expires next week.

Even as the U.S. blockade on Iranian ports and renewed Iranian threats strained the ceasefire agreement, regional officials reported progress, telling The Associated Press the United States and Iran had an “in principle agreement” to extend it to allow for more diplomacy. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the matter.

Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, took part in a preliminary meeting with Asim Munir, Pakistan's army chief of staff, Iranian state media reported. It said talks would continue Thursday.

But even as mediators worked for peace, tensions simmered.

The commander of Iran’s joint military command, Ali Abdollahi, threatened to halt trade in the region if the U.S. does not lift its naval blockade.

And a newly-appointed military adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said he doesn’t support extending the ceasefire.

Iranian state media quoted Mohsen Rezaei, a former commander in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, as saying: “Unlike the Americans who are afraid of continuous war, we are fully prepared and familiar with a long war.”

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the White House has warned countries and private companies they could face sanctions for doing business with Tehran.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the U.S. had not “formally requested an extension of the ceasefire" with Iran, which is set to expire Tuesday.

"At this moment, we remain very much engaged in these negotiations, in these talks,” Leavitt said, adding that any further in-person talks “would very likely” return to Islamabad.

Mediators are pushing for a compromise on three main sticking points that derailed direct talks last weekend — Iran’s nuclear program, the Strait of Hormuz and compensation for wartime damages, according to a regional official involved in the mediation efforts.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said Iran is open to discussing the type and level of its uranium enrichment, but his country “based on its needs, must be able to continue enrichment,” Iranian state media reported.

The negotiating team led by Vice President JD Vance urged Iran to agree to a 20-year moratorium on uranium enrichment as part of a potential deal to end the war, according to the regional official and a person briefed on the matter.

The Iranians countered with an offer to suspend enrichment for five years, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly on the negotiations.

The White House rejected that. The dueling proposals were first reported by The New York Times.

The fighting has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, more than 2,100 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Thirteen U.S. service members have also been killed.

The war has jolted markets and rattled the global economy as shipping has been cut off and airstrikes have torn through military and civilian infrastructure across the region. Oil prices have fallen amid hopes for an end to fighting, and U.S. stocks on Wednesday surpassed records set in January.

Yet the future of the fragile ceasefire still hung in the balance as the U.S. pressed ahead with its blockade, which threatens to sever Iran from economic lifelines.

“I think they want to make a deal very badly,” U.S. President Donald Trump said in an interview Wednesday on Fox Business Network’s “Mornings with Maria."

In a social media post, Trump said China has agreed not to provide weapons to Iran as reports circulated that Beijing has considered transferring arms.

China has long supported Iran’s ballistic missile program and backed it with dual-use industrial components that can be used for missile production, according to the U.S. government.

U.S. Central Command said Wednesday that no ships had made it past the blockade since it was imposed two days earlier, while 10 merchant vessels complied with direction from U.S. forces to turn around and reenter Iranian waters.

The blockade is intended to pressure Iran, which has exported millions of barrels of oil, mostly to Asia, since the war began Feb. 28. Much of it has likely been carried by so-called dark transits that evade sanctions and oversight, providing cash that’s been vital to keeping Iran running.

Since the war began, Iran has curtailed maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, which a fifth of global oil transited through in peacetime. Tehran's effective closure of the strait sent oil prices skyrocketing, raising the cost of fuel, food and other basic goods far beyond the Middle East.

Meanwhile, Israel pressed ahead with its aerial and ground war in Lebanon. The country's National News Agency reported airstrikes and artillery shelling throughout southern Lebanon on Wednesday, including near Bint Jbeil, where Israeli forces have encircled Hezbollah fighters.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli troops were about to “eliminate this great stronghold of Hezbollah” and would continue expanding control of areas in southern Lebanon.

The fighting continued after Israeli and Lebanese officials concluded their first direct talks in decades. Netanyahu said negotiations are continuing, with disarming Hezbollah a key goal.

The Lebanese Health Ministry said Israel struck three teams of paramedics Wednesday in southern Lebanon, first hitting one team and then two more that rushed to help. The attacks killed three paramedics and wounded six others, the ministry said.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Israel and Lebanon have technically been at war since Israel was established in 1948, and Lebanon remains deeply divided over diplomatic engagement with Israel.

Metz reported from Ramallah, West Bank, Ahmed from Islamabad and Corder from The Hague, Netherlands. Associated Press writers Darlene Superville, Aamer Madhani and Joshua Boak in Washington; Julia Frankel in New York and Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, contributed to this report.

In this photo released by the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Pakistan's Army Chief Field Marshal Gen. Asim Munir, left, is welcomed by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi upon his arrival in Tehran, Wednesday, April 15, 2026. (Iranian Foreign Ministry via AP)

Girls chase bubbles next to their family's tents used as shelter after fleeing Israeli bombardment in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, in Beirut, on Wednesday, April 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

In this photo released by the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, right, meets with Pakistan's Army Chief Field Marshal Gen. Asim Munir in Tehran, Wednesday, April 15, 2026. (Iranian Foreign Ministry via AP)

Relatives of Ghadir Baalbaki, 19, who was killed on Tuesday in an Israeli airstrike, mourn during her funeral in the southern port city of Tyre, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Paramedics attach a portrait over the grave of Ghadir Baalbaki, 19, who was killed on Tuesday in an Israeli airstrike, at a temporary mass grave in the southern port city of Tyre, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

A cargo ship sails in the Persian Gulf towards Dubai port as seen from Ajman, United Arab Emirates, Tuesday, April 14, 2026. (AP Photo)

Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter speaks with reporters outside of the State Department in Washington, Tuesday, April 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

A volunteer flips a burnt book amid the debris of a residential building that, according to the authorities, was damaged on March 4 during the U.S.-Israeli military campaign, in southeastern Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, April 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

A veiled woman walks through a mass grave where civilians and Hezbollah fighters killed by Israeli airstrikes are temporarily buried in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Tuesday, April 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

Residents gesture and point toward damage as they stand near charred cars at the site of a building destroyed in an Israeli airstrike last Wednesday in central Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, April 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

CHERNOBYL, Ukraine (AP) — On contaminated land that is too dangerous for human life, the world’s wildest horses roam free.

Across the Chernobyl exclusion zone, Przewalski’s horses — stocky, sand-colored and almost toy-like in appearance — graze in a radioactive landscape larger than Luxembourg.

On April 26, 1986, an explosion at the nuclear power plant in Ukraine sent radiation across Europe and forced the evacuation of entire towns, displacing tens of thousands. It was the worst nuclear disaster in history.

Four decades on, Chernobyl — which is transliterated as “Chornobyl” in Ukraine — remains too dangerous for humans. But the wildlife has moved back in.

Wolves now prowl the vast no-man’s-land spanning Ukraine and Belarus, and brown bears have returned after more than a century. Populations of lynx, moose, red deer and even free-roaming packs of dogs have rebounded.

Przewalski’s horses, native to Mongolia and once on the brink of extinction, were introduced here in 1998 as an experiment.

Known as “takhi” in Mongolia (“spirit”), the horses are distinct from domestic breeds, with 33 pairs of chromosomes compared with 32 in domesticated horses. The modern name comes from the Russian explorer who first formally identified them.

“The fact that Ukraine now has a free-ranging population is something of a small miracle,” said Denys Vyshnevskyi, the zone’s lead nature scientist.

With human pressure gone, parts of the exclusion zone now resemble European landscapes from centuries past, he said, adding: “Nature recovers relatively quickly and effectively.”

The transformation is visible everywhere. Trees pierce abandoned buildings, roads dissolve into forest, and weathered Soviet-era signs stand beside leaning wooden crosses in overgrown cemeteries.

Hidden cameras show the horses adapting in unexpected ways. They seek shelter in crumbling barns and deserted homes, using them to escape harsh weather and insects — even bedding down inside.

The animals live in small social groups — typically one stallion with several mares and their young — alongside separate bands of younger males. Many died after their introduction, but others adapted.

Tracking them takes time. Vyshnevskyi often drives alone for hours, setting motion-sensitive camera traps in camouflaged casings attached to trees.

Despite persistent radiation, scientists have not recorded widespread die-offs, though subtler effects are evident. Some frogs have developed darker skin, and birds in higher-radiation areas are more likely to develop cataracts.

However, new threats have emerged.

Russia’s 2022 invasion brought fighting through the exclusion zone as troops advanced toward Kyiv, digging defenses into contaminated soil. Fires linked to military activity swept through forests.

Harsh wartime winters have also taken a toll. Damage to the power grid left surrounding managed areas without resources, and scientists report increases in fallen trees and dead animals — casualties of both extreme conditions and hastily built fortifications.

“Most forest fires are caused by downed drones,” said Oleksandr Polischuk, who leads a firefighting unit in the zone. “Sometimes we have to travel dozens of kilometers to reach them.”

Fires can send radioactive particles back into the air.

Today, the zone is no longer just an accidental refuge for wildlife. It has become a heavily monitored military corridor, marked by concrete barriers, barbed wire and minefields — a landscape of what some describe as grim beauty.

Personnel rotate in and out to limit radiation exposure. Chernobyl is likely to remain off-limits for generations — too dangerous for people, yet full of life.

“For those of us in conservation and ecology, it’s kind of a wonder,” Vyshnevskyi said. “This land was once heavily used — agriculture, cities, infrastructure. But nature has effectively performed a factory reset.”

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Associated Press writers Dmytro Zhyhinas and Vasilisa Stepanenko contributed to this report.

Abandoned houses are seen overgrown with vegetation at the Chernobyl exclusion zone in Prypiat, Ukraine, Monday, April 6, 2026. Chornobyl is the Ukrainian name for the city. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Wild Przewalski horses graze in a forest inside the Chernobyl exclusion zone, Ukraine, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. Chornobyl is the Ukrainian name for the city. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)