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Pak says it will host US-Iran talks; Iran warns US ground troops would be 'set on fire'

Pakistan announced Sunday that it will soon host talks between the US and Iran, though there was no immediate word from Washington or Tehran, and it was unclear whether discussions on the month-long war would be direct or indirect.

"Pakistan is very happy that both Iran and the US have expressed their confidence in Pakistan to facilitate the talks. Pakistan will be honoured to host and facilitate meaningful talks between the two sides in the coming days,” Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said after top diplomats from Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia met in Islamabad.

Pakistan later said the diplomats had departed for their home countries. The talks were originally scheduled to continue on Monday.

Pakistan's foreign ministry did not answer questions, and Iran's mission to the United Nations declined to comment.

Islamabad has emerged as a mediator, having relatively good ties with Washington and Tehran, after what Pakistani officials call weeks of quiet diplomacy.

Earlier, Iran's parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, dismissed the talks in Pakistan as a cover after some 2,500 US Marines trained in amphibious landings arrived in the Middle East.

He said Iranian forces were “waiting for the arrival of American troops on the ground to set them on fire and punish their regional partners forever,” according to state media.

Trump says US negotiating with Iran directly and indirectly

US President Donald Trump said that Iran had agreed to allow 20 ships carrying oil through the Strait of Hormuz starting Monday morning and continuing over the next few days “out of a sign of respect.” “I would only say that we're doing extremely well in that negotiation but you never know with Iran because we negotiate with them and then we always have to blow them up,” Trump told reporters Sunday night aboard Air Force One as he flew to Washington.

Trump was asked if Iran had responded to the 15-point ceasefire plan the US has proposed and he said, they did and added, “They gave us most of the points. Why wouldn't they?” But Trump didn't offer details when asked about Iran, by his telling, appearing to make major concessions. “They're agreeing with us on the plan,” Trump said.

He also said Iran's new Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei “may be alive but he's obviously, very seriously in trouble. He's seriously wounded.”

Mojtaba Khamenei breaks silence after Trump says ‘don’t know if he is alive’

Iran's new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei has in a written message thanked the people of Iraq for their support in the war against the United States and Israel, Iranian media said on Sunday.

Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of former supreme leader Ali Khamenei who was killed in an airstrike at the start of the war on February 28, is yet to appear in public after being named and has only issued a handful of written statements.

His failure to appear in person has led to intense speculation over his condition and whereabouts, but state television and some Iranian officials have indicated he is recovering from wounds sustained in an airstrike.

In the message, Khamenei "expressed his appreciation to the supreme religious authority (in Iraq) and the people of Iraq for their clear stance against aggression against Iran and their support for our country", the ISNA news agency said, referring to the Iraq-based Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, one of the most revered figures in Shia Islam.

The message was delivered following a meeting between the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, a Shia party, and the Iranian ambassador to Baghdad, it said. No further details were given on how the message was transmitted.

US President Donald Trump last week said Washington was dealing with a "top person" in talks with Iran but made clear it was not the supreme leader. "We have not heard from the son... We don't know if he is living," said Trump.

Mojtaba Khamenei is the third supreme leader since the 1979 Islamic revolution, succeeding his father and revolutionary founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.