After two weeks, US and Iran pause strikes as talks continue

The US Central Command made no announcement of new military action against Iran on Friday and afterwards while there were also no reports of overnight retaliatory strikes on US regional allies.

The sudden pause in the two-week resumption of hostilities come as both sides renew the push for reaching a permanent end to the conflict that began on 28 February and continued for 1.5 months.

President Donald Trump said on Friday that the United States and Iran were in talks to negotiate an end to their conflict, but ⁠repeated that Tehran was not yet ready for a deal.

"We are talking to them. I think they're being serious. I think ... they are being ⁠by far the most serious that we've seen them, but that doesn't mean ⁠we get there. We'll see what happens," Trump said ⁠in remarks to reporters at the White ⁠House.

His comments came after he discussed a potential escalation of the war with Cabinet officials.

The talks continue under Pakistani mediation with support from China.

Exploratory discussions took place during a visit by Iran's Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni to Islamabad this week — his second within the last 10 days, sources told Reuters.

Momeni, who is considered close to Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, met with Pakistani government leaders and army chief Asim Munir this week, according to Pakistani government statements.

All three sources cautioned that the obstacles to any talks with the US remain high.

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US Central Command, CENTCOM, did not announce it was launching strikes on Iran on Friday, after pummelling the country daily for almost two weeks.

For the past 13 nights, CENTCOM has posted on X it was carrying out strikes on military targets in Iran. There was no such announcement in the hours of Friday Eastern Time.

As of Saturday morning local time, Iranian state media had not reported any strikes or explosions in the country overnight.

However, the UK’s maritime agency reported an incident involving a tanker and “military forces” in the Gulf of Oman.

In the region, tensions remain as US President Donald Trump said while Washington is actively negotiating with Tehran, it’s possible the military continues its bombing campaign or escalates it.