Pakistani delegation heads to Iran with US message on new talks

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Japan's Nikkei index surged more than two percent on Thursday to hit a fresh record on optimism about an accord in the US-Iran conflict.

At around 0215 GMT, the Nikkei 225 climbed to 59,513 points, surpassing the previous record set in February.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino said Wednesday that Iran will participate in the World Cup “for sure” despite its war with the United States.

Speaking at CNBC’s Invest in America Forum, Infantino said it is important that Iran participates in the World Cup even though its participation has been in doubt since the U.S. and Israel launched airstrikes on the country.

“The Iranian team is coming for sure, yes,” Infantino said. “We hope that by then, of course, the situation will be a peaceful situation. As I said, that would definitely help. But Iran has to come. Of course, they represent their people. They have qualified. The players want to play.”

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Iran arrested four suspected Israeli spies, state media reported on Thursday.

It came as US officials discuss possible peace talks with Iran after US-Israeli strikes on Tehran on February 28 engulfed the Middle East in war.

"The four agents linked to the Mossad were apprehended in Gilan governorate" in northern Iran, IRNA reported, citing a statement from Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

The Mossad is Israel's foreign intelligence agency.

"The arrestees had provided Mossad intelligence officers with images and locations of some sensitive and critical military and security sites via the internet", it said.

The suspects have been handed over to judicial authorities, the report added.

The health of jailed Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi is critical after she suffered a heart attack last month, supporters warned on Wednesday.

Her Iran-based family and legal team were on Saturday allowed a second in person visit with Mohammadi in her prison in northern Iran where "clear signs of a deterioration in her general condition were observed, and her physical state was described as critical", her foundation said in a statement.

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China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi urged his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araqchi to make efforts to restore normal navigation in the Strait of Hormuz in a phone call on Wednesday, according to a Chinese foreign ministry statement.

Remarks by a Tunisian lawmaker about rape and sub-Saharan African women migrants have triggered outrage, with rights groups condemning the comments as racist and sexist.

Migration is a sensitive issue in Tunisia, a key transit point for tens of thousands of people seeking to reach Europe each year.

On Monday, lawmaker Tarak Mahdi said during a parliament session that recent reports of the rape of a migrant woman from sub-Saharan Africa were false.

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Syria began loading its first tanker carrying Iraqi oil on Wednesday at the Baniyas port refinery, according to state media and an AFP correspondent, after Iraq was largely unable to export during the Middle East war.

With maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz disrupted, Iraq's exports came to a halt and oil storage tanks began filling up rapidly, forcing Iraqi authorities to largely suspend production.

At the beginning of April, Iraq announced it had started transporting oil by truck through Syria in preparation for re-export by boat.

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 Two men pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges they brought homemade bombs to an anti-Islam protest outside New York City’s mayor’s home in a failed attempt at a terror attack inspired by the Islamic State group.

Emir Balat, 18, and Ibrahim Kayumi, 19, entered the pleas during a brief appearance in federal court in Manhattan.

The two, who are both from the Philadelphia-area, face charges that include attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and using a weapon of mass destruction.

Prosecutors say Balat and Kayumi drove from their home state to Manhattan in order to attack a March 7 anti-Islam demonstration in front of Gracie Mansion. The protest was hosted by Jake Lang, a far-right activist and critic of Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the first Muslim to hold the office.

YouTube has terminated a channel belonging to a pro-Iran group producing viral Lego-themed AI videos that ridicule US President Donald Trump, the Google-owned platform said Wednesday, sparking online criticism.

Explosive Media, a group of pro-Tehran creators that describes itself as independent but is widely suspected of ties to the Iranian government, has gained internet notoriety during the US-Iran war for animation videos that have racked up millions of views.

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This year's Jewish pilgrimage on Tunisia's island of Djerba will welcome more worshippers after two years of scaled-down participation due to safety concerns, organisers said on Tuesday.

The pilgrimage to the Ghriba synagogue, Africa's oldest, has in the past drawn thousands of pilgrims from Europe and beyond, attracting international and local tourists as well.

But after a deadly 2023 attack on the synagogue that killed two worshippers and three police officers, fewer pilgrims have been turning out while officials also placed restrictions on the event.

This year, organisers say it will be "open to everyone, Tunisians and foreigners, as part of a gradual return to normal", said the head of the organising committee, Perez Trabelsi.

The pilgrimage will be held from April 30 to May 6.

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About 70 Palestinian men were found hiding inside a garbage truck by Israeli police as they attempted to cross into Israel from the occupied West Bank, apparently in search of work.

Israeli police released footage showing the back of the truck when it was being opened late Monday, revealing the men tightly crammed inside the truck’s waste compartment. Police are seen in the video, some with their weapons drawn, surrounding the truck.

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Norway is lifting the ban on investments in Syrian government bonds by its $2.2 trillion wealth fund, in a further sign of the Middle Eastern country's re-entry into global finance after the ousting of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.

At the same time, the Nordic country is planning to forbid what is the world's largest sovereign wealth fund from investing in Iranian government bonds in something of a symbolic move given the hefty sanctions already placed on Iran.

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French luxury group Hermes reported weaker than expected first-quarter sales on Wednesday as the Iran war hit spending in the Middle East as well as in Europe, with fewer tourists visiting Paris or London and buying designer items.

Investors' hopes for luxury demand to recover this year have been dashed by the conflict which has dented Dubai mall sales and sent energy prices soaring, hitting consumer confidence.

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White House budget director Russell Vought said on Wednesday he could not estimate the cost of the Iran war, as he defended President Donald Trump's request for a massive $1.5 trillion annual military budget against bipartisan criticism from U.S. lawmakers who cited the Pentagon's historic lack of financial accountability.

"We're not ready to come to you with a request. We're still working on it. We're working through to figure out what's needed," Vought told a hearing of the House of Representatives Budget Committee. "I don't have a ballpark."

The cost of the war with Iran, which Trump began alongside Israel on February 28, has remained an open question on Capitol Hill.

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South Korea has secured 273 million barrels of crude oil from the Middle East and Kazakhstan through the end of the year, with supplies routed outside the Strait of Hormuz, presidential chief of staff Kang Hoon-sik said on Wednesday.

Asia's fourth-largest economy has also secured 2.1 million metric tons of naphtha over the same period, Kang said at a press briefing following his visit as a special presidential envoy to Kazakhstan, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Qatar over the past week.

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An Israeli airstrike kills five people and injures at least five others in Ansariyeh, Lebanon, the country's health ministry reports.

A Kuwaiti migrant went on trial Wednesday in a London court charged with planning a knife attack on Israel's London embassy just days after his UK asylum application was refused.

Abdullah Sabah Albadri, 34, of no fixed address, has denied one count of "preparation of terrorist acts" and two counts of possessing knives in a public place.

He was detained in April 2025 by two police officers moments after an "almost successful" attempt to scale the fence at the Israeli embassy armed with two knives, the Old Bailey was told.

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The military adviser to Iran's supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei on Wednesday warned that Iran would sink American ships in the Strait of Hormuz if the United States decided to "police" the key shipping bottleneck.

"Mr Trump wants to become the police of the Strait of Hormuz. Is this really your job? Is this the job of a powerful army like the US?" Mohsen Rezaei, a former commander-in-chief of Iran's Revolutionary Guards who was named as a military adviser by Khamenei last month, told state TV.

"These ships of yours will be sunk by our first missiles and have created a great danger for the US military. They can definitely be exposed to our missiles and we can destroy them," Rezaei, wearing his military uniform, told the state broadcaster.

Long regarded as a hardliner even within the Revolutionary Guards, Iran's ideological army, Rezaei said it would be "great" if the United States launched a ground invasion of Iran as "we would take thousands of hostages and then for each hostage we would get a billion dollars."

He also added, without giving further details: "I am not in favour of extending the ceasefire at all and this is a personal view."

A veteran and high-profile figure in Iran, Rezaei headed the Revolutionary Guards from 1981 to 1997.

An Istanbul court on Tuesday sentenced a veteran Turkish journalist to two years and six months in prison on charges of "spreading misleading information", the journalist and the rights groups said.

The case against Zafer Arapkirli, a columnist for the opposition daily BirGun, stemmed from comments he posted on X about internal clashes in Syria following the 2024 overthrow of strongman president Bashar al-Assad.

His posts referred in particular to deadly violence between Assad loyalists and forces aligned with Syria's new authorities in Alawite-majority villages.

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The US military said Wednesday it successfully turned back 10 vessels that tried to sail out of Iranian ports during the first 48 hours of a naval blockade against the Islamic republic.

"Ten vessels have now been turned around and ZERO ships have broken through since the start of the US blockade on Monday," US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a post on X.

CENTCOM had earlier put the number of ships turned back at nine, but added a 10th that it said was "redirected" back to Iran by a US guided missile destroyer.

While CENTCOM said no vessels have made it through the blockade, maritime tracking data appeared to contradict that assertion.

Tracking data from Tuesday indicated at least three ships sailing from Iranian ports crossed the Strait of Hormuz, though some vessels taking the route later turned back.

The three ships were among at least seven Iran-linked vessels that passed through the strait after Washington's blockade came into effect at 1400 GMT on Monday, according to maritime data provider Kpler.

US rapper Kanye West postponed late Tuesday his concert in the French city of Marseille, following reports that the country's interior minister was seeking to block the performance.

"After much thought and consideration, it is my sole decision to postpone my show in Marseille, France until further notice," the rapper wrote on X.

France's interior minister Laurent Nunez was seeking to block West from performing in the southern city in a concert scheduled for June 11 due to his antisemitic remarks, AFP reported earlier on Tuesday.

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The head of the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog said Wednesday that “very detailed” measures to verify Iran’s nuclear activities must be included in a potential U.S.-Iran agreement to end their war in the Middle East.

International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi stressed the need for the thorough verification regime for Iran’s nuclear program, as U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that a second round of talks with Iran could happen over the next two days.

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The United States said on Wednesday it was discussing a possible second round of peace talks with Iran in Pakistan and was optimistic about reaching a deal, as Tehran threatened to shut down Red Sea trade unless Washington lifted a naval blockade on its ports.

A Pakistani delegation arrived in Tehran earlier Wednesday bearing a new message from Washington after President Donald Trump indicated talks could resume this week following last weekend's abortive negotiations in Islamabad.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters further talks "would very likely" be in the Pakistani capital, saying: "Those discussions are being had" and "we feel good about the prospects of a deal."

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President Donald Trump would "welcome" an end to the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, but such an agreement is not part of peace talks with Iran, a senior US administration official said Wednesday.

"The president would welcome the end of hostilities in Lebanon as part of a peace agreement between Israel and Lebanon," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

But "this is not something we have asked for nor is it part of the peace negotiations with Iran," the official added.

Israel's currency, the shekel (NIS), hit a 30-year high against the US dollar on Wednesday, approaching the symbolic barrier of three shekels to the dollar.

According to Bank of Israel data, the shekel traded at 3.014 to the dollar at the close of Wednesday's session.

The last time the Israeli currency broke below the three-to-one threshold was in 1995, central bank records show.

Speculation over the future of LIV Golf ran rampant after league executives reportedly were summoned to New York for an emergency summit.

The Financial Times reported Wednesday that Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund is on the verge of cutting its support for the league and that an announcement could come as soon as Thursday.

LIV Golf members are currently in Mexico City preparing to play the sixth event on the 2026 calendar, starting on Thursday. Golfer Sergio Garcia told reporters there Wednesday that the players "have not heard anything."

All outward appearances indicated the event was proceeding as planned, with LIV Golf posting interviews and tee times on social media.

Garcia said a shutdown would be contrary to what they have heard from Yasir Al-Rumayyan, governor of the Saudi PIF.

"That is not what Yasir told us at the beginning of the year, that he is behind us, that they have a project of many years," said Garcia, translated from Spanish.

The PIF has reportedly poured more than $5 billion into LIV Golf since it launched in 2022, luring stars like Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau and Phil Mickelson with lucrative contracts and massive tournament purses.

LIV Golf's potential demise would not come as a total shock given the circuit's stagnant television ratings and its inability to attract any big names of late, coupled with the recent departures of Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed back to the PGA Tour.

After Mexico City, there are nine events remaining on the schedule in LIV Golf's fourth season.

Gaza's civil defence agency said on Tuesday that a toddler was among 10 people killed in separate Israeli strikes in the northern part of the besieged Palestinian territory.

Violence continues despite a ceasefire in the Gaza war that came into effect on October 10, with both Israel and Hamas regularly accusing each other of violations.

Mahmoud Bassal, spokesman for the civil defence agency, said "four people were killed, including a child and several others were injured... in a strike targeting a police vehicle" in Gaza City.

He identified the child as three-year-old Yahya al-Mallahi.

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At least one person killed following an Israeli airstrike in the southern Lebanese village of Ain Baal, as state media reports renewed artillery shelling in Mansouri and Qlaileh and Al-Haouch.

Senate again rejects effort to halt Trump's war in Iran as Republicans hold firm behind president.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that Israel and the US are fully aligned in their objective to contain Iran.

"Our American friends keep us constantly updated on their contacts with Iran. The objectives of the United States and our own are identical," he said in a televised speech.

"We want to see enriched material removed from Iran; we want to see the elimination of enrichment capability within Iran; and, of course, we want to see the (Hormuz) strait reopened," he added.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that the military continues to strike at Hezbollah and was about to "overwhelm" Bint Jbeil, as pressure mounts for a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon.

In a video statement, Netanyahu said he has instructed the military to continue reinforcing the security zone in southern Lebanon.

On Iran, Netanyahu said the U.S. keeps Israel updated and the two countries are aligned. Should the ceasefire with Iran fail, "we are prepared for any scenario," he said.

The United States issued new Iran-related and counterterrorism sanctions on Wednesday, targeting three individuals, 17 entities, and nine vessels, according to a notice posted to the U.S. Treasury Department's website.

Iran could consider allowing ships to sail freely through the Oman side of the Strait of Hormuz without risk of attack as part of proposals it has offered in negotiations with the United States if a deal is clinched to prevent renewed conflict, a source briefed by Tehran told Reuters.

The source, who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter, said Iran could be willing to let ships use the other side of the narrow strait in Omani waters without any hindrance from Tehran.

The source did not say whether Iran would also agree to clear any mines it may have placed in that stretch of water or if all ships - even those linked to Israel - would be allowed to pass freely.

But the source added that the proposal hinged on whether Washington was prepared to meet Tehran's demands, a condition that was central to any potential breakthrough with the Strait of Hormuz. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The U.S. blockade of Iran has been fully implemented and is being enforced against vessels of all nations, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told a briefing on Wednesday.

The United States is discussing holding a second round of peace talks with Iran in Pakistan and is optimistic about reaching a deal, the White House said on Wednesday.

"Those discussions are being had" and "we feel good about the prospects of a deal," Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters, adding that further talks "would very likely" be in Islamabad.

The Kremlin's spokesman was quoted as saying on Wednesday that the United States had rejected its proposal that Russia take all of Iran's enriched uranium out of the country as a way to help resolve the Middle East conflict. Russia first proposed last June that it take control of Iran's uranium stock, but no action was taken. According to news reports, Russia issued the proposal again this week.

"Russia was prepared to accept Iran's enriched uranium on its territory," state news agency RIA said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Indian television channel India Today.

"This would be a good decision. But unfortunately the American side rejected this proposal."

U.S. news reports have quoted sources as saying that the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump had ruled out the proposal. For its part, Iran had said any decision would depend on whether it is able to reach an agreement with the U.S., including on its nuclear programme.

The U.S. has cited Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium -- and the possibility it might be able to secure a nuclear weapon -- as grounds for its attacks on Iran.

A Russian deputy foreign minister last year suggested Russia was willing to remove the stockpile from Iran and convert it to civilian reactor fuel to help facilitate negotiations. 

A drone struck an Iranian Kurdish group on Tuesday, killing a woman in Iraq's northern Kurdistan region, a party official told AFP.

It was the first such attack against Iranian Kurds in Iraqi Kurdistan since a fragile ceasefire in the US-Israeli war against Iran took effect in the region last week.

Commander Mohammed Hakimi from the exiled Komala party blamed the attack on "Iran and its affiliated militias".

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The United Arab Emirates has announced schools are set to reopen on 20 April after they were suspended due to security circumstances.

The death toll from the shhooting at a middle school in Kahramanmaras, Turkey, has risen to nine people, with 13 others injured, the interior ministry says.

China's top diplomat told his Iranian counterpart that Beijing "supports maintaining the momentum of the ceasefire and peace talks" in a phone call on Wednesday, as negotiators from Pakistan landed in Tehran to discuss a second round of US-Iran talks.

Peace talks are "in the fundamental interests of the Iranian people and are also the shared hope of regional countries and the international community," Wang Yi said, according to a Chinese foreign ministry statement.

He said China was willing to continue to play a "constructive role" towards peace in the Middle East after a first round of Iran-US talks in Islamabad at the weekend failed to reach an agreement.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran "looks forward to China playing a positive role in promoting peace and a cessation of conflict", according to the Chinese readout.

Araghchi also expressed "Iran's willingness to continue seeking a rational, realistic solution through peaceful negotiations", it said.

Wang also said Iran's "sovereign security and legitimate rights and interests should be respected and safeguarded" as a country bordering the vital Strait of Hormuz, while "at the same time... freedom of navigation and security should be guaranteed".

The global economy is about to feel the full economic impact of the Iran war, Qatar's finance minister said on Wednesday, but headded that his country's finances would be able to ride out the problems for at least a year.

"A full-fledged impact is coming and it is not far away," Ali Ahmed Al-Kuwari said at an IMF discussion in Washington, describing the recent spike in global prices as just the "tip of the iceberg."

"I think in one month, two months' time you are going to see really a huge economic impact globally," he said.

"Very soon you are going to have a problem of energy availability not just prices. So even if you can afford to pay you are not going to be able to source, which is a major, major problem."

There was also the threat that the sharp reduction in global fertilizer production and supply from the region would see farming seasons missed around the world, triggering a food crisis too, he added.

Israel's military chief of staff on Wednesday said he had ordered areas south of Lebanon's Litani River to be turned into a Hezbollah "kill zone" as troops pressed a major offensive there.

"I have ordered that all of the area of south Lebanon up to the Litani (River) line be turned into a Hezbollah terrorist kill zone," chief of staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said on a visit to troops operating in the area.

"We are advancing and striking Hezbollah and they are retreating," Zamir added.

He said troops had killed "more than 1,700" fighters since the operation began on March 2, describing Hezbollah as "weakened and isolated in Lebanon".

Diplomatic efforts by Iran and other regional countries could produce a ceasefire in Lebanon "soon," senior Hezbollah lawmaker Ibrahim al-Moussawi told news agency Reuters on Wednesday, saying Tehran had used its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz as leverage.

"The Iranians are exercising high pressure against the Americans and they have put their conditions that the Americans should include Lebanon in the ceasefire. If they don't do it, they are going to continue their blockade of Hormuz. It's the economic card," Moussawi said.

"The Iranians have opened up to several regional and international parties to achieve this goal," he said.

Moussawi declined to comment on whether the group would abide by such a ceasefire.

The United States and Iran made progress in talks on Tuesday and are moving closer to a framework agreement to end the war, Axios reported on Wednesday, citing two US officials.

Iranian state TV said Tehran will welcome a Pakistani delegation led by army chief Asim Munir on Wednesday, after the Islamic republic confirmed that exchanges with the US had continued via Pakistan after failed talks in Islamabad to end the war.

State TV reported that Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will welcome the delegation, which will bring a new message from Washington following the negotiations in the Pakistani capital over the weekend.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will travel to Paris on Friday to participate in a conference of countries willing to contribute to a defensive multilateral mission in the Strait of Hormuz news agency Reuters reports, citing a government source.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Wednesday said he would not "yield" to pressure to join the Iran war after US President Donald Trump threatened to scrap a UK trade deal.

"We're not going to get dragged into this war. It is not our war," Starmer told parliament.

"I'm not going to change my mind. I'm not going to yield. It is not in our national interest to join this war," the Labour leader added.

In a phone interview with Sky News, Trump threatened to alter an agreement struck with Britain that limits the impact of his US tariffs blitz.

Trump, who has repeatedly slammed Starmer's policies, said strains in the relationship with the NATO ally would "not at all" negatively affect King Charles III's state visit to the United States this month.

In reference to the royal trip, Starmer told parliament that the two nations' "long standing bonds... are far greater than anyone who occupies any particular office at any particular time".

London and Washington concluded a trade agreement last year capping US tariffs at 10 percent on most British manufactured goods.

In return, the UK agreed to open its markets further to American ethanol and beef, sparking concerns in the country.

At the time, it was an advantageous agreement for London, which benefited from the lowest tariffs granted by the US.

An Israeli airstrike has reportedly targeted paramedics in the southern Lebanese town of Mefdoun, according to colleagues at Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

The report said the strike hit two rescue teams from the Islamic Health Authority (IHA) and the Islamic Message Scouts, Hezbollah-affiliated medical and civil defense organizations, as they were working to evacuate casualties from an earlier bombing at the scene.

The United States has not formally agreed to the extension of its ceasefire with Iran, a senior official said on Wednesday.

"There is continued engagement between the U.S. and Iran to reach a deal," a senior U.S. official told news agency Reuters. 

The Israeli military said Wednesday it had struck more than 200 Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon in the past 24 hours, even as Israel and Lebanon agreed to pursue direct negotiations.

"In the past 24 hours, the [Israeli military] struck over 200 Hezbollah terror infrastructure sites in southern Lebanon, including launchers and terrorists," the military said.

 Donald Trump asked Chinese President Xi Jinping in a letter not to give Iran weapons, and Xi responded that China was not supplying Tehran, the U.S. president told Fox Business Network in an interview that aired on Wednesday.

Trump, in the interview taped on Tuesday, did not say when the letters were exchanged. Last week, he threatened countries with an immediate 50% tariff if they supplied Iran with weapons.

"I wrote him a letter asking him not to do that, and he wrote me a letter saying that, essentially, he's not doing that," Trump told FBN's "Mornings with Maria" program.

He also said he did not expect shifts in the global oil market over the war on Iran and changes in Venezuela to impact the dynamics of his planned meeting with Xi next month. "He's somebody that needs oil. We don't," Trump said.

United Nations refugee chief Barham Salih on Wednesday called on the international community to provide urgent support to Lebanon, with a fifth of the country's population displaced by the Israel-Hezbollah war.

"I call upon the international community to provide urgent support and relief to Lebanon," he said after meeting Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam.

"The humanitarian consequences of this war are immense, and I emphasise the need to spare civilians and civilian infrastructure from the ravages of attack. Lebanon does not deserve to be trapped in a recurring cycle of violence, it deserves support and stability."

He added that UNHCR has received "a portion" of the $61 million it had appealed for during the war to support Lebanon in its "unprecedented" displacement crisis, as more than a million people, or a fifth of the Lebanese population, are displaced by the conflict.

Of them, more than 140,000 are in government shelters.

The $61 million is part of the Lebanon Flash Appeal, launched by UN chief Antonio Guterres last month to gather $308 million to help the country.

War-ravaged Lebanon has been dealing with an unprecedented financial crisis since 2019 and was still reeling from the 2024 Israel-Hezbollah war when the Iran-backed group drew it into the Middle East conflict last month.

Iran's military warned on Wednesday it would block trade through the Red Sea, along with the Gulf and Sea of Oman, if the US naval blockade continues.

In a statement carried by Iranian state television, the head of Iran's military central command centre said if the US continues with its blockade and "creates insecurity for Iran's commercial vessels and oil tankers", it will constitute "a prelude" to violating the ceasefire.

"The powerful armed forces of the Islamic republic will not allow any exports or imports to continue in the Persian Gulf, the Sea of Oman, and the Red Sea," said Ali Abdollahi.

Suppliers and buyers at a trade show in southern China were cautious on Wednesday as they weighed costs for ice cream machines, home appliances and cars that have risen since the start of the Middle East war.

Chinese exporters and Middle Eastern buyers at the opening day of the Canton Fair -- one of the largest trade shows in the world -- gloomily told AFP news agency that the Iran war has pummelled orders and led to price hikes.

The fair gives foreign buyers a chance to meet face-to-face with Chinese manufacturers and assess their products up close, establishing new supply agreements and shoring up old contacts.

But standing by a row of deep fryers and ovens, kitchenware company sales manager Li Jin told AFP that some customers in the Middle East "dare not place orders" while shipments still have not reached others.

Many cargo vessels that would normally pass through the Strait of Hormuz en route to the Middle East have been floating in limbo since Tehran effectively closed the vital waterway in response to US and Israeli strikes on Iran that began February 28.

Washington announced its own blockade of Iranian ports on Sunday after peace talks with Tehran failed, dashing hopes for an imminent reopening of the trade route.

Fresh orders from Middle East customers have dried up, said Li, whose company usually exports 20 to 30 percent of its products to the region.

"If it weren't for the war, we would have had a steady stream of new orders coming in," Li said.

Senior UAE and Iranian officials held a call to discuss de-escalation on Wednesday, UAE state media reported, the first high-level call since ties deteriorated over the US-Iran war.

UAE Vice President and Deputy Premier Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan "held a phone call with Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Speaker of the Parliament of the Islamic Republic of Iran, during which they discussed regional developments and ways to de-escalate tensions in the region", according to a statement released by the WAM news agency.

Since the start of the Middle East war, the UAE has taken a hawkish tone towards Iran, recalling its ambassador and closing its embassy after Tehran began its campaign targeting the Emirates and other Gulf countries.

Foreign tourists coming to Japan hit a new record in March despite another huge drop in Chinese visitors as well as a fall in those from the Middle East, official data showed Wednesday.

The number of international visitors was 3.6 million, up 3.5 percent year-on-year, a new record for the month, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization.

Chinese visitors dropped 56 percent to 291,600 -- Beijing warned people from visiting last year -- while those from the Middle East fell 30 percent to 16,700 because of the Iran war.

The JNTO said the total number of tourists was boosted by "the start of the cherry blossom season around late March, and school holidays coinciding with Easter in April".

Japanese locals and tourists enjoy the famed cherry blossom season which is often in full swing in late March and early April.

The tiny white and pink petals of cherry flowers, known as sakura, herald the start of spring in Japan, and full bloom ushers in a brief period of boisterous outdoor parties held by residents.

Previously, Chinese travellers were the biggest source of tourists to Japan, but the figure sharply dropped after Beijing warned Chinese citizens against visiting Japan.

Japan-China ties have deteriorated since Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggested in November that Japan might intervene militarily in any Chinese attempt to take Taiwan.

China, which regards the democratic island as part of its territory and has not ruled out force to annex it, was furious over the comments.

The number of Chinese visitors to Japan already tumbled 45 percent in December, nose-dived 61 percent in January and dropped 45 percent in March.

South Korea has become the largest contingent since January.

The latest data shows the number of visitors from Mexico soared 70 percent while those from Malaysia and Vietnam jumped nearly 45 percent, respectively.

The US is set to send thousands of more troops into the Middle East in coming days, as the Trump administration attempts to pressure Iran into a deal, the Washington Post said on Wednesday, citing US officials familiar with the matter.

The head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog said Wednesday that “very detailed” measures to verify Iran’s nuclear activities must be included in a potential U.S.-Iran agreement to end their war in the Middle East.

International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi stressed the need for the thorough verification regime for Iran’s nuclear program, as U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that a second round of talks with Iran could happen over the next two days.

The Trump administration has said that preventing Iran from gaining a nuclear weapon is a key war aim. Iran has previously said it isn't developing such weapons but rejected limits on its nuclear program.

Last weekend in Pakistan, an initial round of talks between the two countries failed to produce an agreement. The White House said Iran’s nuclear ambitions were a central sticking point. But an Iranian diplomatic official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the closed-door talks, denied that negotiations had failed over Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

“Iran has a very ambitious, wide nuclear program so all of that will require the presence of IAEA inspectors,” Grossi told reporters in Seoul. “Otherwise, you will not have an agreement. You will have an illusion of an agreement.”

He said that any agreement on nuclear technology “requires very detailed verification mechanisms.”

Over 200 Iranian crew members from two warships who were rescued by Sri Lanka have been sent back to their homeland, a top official said on Wednesday.

Sri Lanka rescued 32 Iranian crew from the warship IRIS Dena on March 4 after it was hit by a torpedo from a U.S. submarine.

The ship was returning from a naval exercise organised by India, amid the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.

Sri Lanka also rescued 208 crew from a second vessel, IRIS Booshehr on March 5 that had also requested assistance from Colombo after it ran into engine trouble.

"The crew of both ships were flown out about 11 p.m. on a special flight on Tuesday night," Deputy Defence Minister Aruna Jayasekera told news agency Reuters.

After its crew was offloaded in Colombo, IRIS Booshehr was towed to waters off Sri Lanka's eastern coast of Trincomalee eventually reaching on Tuesday morning.

"There are about 8-10 Iranian crew remaining aboard to assist operations," Jayasekera added.

Sri Lanka granted 30-day entry visas to the crew members and housed them in navy and air force camps before arrangements were made for their return to Iran.

A chartered plane arranged by Iran took back the bodies of 84 crew members from the Dena who were killed in the U.S. attack. 

French luxury group Hermes reported weaker than expected first-quarter sales on Wednesday as the Iran war hit spending in the Middle East region as well as in France, with fewer tourists visiting Paris and buying expensive handbags and designer clothes.

Sales of products including Birkin and Kelly bags, silk scarves and perfume grew by 6% in currency-adjusted terms, lower than a Visible Alpha analyst consensus of 7.1% growth. Currency fluctuations took 290 million euros off Hermes' revenue, leading to a 1% drop in reported sales to 4.07 billion euros ($4.80 billion), from 4.13 billion euros a year ago.

Hermes, which caters to the ultra-wealthy with handbags starting at $13,000, said weaker tourist flows due to the conflict had hit sales in concession stores at airports and in the Middle East, as well as in the UK, Italy and Switzerland where Gulf shoppers are a key driver.

Sales in the Middle East region fell 6% in currency-adjusted terms, to 160 million euros, from 185 million euros in the first quarter last year. Though only accounting for 4.4% of sales, the Middle East was the fastest-growing region for Hermes last year.

"The Middle East, down by 6% was of course significantly impacted by the geopolitical events affecting the region in March," said Hermes chief financial officer Eric du Halgouet.

Sales in the United Arab Emirates' luxury malls were down by 40% in March, du Halgouet said.

Iranian national Mahdieh Esfandiari, who was held in France for over a year, has returned home, Iranian state television reported Wednesday, a week after Iran released two French citizens.

"Mahdieh Esfandiari, a Palestinian rights activist, has returned to Iran after her release from prison in France," state television said.

Esfandiari's release came a week after French citizens Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris, who spent more than three years in Iranian prisons on espionage charges, arrived in France.