Pakistan said it was preparing to host "meaningful talks" to end the conflict over Iran in the coming days even though Tehran earlier accused the US of preparing a land assault while seeking negotiations.
Speaking after talks between regional foreign ministers, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said they had covered possible ways to bring an early and permanent end to the war in the region as well as potential US-Iran talks in Islamabad.
"Pakistan will be honoured to host and facilitate meaningful talks between the two sides in coming days, for a comprehensive and lasting settlement of the ongoing conflict," he said.
It was not immediately clear if the US and Iran had agreed to attend.
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Complicating Pakistan's bid are the maximalist positions set out by the United States, Israel and Iran on what it would take to end the conflict.
Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf earlier accused the US of sending messages about possible negotiations while at the same time planning to send in troops, adding that Tehran was ready to respond if US soldiers were deployed.
"As long as the Americans seek Iran's surrender, our response is that we will never accept humiliation," he said in a message to the nation.
Regional powers propose plan to reopen Strait of Hormuz
Initial discussions between Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt had focused on proposals to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to shipping, sources familiar with the matter said.
Iran's effective blockade of oil and gas shipments through the Strait since the US and Israel began attacking the country on 28 February is spreading economic pain around the world.
As the conflict entered its second month, it showed no signs of slowing.
Israel's military said it had launched over 140 airstrikes on central and western Iran, including Tehran, over the 24 hours, hitting ballistic missile launch sites and storage facilities, among other targets.
The director of the World Health Organisation said Israel's expanding military operations in southern Lebanon had resulted in the death of "yet another" health worker after 51 had already been killed.
Israel says Iran-backed Hezbollah militants use medical facilities for cover, which the group denies.
A chemical plant in southern Israel near the city of Beer Sheva was hit by a missile or missile debris as Israel fended off multiple salvos from Iran, prompting official warnings to the public to stay away due to "hazardous materials".
Another missile hit open ground near homes in Beer Sheva, located near several military bases, injuring 11 people.
The war has killed thousands of people and hit countries across the Middle East: major aluminium plants in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates were damaged by air strikes over the weekend.
The UAE is seeking reparations from Iran for attacks on civilians and vital facilities and guarantees to prevent any repetition, an adviser to the president said.
Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis joined the conflict launching their first attacks on Israel and raising the prospect they could target and thus block a second key shipping route, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
Analysts say renewed attacks there would pile further pressure on the world economy.
UN marines start arriving in Middle East
The US has dispatched thousands of Marines to the Middle East, with the first of two contingents arriving on Friday aboard an amphibious assault ship, the US military has said.
The Washington Post quoted US officials as saying the Pentagon was preparing for weeks of ground operations in Iran, adding that it was not yet clear if President Donald Trump would approve such plans.
Mr Trump faces a stark choice between seeking a negotiated exit or escalating militarily that risks a protracted crisis, and would likely weigh further on his already low approval ratings.
Washington said last week it had offered a 15-point ceasefire plan, with a proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and restrict Iran's nuclear programme, but Iran has rejected the list and put forward proposals of its own.
Israel hits dozens of targets across Iran
An Israeli official said Israel would continue carrying out strikes against Iran on what were described as military targets, adding there was no intention to scale back the campaign ahead of any possible talks between US and Iran.
A building housing Qatar's Al-Araby TV in Tehran was hit, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported, with video showing walls and windows blown out of the multi-storey block.
"The missile hit. The ceiling and everything fell on our heads. Unfortunately, we couldn't continue to work. It was a real miracle we survived," said Al Araby camera operator Mohammadreza Shademan.
"There was no military target here."
With US midterm elections due in November, the increasingly unpopular war has weighed on Mr Trump's Republican Party.
Demonstrators took to city streets across the US in protests against the conflict.
Mr Trump has threatened to hit power stations and other energy infrastructure if Iran does not open the Strait of Hormuz, though he has extended a deadline by ten days through 6 April.
Iranian threats against ships have kept most oil tankers from attempting the waterway.
Iran has agreed to let an additional 20 Pakistani-flagged vessels pass through the strait, with two ships permitted to transit daily, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has said, calling it a "harbinger of peace".
Israeli strikes kill Lebanese journalists, rescue workers
Israel carried out a wave of attacks on Tehran on Saturday, targeting what Israel's military said was Iranian government infrastructure.
It also hit targets in Lebanon, resuming its war against Iran-backed Hezbollah, killing three Lebanese journalists in a strike on a media vehicle, Lebanon's Al Manar TV reported, as well as a Lebanese soldier.
Israel's military said it had targeted one of the journalists, Ali Shaib, accusing him of being part of a Hezbollah intelligence unit and saying he had reported on locations of Israeli soldiers.
Hezbollah, which controls Al Manar, denied Mr Shaib was part of one of its intelligence units, and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun described the journalists as "civilians doing their professional duty."
"It is a brazen crime that violates all treaties and norms through which journalists enjoy international protection in war," he said in a statement on X.
A follow‑up strike on the rescue workers sent to assist them also caused fatalities. The World Health Organisation said yesterday that nine paramedics had been killed and seven others wounded in five separate attacks on health care in southern Lebanon.
Iran kept up attacks on Israel and several Gulf states after hitting an air base in Saudi Arabia on Friday and wounding 12 US military personnel, two of them seriously, in one of the most serious breaches of US air defences so far.
Air defences shot down a drone near the residence of the leader of the Iraqi Kurdish ruling party, Masoud Barzani, in Erbil, security sources told Reuters early this morning.
Security sources said on yesterday that another drone attack had targeted the home of the president of Iraq's Kurdistan region.
Israel, which regularly faced missile attacks from the Houthis before the war, confirmed a missile had been fired at it from Yemen. There were no reports of casualties or damage.
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