Foreign ministers from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt met in Islamabad over the weekend to try to forge a regional plan to calm the month‑long war involving Iran. The talks aimed to align regional positions and push for political measures as the conflict spreads and concerns about broader instability grow. Pakistan has been passing messages between Washington and Tehran. Pakistani foreign minister Ishaq Dar said dialogue and confidence‑building steps are the only viable path forward and welcomed Iran’s agreement to allow 20 Pakistan‑flagged ships—about two per day—to transit the Strait of Hormuz.
The meeting took place amid a sharp uptick in military activity and new participants entering the fighting. Several thousand additional U.S. troops have arrived in the region, and Yemen’s Iran‑aligned Houthi rebels launched their first missile toward Israel on Saturday; Israel intercepted the projectile. A Houthi spokesman vowed attacks would continue until “the aggression on all resistance fronts stops.” The group previously targeted commercial shipping in the Red Sea, and renewed Houthi strikes, together with Iran’s effective blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, have raised fresh fears of wider disruption to global shipping and upward pressure on oil prices.
Iran and Israel traded large‑scale strikes over the weekend. Iran reported strikes on multiple sites near Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and, according to the Israeli military, has increasingly employed cluster munitions—weapons that disperse many small submunitions and are harder for air defenses to intercept. Dozens of countries have banned cluster munitions under an international treaty; Iran, Israel and the United States are not parties to that ban.
Iran also reported airstrikes across its territory and accused U.S.‑Israeli forces of hitting a university in Tehran. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned that American university campuses in the region could be considered legitimate targets and advised students, faculty and staff to remain at least a kilometer from campus sites. Several U.S. institutions operate Gulf campuses, including New York University in the UAE and Texas A&M in Qatar.
Gulf states reported continued missile and drone activity: Kuwait said it intercepted attacks early Sunday, and Saudi Arabia said it shot down ten drones. Iran claimed strikes on major aluminum facilities in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates; Emirates Global Aluminium confirmed an attack that wounded several workers and caused significant damage.
U.S. service members have been affected by the strikes. At least 15 U.S. troops were wounded in an Iranian missile and drone strike on Saudi Arabia’s Prince Sultan air base, with five reported in serious condition. The Pentagon says 13 U.S. service members have been killed and more than 300 injured since the conflict began. Reinforcements have included roughly 3,500 sailors and Marines from the Japan‑based 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, with thousands more troops from the 82nd Airborne Division expected; U.S. Central Command has not detailed specific deployments.
Fighting intensified in Lebanon and along its border with Israel. An Israeli airstrike in Jezzine killed three Lebanese journalists covering the invasion of southern Lebanon; officials said one worked for a Hezbollah‑affiliated outlet and two were siblings. Lebanese authorities condemned the strike as a violation of international law and plan to raise the incident at the U.N. Health officials reported dozens of civilian deaths in recent Israeli attacks, including paramedics. Israel said its ground forces were moving north to try to dislodge Hezbollah fighters; one Israeli soldier was reported killed.
The war’s scope widened further to Syria and Iraq. Syria said it intercepted a drone launched from Iraq that targeted a U.S. base. Pro‑Iranian Iraqi groups have claimed some strikes on U.S. interests, and an attack also targeted the residence of Kurdistan Regional President Nechirvan Barzani, which drew condemnation from Syrian and UAE authorities. French President Emmanuel Macron warned against dragging Iraq deeper into the confrontation. Israel said it conducted an attack into Lebanon from Syrian territory for the first time.
Against this backdrop of expanding fronts and mounting civilian and military casualties, the Islamabad talks represent a regional push to halt further escalation. It remains unclear whether any agreement by the four foreign ministers will be accepted by the United States, Israel or Iran. Reporting for this story included correspondents in Amman, Van, Jezzine, Tel Aviv and Johannesburg.