Araghchi returns to Islamabad from Muscat

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi returned to Pakistan on Sunday, which is leading mediation between Tehran and Washington, in a new visit within efforts to end the war that US President Donald Trump has vowed to "win."

Araghchi arrived in Islamabad for the second time during the current weekend, this time following Trump's cancellation of a visit his envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were expected to make, amid failure to achieve a breakthrough to end the war that broke out with a US-Israeli attack on Tehran on February 28.

Islamabad had hosted earlier in April a first direct round of negotiations under a ceasefire agreement between the warring parties, without reaching a deal to end the war whose consequences have spread across the Middle East and global energy markets.

After his first stop in Islamabad, Araghchi traveled to Muscat as part of a tour that is also scheduled to include Russia.

Iran's official news agency IRNA confirmed that Araghchi arrived in Islamabad on Sunday afternoon, coming from Oman where he met Sultan Haitham bin Tariq.

The Omani News Agency said the two parties discussed "developments in the region, mediation efforts and initiatives aimed at ending conflicts."

The Iranian minister had met in Pakistan with Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, his counterpart Ishaq Dar, and army chief Asim Munir. Araghchi said Iran is waiting to see "whether the United States is truly serious about diplomacy."

In Washington, Trump confirmed on Saturday that the White House Correspondents' Dinner shooting he had attended would not deter him from winning the war, though he doubted the two events were connected.

Trump told reporters at the White House that the shooting "will not deter me from winning the Iran war. I don't know if it has any connection to it, I don't think so based on what we know."

Trump had announced on Saturday that Witkoff and Kushner would not visit Pakistan, adding: "We have all the cards. They [Iranians] can call us whenever they want, but you won't make 18-hour trips anymore to sit and talk about nothing."

He believed Washington had wasted "a lot of time traveling, and a lot of work!"

But Trump stressed that their not traveling did not mean resuming the war, adding that the Iranians "submitted a document to us that should have been better than it was," and that after the cancellation "they submitted a new, better document," without giving details.