Thursday 16 / April / 2026
The United States is discussing holding a second round of peace talks with Iran in Pakistan, 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.
She added that further talks "would very likely" be in Islamabad.
The Pakistani capital hosted the first round of talks between US and Iranian delegations last weekend, the first high-level direct diplomatic engagement between the two sides in decades.
China tells Iran it wants to play 'constructive role' and 'promote peace'
In a Wednesday call, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi that Beijing "supports maintaining the momentum of the ceasefire and peace talks."
The call took place as Pakistani mediators arrived in Tehran to discuss a potential second round of US-Iran talks.
Talks, said Wang, are "in the fundamental interests of the Iranian people and are also the shared hope of regional countries and the international community," according to a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement.
A Chinese readout of the call quoted Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi as saying that Tehran "looks forward to China playing a positive role in promoting peace and a cessation of conflict."
Araghchi spoke of "Iran's willingness to continue seeking a rational, realistic solution through peaceful negotiations," according to Beijing.
Wang said Iran's "sovereign security and legitimate rights and interests should be respected and safeguarded, but at the same time…," he continued, "freedom of navigation and security [in the Strait of Hormuz] should be guaranteed."
