Mediator Pakistan said on Thursday it was doing its “utmost” to bring Iran and the United States back to talks under a memorandum of understanding, aimed at halting their war, to which Islamabad is a signatory.
“We are doing our utmost to bring all parties back to the Islamabad MoU,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Tahir Andrabi told reporters, adding Pakistan was encouraging the countries to “fully adhere to their commitments to hold technical talks” under the agreement.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Thursday that two oil tankers attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz with US support turned back after one of them caught fire.
“Last night, two oil tankers, encouraged by American aircraft, attempted to leave through the unsafe southern route of the Strait of Hormuz,” the Guards said in a statement. “After a major fire broke out on one of them, both vessels quickly turned back.”
Iran has kept control of the Hormuz since the outbreak of the war in the Middle East on February 28.
Meanwhile, the Egyptian government said that a fire the day before at the port of Damietta was caused by a drone attack, after authorities reported two gas ships were damaged by the blaze.
The presidency of Egypt’s council of ministers said in a statement that after a preliminary investigation into the incident, “it appears that it resulted from a drone attack, with no party claiming responsibility”. It added that the inquiry was ongoing.
In Kuwait, the Defense Ministry on Thursday said an Iranian strike that hit a building belonging to a Chinese company in the country’s north killed one person.
“The heinous Iranian aggression targeted a building belonging to a Chinese company in the north of the country, resulting in the death of one worker and causing severe material damage to the building,” read a statement published by the ministry. (AFP)
