Lebanon’s parliament speaker Nabih Berri has ruled out any negotiations with Israel until the ongoing conflict in southern Lebanon comes to a complete halt.

US President Donald Trump has instructed aides to prepare for an extended blockade of Iran.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has consistently welcomed dialogue and agreement, but Washington’s repeated breaches of commitments, along with a naval blockade and military threats, remain the main obstacles to genuine negotiations, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Wednesday.

Iran will not attend planned talks in Islamabad on Wednesday, according to a report by Tasnim News Agency, which says the decision was communicated to the United States via Pakistani intermediaries.

Oil prices have risen by 5 percent following reports of backchannel negotiations between the US and Iran.

Editor’s note: Moses Becker is a special political commentator for News.Az. He holds a PhD in political science and specializes in interethnic and interreligious relations. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the position of News.Az.

Iran has no intention of negotiating with the United States and maintains no contacts with Washington in any form, Mohammad Mokhber, a senior aide to the late Supreme Leader, said on Wednesday.

Satellite images showed a rise in the number of military support aircraft including refuelling tankers at a Saudi airbase used by the U.S. military during a four-day period in February, as Washington built forces in the region amid tensions with Iran.