Pakistan’s defence minister calls Israel ‘curse for humanity’ in deleted post

Pakistan is set to mediate talks between the US and Iran from Saturday

 

Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif speaks during an interview with Reuters in Islamabad on 20 October 2025 (Reuters)

By Daniel Tester

Published date: 10 April 2026 13:35 BST | Last update:39 mins 32 secs ago

Pakistan’s defence minister, Khawaja Asif, called Israel “evil” and a “curse for humanity” in an X post on Thursday, just hours before US and Iranian delegations were due to arrive in Islamabad for peace talks mediated by Pakistan.

In the post, which has since been deleted, Asif wrote: “While peace talks are underway in Islamabad, genocide is being committed in Lebanon. Innocent citizens are being killed by Israel, first Gaza, then Iran and now Lebanon, bloodletting continues unabated. I hope and pray people who created this cancerous state on Palestinians land to get rid of European jews burn in hell.”

The statement followed a wave of Israeli strikes on Lebanon on Wednesday that killed over 200 people and wounded over 1,000 in the heaviest day of bombing on the Lebanese capital in decades. 

The Israeli attacks were met with widespread condemnation, including from European leaders and the UN human rights chief, Volker Turk. 

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The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office called Asif’s comments “outrageous” in a post on X. 

“This is not a statement that can be tolerated from any government, especially not from one that claims to be a neutral arbiter for peace,” it said.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said in a post on X that Israel “views very gravely these blatant antisemitic blood libels from a government claiming to mediate peace”.

“Calling the Jewish state ‘cancerous’ is effectively calling for its annihilation,” he added. 

A screenshot of the deleted tweet on 9 April by Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif describing Israel as ‘cancerous’ and ‘evil’

Islamabad is set to host delegations from the US and Iran from Friday, with talks scheduled to begin on Saturday. They are aimed at ending the US-Israeli war on Iran, which reached a tentative ceasefire agreement on Wednesday.  

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmaeil Baghaei, said on Friday that Iranian delegates would not attend peace talks unless the ceasefire agreement is extended to Lebanon.

One Pakistani official involved in the mediation talks told The Guardian on Friday: “Our priority is that the talks go smoothly.” 

“We don’t want to be seen as a spoiler. Our role is as a facilitator and mediator. We will leave it to both parties, Iran and the US, to share any developments with the media if they want.”

Pakistan, which has positioned itself at the centre of global conflict mediation during the war, has also been mired in its own conflict with Afghanistan since declaring “open war” on 27 February.

Hundreds have been killed and nearly 100,000 displaced by cross-border shelling and air strikes during the conflict, which China is simultaneously mediating. 

Asif, a veteran member of the conservative Pakistan Muslim League party that has governed Pakistan since 2024 and during several previous administrations, has long been vocal in his criticism of Israel. 

On 3 March, he described Zionism as “a threat to humanity” in a post on X. 

“From the establishment of Israel on the land of Palestine until today, every catastrophe that has befallen the Islamic world, every war imposed upon it, will show the direct or indirect hand of Zionist ideology and the state,” he wrote.

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𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐒 𝐊𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐈𝐫𝐚𝐧 𝐂𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐈𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐋𝐞𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐧

by Dave DeCamp, Antiwar. com, April 9, 2026

US officials were aware that a statement from Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on the US-Iran ceasefire that was issued on Tuesday included a truce in Lebanon as part of the deal, according to media reports.

The New York Times reported that the US had already seen and signed off on Sharif’s statement before he posted it. The initial post included a header that said “Draft – Pakistan’s PM Message on X,” causing speculation that the statement was actually written by the US, though a White House official denied that President Trump drafted it.

A diplomatic source familiar with the negotiations leading up to the ceasefire announcement told ITV News that Iranian and Pakistani officials ended the talks with the understanding that the US was aware that the truce also applied to Lebanon, contradicting claims from Trump and Vice President JD Vance that it did not.

Vance claimed it was a “misunderstanding” on the part of the Iranians that the ceasefire included Lebanon and said it would be “dumb” for Tehran to allow the negotiations to collapse over the issue, though he also insisted the deal includes a halt to Iranian attacks on Israel and the US’s Gulf allies in the region.

Israel not only continued its attacks on Lebanon, but it also dramatically escalated the bombardment, launching a new military operation dubbed “Operation Eternal Darkness” and killing hundreds of people across the country. According to NBC News, Trump asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to scale down the attack, but heavy Israeli strikes continued on Thursday.

Netanyahu’s office said in a statement on Thursday that he instructed his government to open negotiations with the Lebanese government, though there’s no sign he plans to halt the bombing campaign.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi affirmed in a statement on Wednesday that the ceasefire must include Lebanon or the deal will be off. “The Iran-US Ceasefire terms are clear and explicit: the US must choose—ceasefire or continued war via Israel. It cannot have both,” Araghchi wrote on X. “The world sees the massacres in Lebanon. The ball is in the US court, and the world is watching whether it will act on its commitments.”

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𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐩 𝐬𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐔𝐒 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐈𝐫𝐚𝐧, 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 ‘𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭’

US threats against Iran and ongoing Israeli attacks in Lebanon cast doubt on fragile ceasefire efforts.

By Al Jazeera Staff, AFP and AP

Published On 9 Apr 2026

United States President Donald Trump has warned that US forces will remain deployed around Iran and threatened overwhelming military action if Tehran fails to meet Washington’s demands, casting doubt over a fragile ceasefire.

Writing on social media late on Wednesday, Trump said US troops, aircraft and naval forces would stay in position until what he described as the “REAL AGREEMENT” is fully implemented.

“All US ships, aircraft, and military personnel … will remain in place in, and around, Iran, until such time as the REAL AGREEMENT reached is fully complied with,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“If for any reason it is not … the ‘Shootin’ Starts,′ bigger, and better, and stronger than anyone has ever seen before.”

The remarks came just a day after a two-week ceasefire between Washington and Tehran, brokered by Pakistan, paused six weeks of fighting and briefly calmed global markets worried about disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz.

Yet Trump’s language underscored how quickly the truce could unravel. He reiterated US demands that Iran abandon any nuclear weapons ambitions and ensure safe passage through the vital shipping lane, while boasting that US forces were “Loading Up and Resting, looking forward, actually, to its next Conquest”.

Meanwhile, in Iran on Thursday, the semiofficial ISNA and Tasnim news agencies published a chart suggesting the country’s paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) had put sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz during the war.

The chart showed a large circle marked “danger zone” in Farsi over the Traffic Separation Scheme, which was the route ships take through the strait. The chart suggested ships travel further north through waters closer to Iran’s mainland near Larak Island, a route that some ships were observed taking during the war. It was dated from February 28 until April 9, and it was unclear if the IRGC had cleared any mining on the route since then.
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Pakistan Reiterates That Lebanon Is Still Part of Ceasefire Despite Israel’s Attacks

 

A vendor displays morning newspapers at his roadside stall in Islamabad on April 8, 2026.

(Photo by Aamir Qureshi/AFP via Getty Images)

A foreign policy expert told Common Dreams that Israel’s unprecedented attack on Lebanon, backed by the US, “appeared to be a direct attempt to blow up the ceasefire, and it worked.”

Stephen Prager, Common Dreams, Apr 08, 2026

A Pakistani official said Wednesday that despite Israel’s unprecedented attack on Lebanon, it is still part of the ceasefire agreement that Pakistan’s prime minister helped to mediate the previous day, even as Israel and the US insist otherwise.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who played a key role in brokering the deal announced on Tuesday, said that “Iran and the United States of America, along with their allies, have agreed to an immediate ceasefire everywhere, including Lebanon and elsewhere, EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY.”

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Aid Groups Warn Excluding Lebanon From Ceasefire ‘Risks Prolonging the Crisis’

Despite Ceasefire With Iran, Israel Pummels Lebanon With ‘Apocalyptic’ Strikes

But within hours of the agreement, Israel launched what it said was its largest military operation against Lebanon yet, which killed at least 254 people and wounded 1,165 others, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. The Israel Defense Forces acknowledged that the assault included attacks on many civilian areas.

Contrary to the mediators, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that the ceasefire “does not include Lebanon.” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt followed suit, confirming that the US’s position was also that “Lebanon is not part of the ceasefire,” adding that “that has been relayed to all parties involved.”

https://fave.api.cnn.io/v1/fav/?video=me50a1759bbe67c4ffcbd7e546a8a9dbc341f66838&stellarUri=cms.cnn.com/_components/video-resource/instances/cmnqacxvi0007356q1afn32tw@published&stellarSite=cnn&stellarUdk=rn032568&customer=cnn&edition=domestic&env=prod

But Pakistan’s ambassador to the US, Rizwan Saeed Sheikh, said on Wednesday afternoon that this was not the agreement the parties reached on Tuesday.

He told CNN anchor Becky Anderson that the deal announced by his prime minister, which included Lebanon, “could not have been more authentic” to what the two parties agreed to, and that it was still the prime minister’s understanding that Lebanon was included.

He added that this was another instance in which a ceasefire “could be disrupted” by Israel’s actions. He also noted that “there have been instances in the past where ceasefires have been disrupted,” a possible reference to Israel’s routine violations of its previous ceasefire with Lebanon and the current one with Gaza, and its repeated assassinations of Iranian negotiators as they’ve sat down for talks with the US.

The US-Iran ceasefire is less than 24 hours old, but Israel’s attack on Wednesday has already thrown it into peril. Iran responded to the attacks on Wednesday by once again closing the Strait of Hormuz after briefly reopening the critical waterway in accordance with the deal. Iran is also reportedly considering withdrawing from the ceasefire altogether and resuming strikes against Israel.

President Donald Trump has appeared eager to declare victory and move on from the war, which has further tanked his already plummeting support at home and sparked a global economic crisis.

But Janet Abou-Elias, a researcher with the Democratizing Foreign Policy program at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, told Common Dreams that Israel’s goals are very different.

She explained that Israel was largely sidelined from the talks that culminated in Tuesday’s ceasefire and that within Israel’s internal politics, the agreement is being portrayed as “catastrophic.”

She noted that Yair Lapid, the leader of the opposition to Netanyahu’s government, has portrayed it as “the worst political failure in our history,” and accused the prime minister of failing to achieve his goals.

“What we’ve seen since looks like Israel acting to undermine a diplomatic process over which it had lost influence,” Abou-Elias said.

She said that Israel’s attack on Lebanon on Wednesday, which it has referred to as Operation Eternal Darkness, “appeared to be a direct attempt to blow up the ceasefire, and it worked.”

According to the Human Rights Activists News Agency, a US-based human rights monitor for Iran, at least 1,701 civilians have been killed in US-Israeli attacks against Iran since the war was launched on February 28.

After Wednesday’s bombardment, Lebanon’s Health Ministry reported that the death toll in the country was now up to at least 1,739 since the war began on March 2.

“At this point, any durable end to this conflict, even a temporary one, requires Washington to rein in Israel,” Abou-Elias said. “Trump has the leverage to do it. What’s unclear is whether he has the political will to use it.”

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Iranian Media: Iran Halting Traffic Through the Strait of Hormuz in Response to Israel’s Attacks on Lebanon

Pakistan’s prime minister, who mediated the ceasefire deal, said it includes Lebanon, but the US and Israel now say it doesn’t

by Dave DeCamp | April 8, 2026 at 12:46 pm ET | Iran

Iranian media reported on Wednesday that Iran has halted traffic through the Strait of Hormuz in response to Israel’s escalations and its continued bombing campaign in Lebanon.

“The passage of oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz has been halted following Israel’s attacks on Lebanon,” Iran’s Fars news agency has reported.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who mediated the US-Iran ceasefire deal, said in his initial announcement of the agreement that it would also include a ceasefire in Lebanon, a point reaffirmed by Iranian officials. But it has since been denied by both the US and Israel that Lebanon was part of the deal.

“The two-week ceasefire does not include Lebanon,” the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote on X. On Wednesday morning, Israel launched a massive bombardment across Lebanon, killing and injuring hundreds of people, as part of a new escalation it dubbed “Operation Eternal Darkness.”

President Trump was asked if the ceasefire included Lebanon and called it a “separate skirmish” that was “not included” in the deal. “Yeah, they were not included in the deal,” he said. “Because of Hezbollah. They were not included in the deal. That’ll get taken care of, too. It’s alright.”

According to Israeli media, Trump didn’t express opposition to Israel continuing its war in Lebanon when he spoke with Netanyahu to inform him of the ceasefire in Iran.

The US and Iran may hold talks in Islamabad this Friday, but according toIran’s Tasnim news agency, Iran may withdraw from the process if the Israeli war in Lebanon continues.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has also said it would respond if Israel didn’t halt its attacks on Lebanon. “If the aggressions against our beloved Lebanon are not stopped immediately, we will give a regretful response to the evil aggressors in the region,” the IRGC said.

Missile and drone attacks were also reported across the Gulf Arab states after Trump’s ceasefire announcement, and Iran said that one of its oil facilities was targeted hours after the declaration.

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Iran says US forced to accept its negotiation framework in ‘historic victory’

 Ten-point proposal for talks accepted by Trump includes commitment to lift sanctions, release of frozen assets and ending war in Lebanon

 

A municipal worker gestures near a large political banner at Valiasr Square in Tehran on 6 April 2026. ATTA KENARE / AFP

By MEE staff

Published date: 8 April 2026 03:03 BST | Last update:37 mins 32 secs ago

Iran‘s Supreme National Security Council said on Wednesday that the country had achieved a “historic” victory and forced the United States to accept the framework of a 10-point proposal ahead of planned negotiations.

In a statement, the council said the proposal includes guarantees of non-aggression, continued Iranian control over the Strait of Hormuz, sanctions relief, the withdrawal of US forces from the region, and reparations.

It added that negotiations, set to begin on Friday in Pakistani capital Islamabad, will focus on finalising details but “do not mean the end of the war”.

The statement came hours after US President Donald Trump said Washington would suspend attacks on Iran for two weeks to allow diplomacy to proceed.

He described the pause as a “double-sided ceasefire” tied to the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and said a 10-point Iranian proposal provided “a workable basis” for talks.

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According to Iran’s state broadcaster, the proposal includes the “complete cessation” of the wars in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen, the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz with guarantees for safe and secure navigation, compensation for reconstruction, a commitment to lifting sanctions, the release of Iranian funds and frozen assets held by the US, and a full commitment by Iran not to pursue nuclear weapons. 

Full text of Iran’s National Security Council statement on ceasefire

Read More »

Iran’s top security body said Tehran had submitted its plan to the US via Pakistan, and that Washington had accepted its principles as the basis for negotiations.

It said the talks could last up to 15 days and may be extended, adding that any agreement would need to be formally endorsed, including through international mechanisms.

“This does not mean the end of the war,” the statement said, adding that Iran would continue military operations if its demands are not fully met.

It also said Iranian forces and allied groups had inflicted significant losses on their adversaries across the region, forcing them to seek a ceasefire.

Iran’s objectives, it added, include establishing new regional security arrangements based on what it described as its “power and supremacy”, while maintaining pressure until gains are consolidated.

The council called for national unity during the negotiation period and warned that any misstep by its adversaries would be met with force. It said Iran would only accept a formal end to the war once the terms of its proposal are fully agreed.

‘Double-sided ceasefire’  

Early on Wednesday, Trump said he had agreed “to suspend the bombing” of Iran for two weeks, calling it a “double-sided ceasefire” linked to the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump said the decision followed talks with Pakistani leaders and cited a 10-point Iranian proposal as “a workable basis” for negotiations, adding that the pause would allow time to finalise an agreement.

“Based on conversations with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir, of Pakistan, and wherein they requested that I hold off the destructive force being sent tonight to Iran, and subject to the Islamic Republic of Iran agreeing to the COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz, I agree to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks. This will be a double-sided CEASEFIRE!” Trump said on Truth Social. 

Trump said that almost all of the points of contention between the United States and Iran have been agreed to. 

“The reason for doing so is that we have already met and exceeded all Military objectives, and are very far along with a definitive Agreement concerning Longterm PEACE with Iran, and PEACE in the Middle East. We received a 10 point proposal from Iran, and believe it is a workable basis on which to negotiate,” Trump added.

On Tuesday, Pakistan had issued a last-minute plea for a two-week extension for negotiations to end the US-Israeli war on Iran, ahead of President Donald Trump’s 8pm EST deadline to destroy the country’s “whole civilization”.

“To allow diplomacy to run its course, I earnestly request President Trump to extend the deadline for two weeks,” Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on X, as he requested that Iran allow the Strait of Hormuz to reopen to all traffic during that time. 

Sharif had called for a two-week ceasefire as negotiations progressed. 

“We also urge all warring parties to observe a ceasefire everywhere for two weeks to allow diplomacy to achieve conclusive termination of war, in the interest of long-term peace and stability in the region,” Sharif wrote. 

President Trump Says a ‘Whole Civilization Will Die Tonight’ in Iran, Raising Fears of a Nuclear Strike

 The president’s latest threats have led to calls for the invocation of the 25th Amendment to remove him from power

by Dave DeCamp | April 7, 2026 at 11:56 am ET | Iran

President Trump on Tuesday issued another threat against Iran, saying a “whole civilization will die tonight,” raising fears that he’s threatening to use nuclear weapons.

“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will,” the president wrote on Truth Social. He went on to reference his deadline that he previously set for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz or agree to some sort of diplomatic deal by 8 pm EST tonight, but there’s no sign that real negotiations are taking place.

“However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS? We will find out tonight, one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the World. 47 years of extortion, corruption, and death, will finally end. God Bless the Great People of Iran!” Trump added.

Trump has previously threatened that if a deal isn’t reached by tonight, he will order strikes to destroy all of Iran’s power plants and bridges, and he has also suggested he may bomb desalination plants. While visiting Hungary on Tuesday, Vice President JD Vance backed Trump’s threats.

“We’re going to get a response from the Iranians by 8 o’clock tonight. I hope they make the right response … They’ve got to know, we’ve got tools in our toolkit that we so far haven’t decided to use. The president of the United States can decide to use them, and he will decide to use them if the Iranians don’t change their course of conduct,” Vance said.

The US-Israeli war against Iran and Trump’s rhetoric have led to calls for the 25th Amendment to be invoked to remove him from power, including from former allies. But such a step would require Vance and the majority of Trump’s cabinet to declare that Trump is unfit to serve, and there doesn’t appear to be any dissent at that level.

“25TH AMENDMENT!!!” former House Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote on X on Tuesday in response to Trump’s latest threat. “Not a single bomb has dropped on America. We cannot kill an entire civilization. This is evil and madness.”

Some sitting members of Congress are also calling for Trump’s removal. “We need to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove Trump,” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) said in a video posted on Tuesday morning. “Threatening war crimes is a blatant violation of our constitution and the Geneva Conventions.”

The president’s post on Tuesday marked the second day in a row that he issued a warning that could be taken as a threat to use nuclear weapons. “The entire country could be taken out in one night, and that night might be tomorrow night,” he said at a press conference on Tuesday.

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