'Lots of bombs': Trump threatens Iran amid reports of new talks

Two regional officials say the US and Iran have signalled they will hold a new round of ceasefire talks in Islamabad as a fragile two-week truce was due to expire.

Two regional officials say the US and Iran have signalled they will hold a new round of ceasefire talks in Islamabad as a fragile two-week truce was due to expire.

Neither the US nor Iran has publicly confirmed the timing of the talks, with Iranian state television denying any official was already in Pakistan's capital.

Pakistan-led mediators received confirmation that the top negotiators, US Vice President JD Vance and Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, will arrive in Islamabad early Wednesday to lead their teams in the talks, the officials told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

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The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to brief reporters.

A ceasefire that began April 8 is set to expire on Wednesday.

Both sides remain dug in rhetorically, with US President Donald Trump warning that "lots of bombs" will "start going off" if there's no agreement before the ceasefire deadline, and Iran's chief negotiator saying that Tehran has "new cards on the battlefield" that haven't yet been revealed.

The ceasefire seemed likely to be extended if talks resume. White House officials have said that Vance would lead the American delegation, but Iran hasn't said who it might send, and Iranian state television on Tuesday broadcast a message saying that "no delegation from Iran has visited Islamabad … so far".

Iranian state TV long has been controlled by hard-liners within Iran's theocracy, and the on-screen alert likely reflects the ongoing internal debate within Iran's theocracy as it weighs how to respond to the US Navy's seizure of an Iranian container ship over the weekend.

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US says its forces board sanctioned oil tanker

US forces have boarded an oil tanker sanctioned for smuggling Iranian crude oil in Asia, the Department of Defence said.

In a social media post, the Pentagon said US forces "conducted a right-of-visit maritime interdiction" and boarded the M/T Tifani "without incident".

Ship-tracking data showed the Tifani in the Indian Ocean between Sri Lanka and Indonesia.

The statement added that "international waters are not a refuge for sanctioned vessels".

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