Benjamin Netanyahu declares marketing campaign in opposition to Iran is ‘not over’ and there may be ‘extra to do’ – whereas US-Tehran peace talks happen in Pakistan

Benjamin Netanyahu has declared that Israel‘s campaign against the Islamic Regime is ‘not over’ as US-Iran peace talks are underway in Pakistan. 

Speaking in a televised address on Saturday, the Israeli Prime Minister also said ‘we still have more to do’ to ensure Iran doesn’t achieve a nuclear weapon. 

‘But we can already say clearly – we have historic achievements,’ he affirmed. 

‘They wanted to strangle us, and (now) we are strangling them. They threatened us with annihilation, and now they are fighting for survival,’ Netanyahu added, as he noted that the war against Tehran had also weakened Iran’s leadership and its regional allies. 

Netanyahu’s remarks came as US and Iranian negotiators held talks in Pakistan on Saturday to try to end their six-week war. 

The talks in Islamabad were the first direct US-Iranian meeting in more than a decade and the highest-level discussions since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The Strait of Hormuz, a major transit point for global energy supplies that Iran has effectively blocked but Trump has vowed to reopen, is crucial to negotiations between the sides during a two-week ceasefire agreed last week.

Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency said the waterway remains among the main points of ‘serious disagreement’ in talks between Iranian and US delegations in Islamabad.

The American military said two of its warships had passed through the strait, and conditions were being set to clear mines, while Iran’s state media denied any US ships had transited the waterway.

‘We’re now starting the process of clearing out the Strait of Hormuz as a favour to Countries all over the World,’ Trump posted on social media.

US Vice President JD Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner flew in on Saturday and met Iranian Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi for two hours before resting, according to a source from the mediator, Pakistan. 

The Iranian delegation arrived on Friday dressed in black in mourning for former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and others killed in the war. 

They carried shoes and bags of some students killed during the US bombing of a school next to a military compound, the Iranian government said.

Iran’s state-affiliated Nournews said talks would resume later on Saturday night or Sunday.

US ally Israel, which joined the February 28 attacks on Iran that launched the war, has also been bombing Tehran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon and says that the conflict is not part of the Iran-US ceasefire.

Israeli and Lebanese officials plan talks in the US on Tuesday. 

In his televised address today, Netanyahu also said that any peace agreement reached with Lebanon must be the one that ‘lasts for generations’.

‘Lebanon has approached us. In the past month, it has reached out several times to begin direct peace talks,’ he said. 

‘I have given my approval, but on two conditions: we want the dismantling of Hezbollah’s weapons, and we want a real peace agreement that will last for generations.’

It comes as more than 90 people were killed in Israeli air strikes across Lebanon on Saturday, the Lebanese health ministry said, bringing the war’s death toll to 2,020 people, including 165 children, nearly 250 women and 85 medics.

Hezbollah said it had conducted several military operations against Israeli positions on Saturday, both within Lebanese territory and in northern Israel. 

Meanwhile, Pope Leo today denounced the ‘delusion of omnipotence’ that is fuelling the US-Israel war in Iran and demanded that political leaders stop and negotiate peace.

Leo presided over an evening prayer service in St Peter’s Basilica as the United States and Iran began face-to-face negotiations in Pakistan.

The Pope’s tone and message appeared directed at Trump and US officials, who have boasted of US military superiority and justified the war in religious terms.

‘Enough of the idolatry of self and money!’ Leo said. ‘Enough of the display of power! Enough of war!’

In the basilica pews was the archbishop of Tehran, Belgian Cardinal Dominique Joseph Mathieu. 

The US was represented in the diplomatic corps by its deputy chief of mission, Laura Hochla, the US Embassy said.

In the first weeks of the war, Chicago-born Leo was initially reluctant to publicly condemn the violence and limited his comments to muted appeals for peace and dialogue.

But Leo stepped up his criticism starting on Palm Sunday. And this week, he said Trump’s threat to annihilate Iranian civilisation was ‘truly unacceptable’ and called for dialogue to prevail.

On Saturday, Leo called for all people of goodwill to pray for peace and demand an end to war from their political leaders.

Praying for peace, Leo said, was a way to ‘break the demonic cycle of evil’ to build instead the Kingdom of God where there are no swords, drones or ‘unjust profit’.

‘It is here that we find a bulwark against that delusion of omnipotence that surrounds us and is becoming increasingly unpredictable and aggressive,’ he said. ‘Even the holy name of God, the God of life, is being dragged into discourses of death.’

Leaders have used religion to justify their actions in the war. US officials and especially Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth have invoked their Christian faith to cast the US as a Christian nation trying to vanquish its foes.

Leo has said God does not bless any war and certainly not those who drop bombs.