Forces under U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) have began setting conditions for clearing mines in the Strait of Hormuz, with the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers, USS Frank E. Peterson (DDG-121) and USS Michael Murphy (DDG-112), transited the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday and now operating in the Persian Gulf as part of a broader mission to ensure the strait is fully clear of sea mines previously laid by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) during the Iran War.

Two U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyers, identified as the Pentagon as the USS Frank E. Peterson (DDG-121) and USS Michael Murphy (DDG-112), passed through the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, according to three U.S. officials, marking the first transit of American warships through the waterway since the start of the Iran War. The two vessels passed through the strait and entered the Persian Gulf, completing a “freedom-of-navigation mission” and suffering no issues, with the destroyers having since withdrawn, the officials told the Wall Street Journal.

In a speech this evening directed at the People of Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said their campaign against Iran is “not yet over” though Israel has achieved “historic results” in the current conflict, as the United States and Iran conduct high-level direct ceasefire negotiations in Pakistan in an effort to end the ongoing Iran War.

Face-to-face negotiations between Iran and the United States are expected to last well into the night and possibly even stretch into Sunday, a Pakistani source told CNN.

Pakistan has sent fighter jets and other military forces to Saudi Arabia to boost regional security under a defence pact between the two countries, known as the Joint Strategic Defense Agreement, the Saudi Ministry of Defense announced Saturday, with a number of strike fighters and support aircraft having arrived at King Abdulaziz Air Base in the east of the country near the Persian Gulf. This comes as Islamabad hosts talks between Iran and the United States aimed at ending the ongoing Iran War.

Following reports that the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office had sent an indictment to courts over Israel’s blockage of a flotilla to the Gaza Strip last year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lashed out at the leader of the Anatolian nation, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, lambasting Turkey’s treatment of Kurdish people within its borders and accusing the nation of supporting the Islamic regime in Iran.

The Kuwaiti Ministry of the Interior has said that they foiled a terror financing plot involving 24 apprehended Kuwaiti citizens and 8 still abroad to fund terrorist entities and launder money for the furtherance of this effort. Per the release, both commercial and professional entities were involved in the plot supporting Iran.

It is now well past 1:00AM on Sunday and face-to-face peace talks between Iran and the United States, mediated by Pakistan, are still underway at the Serena Hotel in the capital of Islamabad.

Pakistani sources tell CNN that the overall tone and outcome of talks so far between Iran and the United States in Islamabad has remained largely positive, but that a stalemate persists over control of the Strait of Hormuz.

In an official statement early Sunday published by Iran's state-run media broadcaster IRIB, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGC-N) warned that any attempt by military vessels to pass through the Strait of Hormuz would be met with a “firm and forceful response,” adding that it maintains full control over the strategic strait located between the Iran and Oman. This follows reports that two warships with the U.S. Navy transited the strait earlier today in a freedom-of-navigation operation, completing their mission before withdrawing back to the Arabian Sea.