🇧🇾🇵🇰⚡- Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif meets Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko in Minsk, Belarus.

Both leaders agreed to 150,000 'young, highly-skilled' Pakistani workers to move to Belarus, to contribute to its 'nation-building'.

🇷🇺🇺🇦⚡- Ukraine confirms an F-16 pilot was killed, indicating the jet was likely shot down.

🇺🇸🇮🇷🇴🇲⚡- "Araghchi and Witkoff's talks are taking place in two separate halls, and positions will be exchanged through the Foreign Minister of Oman," - Abbas Araghchi, Foreign Minister of Iran.

🇵🇸🇮🇱⚡- BREAKING: Israeli forces have captured the rest of the Morag Corridor, south Gaza Strip. Rafah has now been cut off from the rest of the Palestinian territory.

Israeli troops continued their advance from yesterday along the Morag Corridor, completely encircling the large towns of Tal as-Sultan, al-Adas and al-Bayuk.

🇵🇸🇮🇱⚡- "This is your last chance to expel Hamas, release all the hostages, and bring an end to the war. Soon, the IDF will expand its powerful operations to additional areas across most of Gaza," - Israel Katz, Israeli Defense Minister, after the IDF captured the Morag Corridor.

🇺🇸🇮🇷🇴🇲⚡- BREAKING: US-Iran talks have started in Muscat, Oman.

🇺🇸🇩🇰🇬🇱⚡- "The head of the US military base in Greenland has been fired after she reportedly sent an email distancing herself from Vice-President JD Vance's criticism of Denmark," - BBC.

🇸🇾⚡- As part of the Syrian government and SDF agreement, SDF forces have withdrawn from the Tishrin Dam region, handing control over to the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham led Public Internal Security forces.

🇺🇸🇮🇷🇴🇲⚡- Iran's Foreign Minister is now addressing the press.

🇺🇸🇮🇷🇴🇲⚡- "We have no goal in the Muscat talks other than securing our national interests," - Abbas Araghchi, Iran's Foreign Minister.

🇺🇸🇮🇷🇴🇲⚡- "We are giving diplomacy a real chance to resolve the nuclear issue and lift sanctions on our country," - Abbas Araghchi, Iran's Foreign Minister.

🇺🇸🇮🇷🇴🇲⚡- "Today is an important day, and we have proven over the past decades that we are committed to the principle of diplomacy," - Abbas Araghchi, Iran's Foreign Minister.

🇺🇸🇮🇷🇴🇲⚡- "Today's negotiations are just the beginning, and both sides will announce their initial positions. We expect them to be short," - Abbas Araghchi, Iran's Foreign Minister.

🇺🇸🇮🇷🇴🇲⚡- "What was the outcome of the Libya negotiations?" - Fars News, Iranian outlet.

Iran's right-wing outlets, such as IRGC affiliated Fars News, are blasting the Pezeshkian government over the US-Iran talks.

🇺🇸🇮🇷🇴🇲⚡- Meanwhile, Iranian left-wing / reformist outlets, such as SNN, are praising the Pezeshkian government over the Muscat talks.

"Iran scored the first goal against America by insisting on indirect negotiations," - SNN, citing an Arab geo-analyst.

🇺🇸🇮🇷🇴🇲⚡- The first stage of the US-Iran talks are ongoing.

Several international outlets claim that Witkoff and Araghchi may meet face-to-face later today, or tomorrow.

🇺🇸🇮🇷🇴🇲⚡- "The talks between Iran and the US are positive," - Tasnim News Agency, Iranian outlet.

🇺🇸🇮🇷🇴🇲⚡- "Tehran has proven that it has never sought to acquire nuclear weapons," - An Omani analyst tells SNN, Iranian outlet.

🇺🇸🇮🇷🇴🇲⚡- "If today's initial talks are positive, direct talks between Witkoff and Araghchi could take place later today or on Sunday," - Axios.

Trump has made me more optimistic about an Iran deal lately.

Almost everyone is pushing back against war now, including Charlie Kirk and Tucker. Witkoff, Trump, and Vance all want a deal. Waltz is in favor of war but will most likely be fired soon.

Like I’ve said before, the force buildup at Diego Garcia is classic “Trump brinksmanship.”

Iran seems to be more flexible than previously thought, and Trump has been giving positive cues.

My concern, as always, is that the Israelis will sabotage any deal or force a confrontation. This is a true test. If Trump is able to achieve a nuclear deal then that would be an astonishing, truly laudable achievement. But I am still skeptical.

🇺🇸🇮🇷🇴🇲⚡- First round of talks are over, according to Omani media.