Iran's president heads to Pakistan as U.S.-Iran teams work on war-ending deal

A man walks past a welcoming billboard featuring Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, center, with Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, right, and Shehbaz Sharif along a roadside in Islamabad, Pakistan, Tuesday, June 23, 2026. Anjum Naveed/AP hide caption toggle caption Anjum Naveed/AP ISLAMABAD — Iran's president was traveling to Pakistan on Tuesday for talks with officials who have been mediating negotiations between Tehran and Washington on a permanent end to the war in the Middle East even as discrepancies were emerging on what had been agreed so far. President Masoud Pezeshkian's visit to Islamabad comes as technical teams were working on details of the deal, following high-level negotiations in Switzerland on Monday led by US Vice President JD Vance and Iran's parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf. In Tehran, Iran's capital, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei told reporters that no visits have been scheduled for the U.N. watchdog — the International Atomic Energy Agency — to see Iranian nuclear sites bombed by the United States last year. Vance had previously said the negotiations in Switzerland won an agreement for IAEA to inspect the sites. The IAEA has been in and out of Iran since Israel's 12-day war against Iran in 2025, but has not been granted access to the bombed enrichment sites targeted by the U.S. in that war. …