The spokesperson of Iran’s Foreign Minister on Monday said that Pakistan’s forums on the West Asia conflict were its own and that Tehran was not involved in them.

“Regional calls to end war are welcome, but remember who started it!” the statement said.

It added that Iran has held no “direct talks” with the United States and had only received “excessive, unreasonable demands via intermediaries”.

Here are more top updates from the conflict in West Asia:

  • The statement came a day after Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar met his counterparts from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey in Islamabad “for consultations on efforts aimed at de-escalation in the region”. Following the meeting, Dar said Pakistan would be “honoured to host and facilitate meaningful talks” between the US and Iran in the coming days for a “comprehensive and lasting settlement” of the conflict.
  • Spain has closed its airspace to US planes involved in attacks on Iran, Reuters quoted Defence Minister Margarita Robles as saying on Monday.  “We do not authorise either the use of military bases or the use of airspace for actions related to the war in Iran,” the news agency quoted Robles as saying. 
  • Spain and the US are both members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a defence alliance in which countries cooperate on security and military operations. Monday’s announcement goes a step further than Spain’s earlier decision to deny the US the use of jointly-operated military bases.
  • An Indian citizen was killed in an Iranian missile attack on an electricity power station and a water distillation plant in Kuwait, the country’s government said on Monday. With this incident on Sunday, eight Indians have been killed in the conflict in West Asia so far.
  • United States President Donald Trump told the Financial Times on Sunday that he wants to “take the oil in Iran” and could seize the country’s export hub of Kharg Island. “To be honest with you, my favourite thing is to take the oil in Iran but some stupid people back in the US say: ‘why are you doing that?’ But they’re stupid people,” he was quoted as having said. The comments came as thousands of US soldiers reached the region over the weekend.
  • Trump said that Washington’s indirect talks with Iran through Pakistani “emissaries” was progressing well, the Financial Times reported. He has set an April 6 deadline for Tehran to accept a deal to end the conflict or face US strikes on its energy infrastructure.
  • The US president also claimed that there had already been a “regime change” in Tehran as the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several other senior officials had been killed when the war started and in subsequent attacks. “The people we’re dealing with are a totally different group of people . . . [They] are very professional,” Trump told the Financial Times.
  • On Monday, Trump said that the US military had “taken out” and destroyed “many long sought targets” in Iran, adding that it was a “big day” in the conflict.
  • While responding to a reporter’s question about whether Iran had responded to his 15-point ceasefire plan, Trump said on Sunday: “Yeah... They gave us most of the points. Why wouldn’t they?...And just to prove that they’re serious, they gave us all of these [oil] boats.”
  • It is unclear which ships Iran was referring to. On Friday, Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar had said on social media that Iran has agreed to allow 20 more Pakistani-flagged vessels to pass through the Strait of Hormuz and that “two ships will cross the strait daily”. This announcement had been reposted by Trump on social media platform Truth Social. 
  • The Indian government on Sunday made an ad hoc allocation of Public Distribution System kerosene to states and Union Territories for household use as a 60-day emergency measure to ease pressure on liquefied petroleum gas. The kerosene can be used for cooking and lighting needs. The allocation includes the 21 states and Union Territories that had previously been declared Public Distribution System Superior Kerosene Oil-free.
  • The benchmark Brent crude was trading at $115 per barrel on Monday. The price was $78 per barrel on February 27, a day before the conflict started.
  • Major Asian stock indices also continued their fall on Monday. The Indian stock market had fallen about 1.5% as of 11 am. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was down 1%, South Korea’s Kospi had fallen 2.9% and Japan’s Nikkei 3.2%. The China’s Shanghai Composite had risen 0.09% after opening the session in the negative.
  • More than 6,000 persons have been injured in Israel since the war started, the country’s health ministry said on Monday.

The conflict

The US and Israel launched an attack on Iran on February 28, claiming that Tehran’s action posed an existential threat to Israel. Washington acts as a guarantor of Israel’s security. Iran has retaliated by striking Israel and US military bases in the region and targeting major cities in Gulf countries.

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Tehran has also effectively blocked the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterbody connecting the Gulf to the Arabian Sea, for most international commercial vessels, triggering a global energy crisis. About 20% of global petroleum supply passes through the maritime chokepoint.

Israel has been claiming that Iran is close to obtaining a nuclear weapon, which could alter the regional security balance. Tehran has long maintained that its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes.