China and Pakistan urge US and Iran to return to talks

China's foreign ministry said Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar called for the United States and Iran to stop fighting and resume negotiations after a meeting in Shanghai on Friday.

According to the ministry statement, the two ministers expressed concern about the worsening situation and urged the parties involved to immediately end hostilities and return to dialogue.

The source said both China and Pakistan have tried to mediate in the months-long Middle East conflict. It said the fighting resumed over the Strait of Hormuz a month after a preliminary agreement aimed at ending the war.

Wang described that agreement as hard-won. He said peace was within reach and warned that the parties should not fail at the final stage or lose what had already been gained.

The source said the United States and Iran exchanged strikes again on Friday. Tehran accused Washington of hitting civilian sites, including an airport, a railway station and two bridges. Iran said it responded by launching drone strikes against US military allies and infrastructure in Kuwait.

The source also said the Strait of Hormuz was briefly reopened after the June US-Iran agreement, but that Tehran said last week it would be closed again until the United States ends what it called aggression. The United States has also reimposed a blockade of Iran's ports.