The Pakistani leaks are starting again and say they expect a revised Iranian proposal to end the war by the end of the week. We’ve certainly heard that kind of thing before but let’s hope it’s for real this time.

That’s from MS Now who reports this:

Two Pakistani officials in Islamabad with direct knowledge of the talks between the U.S. and Iran told MS NOW they expect a revised Iranian proposal to end the war by the end of the week.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity around the talks, said they will then share Iran’s proposal with U.S. negotiators and push for an in-person meeting between both sides early next week.

Both the U.S. and Iran are “focused on diplomatic solutions” to bring the war to an end, they said.

Maybe the sides aren’t that far apart.

Secondly, this is a strange one:

Al-Arabiya cites a Channel 12 report, which is an Israeli TV station but says that Israel is preparing to announce the failure of negotiations with Iran

It’s odd because Israel isn’t negotiating with Iran, the US is. Israel is negotiating with Lebanon so maybe something is lost in translation along the way. I also don’t think anyone knows what Trump will announce (including perhaps Trump himself) so I would be skeptical of this report, but it’s making the rounds.

What is clear is that negotiations don’t appear to be making progress, though often it happens where you don’t see it. WTI crude oil is down $2.45 to $104.41 after rising as high as $110.93 earlier today so that’s a good sign.

Russian media reports that in a phone call with Trump, Russia’s Putin pointed out that if the US and Israel resume military operation, this would inevitably lead to extremely adverse consequences not only for Iran and its neighbours, but for entire international community. He also stressed that a ground operation on Iranian territory would be particularly unacceptable and dangerous.

In any case, stocks are at a session high on the Pakistan headline and the reversal in oil.