In Islamabad, Pakistan , it's the day of negotiations between Iran and the United States . The first discussions are expected to begin this afternoon, and if the Americans accept Iran's preconditions, the talks will take place Sunday afternoon at the Serena Hotel.

The Iranian and American delegations are expected to initially hold separate meetings with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Once these initial diplomatic formalities are completed, the main phase of indirect negotiations will begin.

"We have good intentions, but we don't trust them," said Iranian Parliament Speaker and head of the Tehran delegation, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, upon his arrival in Islamabad for the US-Iran talks, according to Iranian state television. "Our experience in negotiations with the Americans has always ended in failure and broken promises," Ghalibaf said.

The Iranian delegation was welcomed by Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, as well as National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Army Chief of Staff Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, and Interior Minister Syed Mohsin Raza Naqvi, according to a statement from the Pakistani Foreign Ministry.

Meanwhile, news is coming from the United States that could impact the currently fragile truce. According to CNN, citing three sources, US intelligence officials say China is preparing to supply new air defense systems to Iran within the next few weeks.

The broadcaster claims that intelligence information shows that Tehran may be exploiting the lull in fighting to replenish its stockpile of weapons systems. Two of the sources told CNN that Beijing is using a third country to transport the weapons.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington, however, denied this: "China has never supplied weapons to any of the parties in the conflict: the information in question is false." This would be a provocative move, CNN explains, considering that Beijing claimed to have helped broker the fragile ceasefire agreement that suspended the war between Iran and the United States earlier this week. President Donald Trump is also scheduled to visit China early next month for talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The news for Saturday, April 11:

The US has agreed to the release of Iranian assets in Qatar.

The United States has agreed to unfreeze Iranian assets frozen and held in Qatar and other foreign banks, a senior Iranian source told Reuters online, welcoming the move as a sign of "seriousness" in reaching an agreement with Washington in the Islamabad talks. The United States has not publicly commented on the issue of unfreezing the assets. The source told Reuters that the unfreezing of the assets is "directly linked to ensuring safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz," which is expected to be a key point in the talks.

Iranian delegation brings photos and items of children killed in Minab

The Iranian negotiating delegation led by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf arrived in Islamabad carrying photographs and objects stained with the blood of children killed in Minab "as evidence of American war crimes," according to the Iranian news agency Tasnim on X. Ghalibaf posted a photo on his X account showing himself inside a plane, silently observing photos of four children resting on backpacks placed across a row of seats. Next to each image is a white flower. "My flight companions #Minab168," Ghalibaf wrote, referring to the 168 victims killed in the bombing of the girls' school in Minab, Iran.

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