Michelle Martin

They said that they would not allow any U.S.

or Israeli vessels or of their partners in the region, those Gulf Arab states, to transit because of this war imposed on Iran.

And then Iran said it would strike at power plants here in Dubai and Abu Dhabi and other parts of the Gulf.

And we saw people here starting to look for solar panels and inquiring about generators.

You know, this is something we haven't ever had to do in these cities before.

But Trump then said there are conversations with Iran happening now and that Iran asked for these talks to happen.

And an Israeli official told NPR the U.S.

is planning talks in Pakistan with Iran in the coming days.

That official spoke on condition of anonymity to be able to discuss these talks.

Now, Iran's foreign ministry was then quoted by Iranian state media saying there have been no negotiations with the U.S.

since the start of this war and that it was actually the U.S.

that sent messages to Iran seeking talks to end the war.

The Iranian foreign ministry said last night that Iran responded to that request through friendly countries.

So NPR has learned that Egypt, Turkey, and Pakistan are among the countries involved in these efforts to de-escalate.

We know there have been calls between these three countries and senior officials in Iran, and that's according to official readouts from those calls.

And the three countries' foreign ministers had actually just met in Saudi Arabia last week for talks on containing the war.

We also saw Egypt's president visit Gulf Arab capitals and meet with rulers here over the weekend.

You know, Egypt does have ties with Iran as well.

It's not a party to this war.

We've seen them mediate in other wars like Gaza.