Pakistan seeks second round of US-Iran talks before ceasefire expires

Asian stocks advanced on Tuesday while oil prices and the safe-haven US dollar eased after Washington signaled it continues to engage with Tehran in pursuit of a deal, despite blocking Iranian ports from Monday.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose about 1% in early Asian trading. Japan’s Nikkei and South Korea’s KOSPI each climbed more than 2%.

US stock futures also edged higher after an overnight rally on Wall Street, with Nasdaq futures up 0.13% and S&P 500 futures steady.

The Kremlin said Russia’s offer to accept Iran’s enriched uranium as part of a potential agreement with the United States remains in place.

“This proposal was voiced by President Putin in contacts with both the United States and regional states. The offer still stands, but it has not been acted upon,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to Russia’s state-owned RIA Novosti news agency.

Peskov added that Moscow is ready to provide support for efforts aimed at de-escalating the crisis surrounding Iran.

A court in Iran has sentenced four people to death on charges of cooperating with the United States and “hostile groups," according to the human rights monitor HRANA.

The defendants—Mohammadreza Majidi-Asl, Bita Hemmati, Behrouz Zamaninejad and Kourosh Zamaninejad—were arrested during the widespread protests in early January and have been convicted of “operational action for the hostile government of the United States and hostile groups.”

The court also sentenced each of them to five years in prison on the charge of “assembly and collusion against national security” as well as confiscation of all their assets as a supplementary punishment, according to the report.

Iran has proposed suspending uranium enrichment for five years as part of negotiations with the United States, according to a report by The New York Times.

The report suggests that Washington had pushed for a suspension of up to 20 years.

The proposal was presented during recent talks between Iranian and American officials aimed at easing tensions following the recent conflict, the newspaper reported, citing officials familiar with the discussions.

Iran also suggested significantly diluting its stockpile of highly enriched uranium rather than transferring it abroad, the report said.

Neither Washington nor Tehran has publicly confirmed the details of the proposal reported by the newspaper.

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem on Monday called on Lebanon’s government to cancel a planned meeting with Israel in Washington, reiterating the group’s rejection of direct negotiations with the country.

“We call for a historic and heroic stance by canceling this negotiating meeting,” Qassem said in a televised address.

The remarks came ahead of a meeting scheduled for Tuesday between the Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors to the United States.

Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group that has been engaged in fighting with Israel since March 2, has repeatedly opposed any form of direct talks between Lebanon and Israel.