U.S. President Donald Trump said US-Iran peace talks “could be happening over next two days” in Pakistan’s capital, the New York Post reports.

In an initial phone interview with the New York Post, Trump had claimed that discussions were “happening, but, you know, a little bit slow” before indicating that a second round of direct negotiations to end the seven-week war would likely happen somewhere in Europe.

About half an hour later, Trump called back with an update, according to the New York Post.

“You should stay there, really, because something could be happening over the next two days, and we’re more inclined to go there,” he said of Islamabad. “It’s more likely, you know why? Because the field marshal is doing a great job.”

Trump was referring to Pakistan Field Marshal Gen. Asim Munir, with whom he forged a connection last year while the country was in the throes of its own war with India, which ended after just four days thanks to a peace deal that the US helped to broker.

“He’s fantastic, and therefore it’s more likely that we go back there,” he said. “Why should we go to some country that has nothing to do with it?”

Trump then told Fox News that the US-Iran war is “very close” to an end as hostilities ease amid a two-week ceasefire agreement.

“I think it’s close to over, yeah. I view it as very close to being over,” Trump told FOX Business anchor Maria Bartiromo in an interview that will air on “Mornings with Maria” on Wednesday.

US Vice President JD Vance said President Donald Trump wants to make a “grand bargain” with Iran, CBS News reports.

Speaking at a Turning Point USA event in Athens, Georgia, Vance said that negotiators “made a ton of progress” in Pakistan over the weekend.

But he said Trump is not looking for a “small deal” with Iran, and instead wants to strike a “Trumpian grand bargain”.

Vance noted there was a lot of mistrust between the two countries.

“You are not going to solve that problem overnight,” he said, according to Reuters.

Russia is not participating in the conflict over Iran, as this is not its war, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.

“Russia is not a participant in this war. It is not our war,” Peskov said in an interview with India Today.

A senior Russian official has lauded Armenia and Azerbaijan for their “significant assistance” in facilitating the evacuation of Russian nationals from Iran amid the U.S.-Israeli war with the Islamic Republic.

“Armenia and Azerbaijan have provided significant assistance in evacuating our compatriots from Iran. At the request of the Russian Embassy in Tehran, Baku allowed Russian citizens to use the Astara border crossing, which had been closed to individual crossings since 2020,” the Russian TASS news agency quoted the director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Consular Department, Alexey Klimov, as saying.

Armenia will participate in the upcoming CIS Foreign Ministers’ meeting at the level of deputy minister.

Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ani Badalyan told the TASS news agency that Armenia will be represented by Deputy Foreign Minister Mnatsakan Safaryan at the meeting of the CIS Council of Foreign Ministers on April 17 in Moscow.

“We will participate in the discussions at the level of Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia Mnatsakan Safaryan,” the Foreign Ministry spokesperson said.

EU member state ambassadors in Brussels have approved a decision to deploy a new civilian mission to Armenia, paving the way for final endorsement expected at next week’s EU foreign ministers’ meeting, RFE/RL reported, citing internal EU documents regarding the proposal by EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy on the mission’s mandate, structure, and duration.

Under the document, the mission is intended to strengthen Armenia’s resilience to hybrid threats by providing strategic and practical advice and support to ministries and security agencies, according to RFE/RL. 

The advisory work will focus on policy development, detection and response to foreign information manipulation and interference, cyberattacks, as well as illicit financial flows.

The mission will also assess what is needed to develop Armenia’s security sector capabilities, enabling the country to more effectively detect and respond to hybrid threats in line with EU methodologies and standards.

Earlier this year, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission Kaja Kallas reaffirmed that the EU will send a Hybrid Rapid Response Team to Armenia to help counter threats ahead of the country’s June 7 elections.