Tehran, April 17 -- Pakistan's powerful army chief met Iran's parliament speaker on Thursday, Iranian state television said, after Pakistani mediators travelled to Iran to press efforts to end the war with the United States and Israel. "Field Marshal Asim Munir, Commander of the Pakistan Army, who travelled to our country yesterday, met and held talks with Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf... this Thursday morning, April 16," the report said. The US naval blockade of Iranian ports continued as US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Trump administration would ramp up economic pain on Iran with new sanctions on countries doing business with it, calling the move the "financial equivalent" of a bombing campaign. The White House said any further talks with Iran would likely take place in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, though no decision had been made on whether to resume negotiations. In a development in the war's other front, Trump wrote late Wednesday on Truth Social that leaders from Israel and Lebanon would speak the next day in a renewed effort to broker a ceasefire after the countries' first direct talks in decades ended the previous day in Washington without a deal. At the Pentagon, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters Iran is moving around its assets but is unable to replenish its military power almost seven weeks into the war.afP...