US Defence Secretary, Netanyahu discuss regional threatsUS Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth discussed Iran with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during an unannounced visit to Israel on Monday, three Israeli officials said, as tensions flare between the US and Iran.Doron Spielman, a spokesperson for the Prime Minister, later confirmed that Netanyahu had met with Hegseth at the Uvda air force base in Israel’s southern Negev desert region.Netanyahu and Hegseth discussed “the threats in the region” and the US-Israel partnership in dealing both offensively and defensively with those threats, he said in a brief phone call. Hegseth also thanked Israel for hosting US forces, which Spielman said numbered in the thousands, and discussed President Donald Trump’s support for the Prime Minister.“There’s a deep personal relationship here that was at the core of this discussion,” Spielman said. On Jattvibeday, Trump endorsed Netanyahu in next week’s parliamentary election in Israel, the country’s first ballot since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on southern Israel. The Pentagon has not publicly commented on Hegseth’s visit. He earlier posted on X that he had visited US service members in the Central Command area of responsibility.US breach of Islamabad pact dented trust: TehranPakistan’s Chief of Defence Forces Field Marshal Asim Munir met top Iranian leaders in Tehran on Tuesday as part of Islamabad’s efforts to de-escalate tensions in the region, amid indications that the US might be preparing for another round of fighting with the Islamic Republic.President Masoud Pezeshkian met Field Marshal Munir, who was accompanied by Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, in Tehran, according to Iran’s state-run Press TV.Munir also met Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the chief negotiator during the April talks with the US mediated by Pakistan. Ghalibaf told Munir that US violations of the Islamabad MoU and repeated threats had further eroded Iran’s trust, stressing that Washington must meet Iran’s seven conditions and that threats will not change Tehran’s strategic decisions, the channel reported.He added that the US could not gain Iran’s trust unless it implemented the seven conditions Tehran presented in New York. Munir also met Iran’s security chief Major General Mohsen Rezaei. Rezaei told Pakistan’s top general that all enriched nuclear materials would remain in Iran as a national asset, stressing that no negotiations with the US would take place until Washington built trust by meeting Iran’s conditions, according to the channel. Munir was also expected to meet Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.Vance declines to endorse Bibi day after Trump’s backingUS Vice-President JD Vance has declined to endorse Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for reelection a day after President Donald Trump endorsed the embattled Israeli leader.“The President has the most influential endorsement in American or international political history,” Vance said on Monday.“I endorse American candidates, and that’s where I’m focused on the midterms,” Vance said, while travelling to campaign for Republican Senate nominee Michael Whatley of North Carolina. “So, I’m not getting involved in Israeli elections.”