Mediators were racing to craft a framework that would open the way for new talks and head off fresh US and Israeli strikes on Iran, WSJ reports, which Middle East officials said could happen within days without a diplomatic breakthrough

Pakistan and other regional countries involved in talks were trying to bridge the gaps between the US demands around curbing Iran's nuclear programme and Tehran's goal of limiting any immediate agreement to an end to the war. Failure to reach even that limited agreement could lead the US and Israel to carry out a short period of strikes in the coming days aimed at economic targets like energy that could raise the pressure on the regime to reach a deal. Iran has warned it would retaliate broadly against any fresh strikes.