Mediator Pakistan said on Thursday it was doing its “utmost” to bring Iran and the United States back to talks under a memorandum of understanding, aimed at halting their war, to which Islamabad is a signatory.For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.“We are doing our utmost to bring all parties back to the Islamabad MoU,” foreign ministry spokesman Tahir Andrabi told reporters, adding Pakistan was encouraging the countries to “fully adhere to their commitments to hold technical talks” under the agreement.Pakistan also confirmed that negotiations between the US and Iran were “ongoing” during a flare-up in fighting across the Middle East.“Negotiations between parties are ongoing, particularly on (the) Strait of Hormuz and to de-escalate,” Andrabi told reporters.The Pakistan statements came as the US military said on Thursday it completed its latest wave of strikes on Iran, which lasted two hours and hit dozens of targets, with Washington casting the strikes as a “powerful response” to Iranian missiles launched towards US forces in the Middle East a day earlier.The US military said earlier this week it intercepted multiple ballistic missiles launched by Iran towards US forces in what Washington called “an attempted surprise attack” by Tehran. Iran confirmed it had fired on US bases in Jordan.President Donald Trump said after the missiles were intercepted that US forces would retaliate. “We’re going to hit them very hard,” he said.The US Central Command described the latest strikes on X as “a powerful response to yesterday’s attempted Iranian attacks on US forces based in the Middle East.”The Iran war began on February 28 when the US and Israel attacked Iran and Tehran responded with its own strikes on Israel and Gulf states.US-Israeli strikes on Iran and Israeli attacks on Lebanon have since killed thousands and displaced millions.With agencies Read more: Trump says US to hit Iran ‘hard’ after attack on bases in Jordan