Iran’s top diplomat is expected to travel to Pakistan by this weekend for talks, two Pakistani officials told The Associated Press on Friday, raising hopes for revived negotiations in the Iran-U.S. war.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was expected to be accompanied by a small government delegation and could arrive as soon as Friday, the officials said, without providing further details. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Rebuilding trust between Abu Dhabi and Tehran will take "ages and ages", UAE presidential advisor Anwar Gargash said Friday, after Iran targeted the United Arab Emirates during the Middle East conflict.

"You can't be attacked with 2,800 missiles and drones and then talk to me about trust. That will take ages and ages," Gargash said at a World Policy Conference in the town of Chantilly near Paris, as peace talks hang in the balance to end the war sparked in late February by Israeli-US strikes on Iran.

President Joseph Aoun met Friday with French President Emmanuel Macron in Nicosia, on the sidelines of a European summit.

European leaders vowed during the summit to do more to de-escalate conflicts in the Middle East, as they prepared for discussions with regional counterparts from Egypt, Lebanon and Syria in Cyprus.

Lawmaker Mohammad Raad, head of Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc, called on Friday for Lebanon to "withdraw" from direct talks with Israel that U.S. President Donald Trump says have a "very good chance" of achieving peace.

"The authorities ought to feel ashamed before their people and withdraw from what has been called direct negotiations with the Zionist enemy," he said in a statement, adding that "any official contact or meeting bringing together the Lebanese and Israeli sides amid the ongoing war... will in no way enjoy Lebanese national consensus".

U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday he expected the Israeli and Lebanese leaders to meet with him over the next couple of weeks and voiced hope for a permanent peace deal this year.

"I think there's a very good chance of having peace. I think it should be an easy one," Trump told reporters as he met the Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors to announce an extension of a shaky ceasefire.

Hezbollah shot down one an Israeli drone in south Lebanon on Friday, hours after a ceasefire between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group was extended.

Hezbollah stated that its fighters launched a surface-to-air missile that shot down an Israeli Hermes 450 drone over the Tyre region.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday that the United States is under no pressure to end the war with Iran, but "the clock is ticking" for Tehran, as disruption from the conflict batters the world economy.

"I have all the time in the World, but Iran doesn't -- The clock is ticking!" Trump said on social media, adding that Iran's military was destroyed and "their leaders are no longer with us, the Blockade is airtight and strong and, from there, it only gets worse."

The USS George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier has arrived in the Middle East, the U.S. military said Thursday, bringing the number of the massive American warships operating in the region to three.

Air defense systems were activated in parts of Tehran on Thursday evening amid reports of hostile aerial activity, Iranian state media said in the first such reports since a ceasefire began.

The IRNA state news agency said the "sound of air defense firing" was heard in western Tehran, while the Mehr news agency reported that the systems were activated in several parts of the capital to counter "hostile targets", without elaborating further.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Thursday that Israel was "prepared to resume the war against Iran," adding that Israel was awaiting a green light from the United States to return Iran to "the Stone Age".

"The IDF (Israeli army) is ready both defensively and offensively, and the targets have been marked," Katz said in a video statement.