Image source, MEA

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi has arrived in Delhi to hold talks with officials here.

An Indian foreign ministry spokesperson said Aragchi's arrival was an opportunity "to review and enhance bilateral cooperation on the 75th anniversary of the India-Iran Friendship Treaty".

Aragchi was in Pakistan a day before India launched several airstrikes into Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir. In Islamabad, he met with his counterpart Ishaq Dar.

Iran had earlier offered to mediate between India and Pakistan in the lead-up to the recent clashes.

If you're just joining us, here is what we know about recent developments.

Two weeks after a deadly militant attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir, India has launched a series of strikes on sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

The Indian defence ministry said the strikes - named "Operation Sindoor" - were part of a "commitment" to hold "accountable" those responsible for the 22 April attack in Pahalgam, Indian-administered Kashmir, which left 25 Indians and one Nepali national dead.

But Pakistan, which has denied any involvement in that attack, described the strikes as "unprovoked", with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif saying the "heinous act of aggression will not go unpunished".

Sharif on Wednesday said the Pahalgam attack "wasn't related" to Pakistan, and that his country was "accused for the wrong" reasons.

Read more in the BBC's explainer here.

A former senior British diplomat has told the BBC News Channel he’s worried about a possible escalation that “could be quite fast”.

Tim Willasey-Wilsey, who was posted to Pakistan in the 1990s and is now a visiting professor at King’s College London, says Indian strikes on Pakistan “have actually been quite restrained”, targeting sites linked to “Kashmiri terrorist groups”.

But he says that civilians are killed in these strikes, and that “it’s in Pakistan’s DNA to respond”.

When Pakistan does respond, Willasey-Wilsey says it will be “very difficult” for them to justify their actions, as there are "no terrorist training camps in India".

“They clearly mustn't attack the civilian population,” he says. “I suspect what they might do is go for military sites ... but even that is going to inflame passions in India.”

“And then we will be on what strategists call the escalation ladder, that could really be quite fast.”

Former Scottish first minister Humza Yousaf and former Irish taoiseach Leo Varadkar have written a joint letter to the leaders of India and Pakistan urging restraint and de-escalation.Writing as public servants and "men with roots in the subcontinent", they called on Narendra Modi and Shehbaz Sharif to "resist the pull of conflict".The former first minister is of Pakistani heritage while Varadkar's father is from Mumbai.

Pakistanis are counting their losses after Wednesday morning's strikes which Islamabad says has killed at least 31 people and injured 57.

The strikes reached the Pakistani city of Muridke where locals gathered to assess the damage at a sprawling complex.

Recounting the night's events, one man told the BBC that India's bombardment lit up the night sky.

"The sky lit up and it felt like the sky turned red," he told the BBC.

The BBC's Umer Draz Nangiana has been on the ground in Muridke in Pakistan's Punjab reporting.

Read more of his interviews with eyewitness here.

As India and Pakistan's militaries clash, the US is missing a key player: an ambassador in both countries.

A locally based envoy would have had an important role during such a heightened time.

"That person could be doing things on the ground in Delhi with both sides, being quiet in diplomacy and a quiet interlocutor," Tim Roemer, former US ambassador to India during President Barack Obama's first term, told the BBC.

Having ambassadors confirmed to India and Pakistan is "essential", he said.

"We have ambassadors that have been nominated or confirmed to Israel and China and South America ... India is right there at the top in terms of importance and priorities for the United States," he said.

US ambassadors undergo a nomination and confirmation process in the US Senate which can take time - the Trump administration has just crossed 100 days.

"We sure should prioritise making this one of the first kinds of nominations we have and I am kind of surprised that we don't have a person either nominated or in place yet."

India’s strikes, which the country says are targeting "terrorist infrastructure", are an attempt to contain the situation, says Chietigj Bajpaee, senior research fellow for South Asia at Chatham House.

“It’s trying to ensure that the conflict remains below the threshold of a nuclear conflict or a wider conventional conflict between both countries,” Bajpaee had earlier told the BBC News Channel.

But he adds “it remains to be seen” if the exchange of attacks between India and Pakistan “suffices in appeasing both countries' domestic political constituencies and hyper-nationalist foreign policies”.

He also points out that, unlike previous periods of India-Pakistan hostility when the US played a “prominent role” in de-escalating tensions, there is “limited external pressure” this time.

“We haven’t really seen anything of that nature so far from the US or any other countries.”

So, attempts to contain any escalation are “easier said than done”, Bajpaee says.

Our colleagues from The Briefing Room podcast have just recorded a new episode on the rising tensions between India and Pakistan, and consider whether the two nuclear nations might be on the brink of war.

It's a discussion with some of the BBC's correspondents in the region and other guest.

• You can listen to the new episode and all previous episodes on BBC Sounds

Image source, Reuters

A State Department spokesperson has told the BBC, the US is "closely monitoring" the skirmishes between India and Pakistan.

The spokesperson said US officials were in touch with the two sides and was urging the countries to "work towards a responsible resolution that maintains long-term peace and regional stability in South Asia."

Earlier on, our State Department correspondent Tom Bateman said the lack of an explicit American call for restraint since the Indian strikes reflects the US’s strengthening ties with India over recent years, and the relative isolation of Pakistan.

Last night, when the fighting began, Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated Trump's comments saying he hoped the clashes end "quickly" and will work "towards a peaceful resolution".

Read more of Tom Bateman's analysis here.

Flora Drury
BBC News

Two weeks after a deadly militant attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir, India has launched a series of strikes on sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

The Indian defence ministry said the strikes - named "Operation Sindoor" - targeted what it called "terrorist infrastructure" to hold "accountable" those responsible for the 22 April attack in Pahalgam, which left 25 Indians and one Nepali national dead.

But Pakistan, which has denied any involvement in that attack, described the strikes as "unprovoked", with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif saying the "heinous act of aggression will not go unpunished".

Sharif on Wednesday said the Pahalgam attack "wasn't related" to Pakistan, and that his country was "accused for the wrong" reasons.

Kashmir is a flashpoint for Pakistan and India with two wars having been fought over it.

While it is claimed in full by both countries, they each administer a part of the region since they were partitioned following independence from Britain in 1947.

• Read more: What we know about India's strike

• On Wednesday morning, India said it had launched several strikes on Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir
• Delhi said it targeted nine sites. Pakistan later said six locations were hit
• Islamabad has claimed several times that it shot down five Indian jets and a drone, which India has not confirmed
• Referencing the claim in an address to the nation later on Wednesday, Pakistani PM Sharif said Pakistan had made its "reply"
• Pakistan said 31 people had been killed and 57 injured in India's strike action
• Meanwhile, India's army says at least 15 civilians were killed by Pakistani shelling on its side of the Line of Control (LoC)

• World leaders have called for calm between the two nuclear-armed states. President Trump said he wanted " see them stop". The EU's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said the bloc was trying to "mediate and bring the tensions down"

Image source, Getty Images

Malala Yousafzai is urging leaders of Pakistan and India to "take steps to de-escalate tensions, protect civilians - especially children - and unite against the forces of division".

In 2012, she was a schoolgirl in Pakistan when she was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman for going to school. Two years later, aged 17, she became the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.

"Hatred and violence are our common enemies, not each other," Malala says on social media.

Sending her condolences to the "loved ones of all innocent civilians" in both nations, she says that she is thinking of her friends, her family, and all the advocates, educators and girls she works with in Pakistan at this "dangerous time".

"The international community must act now to promote dialogue and diplomacy. Peace is the only way forward for our collective security and prosperity," Malala adds.

A Pakistani cabinet minister has called India's strikes a "shameful and cowardly aggression", that he said targeted "peaceful civilians, including women and children".

Speaking to the BBC World Service's Newshour programme, Ahsan Iqbal says India's claim that it was targeting what it called "terrorist infrastructure sites" in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir was "a big lie" through which it was "trying to mislead the world".

"Who are the casualties? How can be a seven-year-old boy be a terrorist? How can be a five-year-old girl be a terrorist? How can be a housewife, a women be a terrorist?" he asks.

Talking about Pakistan’s response, he said that the Pakistani government has given the armed forces "the mandate to choose the time and the manner in which we can respond appropriately".

We're hearing of more precautionary school closures in parts of Indian-administered Kashmir.

Earlier, authorities announced that schools, colleges and educational institutions in some areas would be closed today - now they say that educational institutions in some parts will be closed tomorrow too.

US taking a hands-off approachpublished at 20:53 British Summer Time 7 May

20:53 BST 7 May

Tom Bateman
US State Department correspondent

The White House is taking a hands-off approach to this crisis, characterised by Donald Trump’s Oval Office comment on Tuesday that "it’s a shame”.

Today he says there is a “tit-for-tat”, and he wants “to see it stop”, but without specifying how.

The US State Department said on Tuesday night it was monitoring the situation but is still yet to update that statement.

The lack of an explicit American call for restraint since the Indian strikes, leaving other countries to fill that diplomatic void, reflects the US’s strengthening ties with India over recent years, and the relative isolation of Pakistan, with which the US has long had a more troubled relationship.

It appears the White House has been attempting to leave Delhi with space to act. But that approach might not last long.

During the last major crisis between India and Pakistan in 2019, the Trump administration at first fully-backed what it saw as India’s right to target militants who had struck in Indian-administered Kashmir, but quickly turned to calls for de-escalation as the crisis rapidly escalated.

Our colleagues from the BBC World Service's Global News Podcast have a special episode on the escalating tensions between India and Pakistan.

It's a Q&A with some of the BBC's correspondents in the region - and is available now on BBC Sounds.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House

US President Donald Trump has briefly commented on the escalating tensions between Pakistan and India.

"I know both very well. I want to see them work it out," Trump tells reporters in the Oval Office. "I want to see them stop."

"If I can do anything to help, I will be there," the US president adds.

All scheduled leave has been cancelled for doctors, nurses and other medical staff working in public hospitals in Islamabad, and they must "report to duty" immediately, health minister Mustafa Kamal announces.

In a statement, he says the "urgent measures" for the capital have been announced "in response to the crisis".

It also says a 24/7 "emergency quick response centre" has been established to "assess health-related emergencies stemming from the ongoing conflict and coordinate immediate response efforts".

• Pakistan's prime minister says Islamabad has made its "reply" following Indian strikes on Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir
• He was referencing Pakistan's claim that it shot down five Indian jets and a drone, which Delhi has not confirmed
• Between 01:05 and 01:30 India time (20:35 and 21:00 BST on Tuesday), India said it had launched strikes on nine sites - Pakistan said six locations were hit
• Islamabad raised the death toll from the strikes to 31 this evening, also reporting that 57 people were injured
• India's army said 15 civilians were killed by Pakistani shelling on its side of the de facto border - the Line of Control (LoC)
• Earlier today, Pakistan's National Security Committee (NSC) warned that it reserves the right to respond to India "at a time, place and manner of its choosing"

Read more on the background to the escalation in tensions here.

Pakistan's military has just shared an updated death toll following India's overnight strikes.

A spokesperson for the army says 31 people have been killed and 57 injured.

The previous total was 26 people killed and 46 injured.