Hopes rose for renewed talks between the United States and Iran on Wednesday, as the US military said its blockade of Iranian ports was in full effect and Tehran threatened to retaliate by strike targets across the war-weary region.
US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that a second round of talks could happen “over the next two days,” telling the New York Post the negotiations could be held again in Islamabad as diplomats worked through back channels to arrange them.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres said it’s “highly probable” that talks will restart, citing a meeting he had with Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar. The office of Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said he would travel to Saudi Arabia Wednesday as his country pushes to mediate new talks and to Turkey for the Anatalya Peace Forum, which starts Friday.
Oil prices fell on hopes for an end to fighting, and in the US stocks surged close to records set in January. The war, now in its seventh week, has jolted markets and rattled the global economy as shipping has been cut off and airstrikes have torn through military and civilian infrastructure across the region.
Meanwhile in Washington, the first direct talks in decades between the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to the US concluded on a productive note Tuesday, according to the US State Department.
Israeli Ambassador Yechiel Leiter said the two countries are “on the same side of the equation” in “liberating Lebanon” from the militant Hezbollah group. Lebanese Ambassador Nada Hamadeh Moawad called the meeting “constructive” but urged an end to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants. Since March, that war has displaced more than 1 million people in Lebanon.
Israel and Lebanon have technically been at war since Israel was established in 1948, and Lebanon remains deeply divided over diplomatic engagement with Israel.
