U.S. president Donald Trump said that U.S.-Iran peace talks could resume this week.
New talks with Tehran could take place in Pakistan “over the next two days,” after saying that Iranian officials had contacted him seeking a deal, he told The New York Post.
The suggestion coincided with Israel and Lebanon agreeing to start direct negotiations following a meeting in Washington. This signals a rare diplomatic initiative between the two countries, which have been formally at war for decades. The talks were mediated by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who called the development “a historic opportunity.”
A State Department spokesperson described the discussions as “productive,” adding:
All sides agreed to launch direct negotiations at a mutually agreed time and venue.
Lebanese president Joseph Aoun said he hoped the talks would “mark the beginning of the end of the suffering of the Lebanese people.”
Israeli ambassador Yechiel Leiter said the two countries had discovered they were “on the same side” in their approach to Hezbollah, while Lebanese envoy Nada Hamadeh Moawad described the meeting as “constructive,” though she emphasized the need for a ceasefire.
Despite diplomatic progress, violence continued during the process. Hezbollah said it fired rockets at more than a dozen towns in northern Israel as the Washington meeting took place.
Meanwhile, U.S. Central Command said American forces had “completely halted economic trade going into and out of Iran by sea.” Iran condemned the move as an act of piracy, warning that if its ports were threatened, “no port in the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea will be safe.”
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