President Donald Trump said Tuesday that US-Iran talks could resume within days, while Israel and Lebanon agreed to open direct negotiations, signaling a potential diplomatic opening on two key fronts in the Middle East conflict.
Trump told the New York Post that negotiators could meet again “over the next two days” after April 11-12 talks in Islamabad failed to produce a deal. Vice President JD Vance, who led the US delegation, said “a lot of progress” had been made, but the discussions ultimately broke down over Iran’s nuclear program.
Israel and Lebanon agreed in Washington to launch direct talks in a rare diplomatic breakthrough between the two states. A State Department spokesperson described the discussions as “productive,” adding that both sides agreed to continue negotiations at a mutually agreed time and place, AFP reported.
The talks, mediated by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, marked the first direct high-level contact between Israel and Lebanon since 1993. Rubio called it a “historic opportunity,” while Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said he hoped it would mark “the beginning of the end of the suffering of the Lebanese people.”
As diplomacy advanced, Trump also intensified pressure on Tehran by ordering a naval blockade targeting vessels traveling to or from Iranian ports after the Islamabad talks ended without a breakthrough.
US Central Command said no ships slipped through the blockade in its first 24 hours and that six merchant vessels had turned back.
Iran condemned the blockade as piracy and warned that if its ports were threatened, “no port in the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea will be safe.”
The US Treasury also said it would not renew a temporary easing of sanctions on Iranian oil that had been introduced to cushion war-related supply shocks.
In a call with French President Emmanuel Macron, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian blamed Washington for the failed talks, according to Iranian state media, but said diplomacy remained the preferred path.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov traveled to Beijing hours after speaking with his Iranian counterpart, and Moscow has offered to hold Iran’s enriched uranium as part of a possible future agreement.