The White House feels \u2018good about the prospects of a deal\u2019 as Pakistani officials launch a new round of diplomacy.
\nThe US and Iran have been engaged in indirect talks aimed at extending the two-week ceasefire beyond its expiry on April 22, as Pakistan\u2019s army chief arrived in Tehran to continue mediation efforts.
\nKaroline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, denied on Wednesday that the US had \u201cformally\u201d requested to extend the two-week ceasefire but added that Washington remained \u201cvery much engaged in these negotiations\u201d.
\nA second round of negotiations would \u201cvery likely\u201d be held in Islamabad, she said, adding that the White House feels \u201cgood about the prospects of a deal\u201d only days after negotiations to reach a peace agreement had failed.
\n\u201cNothing is official until you hear it from us here at the White House,\u201d she added.
\nThe remarks came as Pakistani officials launched a new round of shuttle diplomacy in an effort to negotiate an end to the conflict, traveling to Iran and other countries in the region to marshal diplomatic support for a peace agreement.
\nField Marshal Asim Munir led a Pakistani delegation to Tehran on Wednesday to convey a message from Washington, while working to arrange a second round of US-Iranian ceasefire negotiations. The high-powered delegation also included the interior minister, Mohsin Naqvi, officials in Islamabad said.
\nOn the same day, Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistan\u2019s prime minister, set off on a four-day tour to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey, in an attempt to bolster peace efforts by coordinating support from other regional powers.
\nReports from the region suggested both sides were in favor of prolonging the truce, though Donald Trump suggested an extension may not even be necessary to secure a peace agreement.
\n\u201cDuring this visit, the views of both sides are likely to be discussed in detail,\u201d said Iran\u2019s foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmail Baghaei, adding that an exchange of messages between Washington and Tehran had continued even after 21 hours of ceasefire talks in Islamabad had broken up over the weekend.
\nSources in Tehran said Iran demanded an end to Israeli attacks on Lebanon as a precondition for another round of negotiations with the US. Israel has portrayed its talks with the Lebanese government in Washington as a \u201chistoric opportunity\u201d to end the Iranian-allied Hezbollah militia\u2019s grip on Lebanon.
\nHowever, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, indicated in a video statement on Wednesday evening that he had not committed to a ceasefire, stating that the IDF was continuing to \u201cstrike Hezbollah\u201d in its stronghold in Lebanon of Bint Jbeil and that he had given instructions to broaden a \u201csecurity zone\u201d by continuing operations in Lebanon.
\n\u201cOur forces continue to strike Hezbollah, we are about to conquer Bint Jbeil,\u201d he said. \u201cIn parallel, yesterday I gave instructions to the IDF to continue thickening the security zone.\u201d
\nLt Gen Eyal Zamir, the Israeli army chief of staff, visited Israeli troops on Wednesday and vowed to eliminate Hezbollah\u2019s presence south of the Litani River, about 30km (19 miles) from the Israeli border.
\n\u201cI have ordered that all of the area of south Lebanon up to the Litani line be turned into a Hezbollah terrorist kill zone,\u201d Zamir said, adding: \u201cWe are advancing and striking Hezbollah and they are retreating.\u201d
\nTwo Lebanese officials told Reuters that they expected a ceasefire with Israel could be announced \u201csoon\u201d but did not give any more detail on the negotiations.
\nThe US military said a naval blockade of Iranian ports imposed after the end of the Islamabad talks had been \u201cfully implemented\u201d and US warships had turned back nine ships, including the Chinese-owned tanker Rich Starry, which had tried to cross the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday. The ship has been placed under sanctions by the US.
\nMaj Gen Ali Abdollahi, the leader of Iran\u2019s joint military command, said on Wednesday that its military could halt trade in the Gulf region if the US did not lift its blockade on Iranian ports.
\nScott Bessent, the US Treasury secretary, has said the US was ready to escalate financial pressure on Iran by preparing for the \u201cfinancial equivalent\u201d of the US bombing campaign. The administration has \u201ctold companies, we have told countries that if you are buying Iranian oil, that if Iranian money is sitting in your banks, we are now willing to apply secondary sanctions, which is a very stern measure,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd the Iranians should know that this is going to be the financial equivalent of what we saw in the kinetic activities.\u201d
\nChina has voiced its objections to the naval blockade, but Trump claimed on Wednesday that he had won agreement from Xi Jinping, China\u2019s president, not to send arms to Iran. The foreign ministry in Beijing had denied over the course of the war that China was supplying weapons to Iran.
\nHowever, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday that Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guard aerospace force had acquired a Chinese spy satellite in 2024 and had used it to target US bases in the region during the five-week war.
\nTrump continued his predictions of a swift end to the war, which he has kept up since starting the conflict in partnership with Netanyahu. He told an ABC News correspondent, Jonathan Karl: \u201cI think you\u2019re going to be watching an amazing two days ahead.\u201d
\nThe president told Karl the war could be ended before the expiry of the ceasefire next Wednesday, arguing the US could simply withdraw having inflicted significant damage on Iran\u2019s military, or exit after a deal with Tehran.
\n\u201cIt could end either way, but I think a deal is preferable because then they can rebuild,\u201d he said.
\nTrump also told Fox News that the war could be over \u201cvery soon\u201d and that there would then be a sharp decline in the price of oil, which hovered around $95 on Wednesday as traders remained uncertain on the future of peace talks.
\nAfter the Islamabad talks ended on Sunday, Trump ordered a naval blockade on shipping coming in or out of Iranian Gulf ports, as a counter to Iran\u2019s near-total closure of the strategic waterway leading into the Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz, since the start of the war, and to increase economic pressure.
\nAli Abdollahi warned that Iran would block all exports and imports across the region, including the Gulf, the Gulf of Oman, and the Red Sea, if the US blockade continued.
\n\u201cIran will act with strength to defend its national sovereignty and its interests,\u201d Ali Abdollahi said.
\n#USIranTalks #CeasefireNegotiations #PakistanDiplomacy #MiddleEastPeace #IranSanctions #HormuzStrait #HezbollahConflict #IsraelLebanon #RegionalTensions #GlobalDiplomacy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The White House feels \u2018good about the prospects of a deal\u2019 as Pakistani officials launch a new round of diplomacy. The US and Iran have been engaged in indirect talks aimed at extending the two-week ceasefire beyond its expiry on April 22, as Pakistan\u2019s army chief arrived in Tehran to continue mediation efforts. Karoline Leavitt, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":359,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle-east-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}