US President says talks could resume in the coming days, after Israel and Lebanon agree to hold direct negotiations
The President of the United States, Donald Trump, on Tuesday (14), floated the possibility that talks with Iran in Pakistan would resume this week, after Israel and Lebanon agreed to hold direct negotiations following a meeting between them in Washington.
In conversation with the New York Post, Trump told the outlet’s journalist in Islamabad that “You should stay there, because something could happen in the next two days.”
After stating in an initial phone call that it was unlikely that talks would return to Pakistan, this outlet indicated that Trump called again minutes later to say that it was “more likely” that they would return to Islamabad because the head of the Pakistani Army, Asim Munir, “is doing a great job”.
Last weekend, the first round of talks in which American Vice President JD Vance was present failed.
Two senior Pakistani officials told AFP that Islamabad seeks to get Washington and Tehran to resume dialogue.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres also called on Tuesday for the resumption of “serious negotiations”. And he said that “there is no military solution to the crisis”.
‘On the same side’
On another front of the war, Israel and Lebanon agreed to begin direct negotiations after a more than two-hour meeting in Washington.
A State Department spokesperson noted that the discussions were “productive” and added: “All parties have agreed to begin direct negotiations at a mutually agreed time and place.”
“Today we discovered that we are on the same side,” the Israeli ambassador to Washington, Yechiel Leiter, told the press. indicate that both countries are “united” in their will “to free Lebanon” from the Islamic group Oro-Iran Hezbollah.
In a separate statement, Lebanese Ambassador Nada Hamadeh Moawad called the meeting “constructive” but also said she had called for a ceasefire and insisted on Lebanon’s “full sovereignty.”
The two countries were technically at war for decades. Lebanon was eventually drawn into the Middle East conflict on March 2, when Tehran’s ally Hezbollah attacked Israel in response to Israeli and American bombings of Iran that triggered the conflict on February 28.
Tuesday’s talks were rejected by Hezbollah, which announced the launch of rockets against more than a dozen locations in northern Israel just as the meeting began.
Currently, the Israeli forces occupy parts of southern Lebanon and the Israeli government has resisted considering any ceasefire until Hezbollah is dismantled.
According to Lebanese authorities, the Israeli attacks killed more than 2,000 people and left at least one million displaced.
The foreign ministers of 17 countries, including the United Kingdom and France, urged the Lebanese and Israelis to seize the opportunity to reach a lasting security agreement in the region.
Oil falls
With attention focused on the meeting between Israel and Lebanon, Trump tried to pressure Tehran by blocking any boat transiting the Iranian coast.
Centcom, the American military command for the Middle East, announced this Tuesday that no ships had crossed the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for global oil transport.
However, data from maritime monitoring website Kpler indicates that several boats that had visited Iranian ports have managed to cross the route since the blockade began.
Despite the pressure, oil prices closed below 100 dollars: a barrel of WTI, a reference for the American market, fell 7.87%, to 91.28 dollars. The Brent type barrel, a reference for international markets, fell 4.60%, to $94.76.
The Iranian military command classified the blockade as an act of piracy and warned that if the security of its ports “is threatened, no port in the Gulf or Arabian Sea will be safe.”
According to analysts, Trump is trying to deprive Iran of financial resources, but also push China — the biggest buyer of Iranian oil — to pressure Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Vice President JD Vance said Trump informed Tehran that the The United States would make “Iran prosper” if the country committed to “not having a nuclear weapon”.
“This is the kind of big Trump-style deal that the president has put on the table,” Vance said at an event Tuesday in Georgia. “We will continue negotiating and try to make this happen,” he added.
Diplomatic efforts have also intensified in other countries: Russian Foreign Minister Serguei Lavrov met in Beijing with Chinese President Xi Jinping, according to Chinese state media, just hours after speaking with his Iranian counterpart.
Russia and China agreed to work together to reduce tensions in the Middle East. Moscow has also offered to securely manage Iran’s enriched uranium as part of any deal.
Lavrov also said his country could make up for the energy deficit China faces due to the war in the Middle East, according to Russian state media.
He also reported that President Vladimir Putin will visit China in the first half of the year.
*AFP
