U.S., Iran could restart talks within days while Israel and Lebanon hold rare meeting over Hezbollah

Pressure mounted on the U.S. and Iran to resume peace talks, while officials from Israel and Lebanon held parallel negotiations Tuesday in Washington about dealing with Tehran-backed militants in Hezbollah.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres led calls for the Trump administration and Tehran to restart talks, saying the Middle East conflict had “no military solution.”

“Serious negotiations must resume. The ceasefire must be preserved — and extended as necessary,” Mr. Guterres said in New York.

President Trump said negotiations could restart within days. Vice President J.D. Vance and Iranian officials failed to reach a deal during initial talks in Pakistan over the weekend.

Mr. Trump said he prefers to reengage in Islamabad rather than in a European capital or an alternate site.

“Something could be happening over the next two days, and we’re more inclined to go there,” he told the New York Post.

A White House official told The Washington Times that talks were under discussion but nothing had been scheduled.

The president denied reports that the U.S. wants Iran to pause its uranium enrichment for 20 years.

“I’ve been saying they can’t have nuclear weapons, so I don’t like the 20 years,” Mr. Trump said.

Meanwhile, U.S. Central Command said it was successfully implementing Mr. Trump’s blockade of ships traveling to and from Iranian ports.

In the first 24 hours, “no ships made it past the U.S. blockade, and six merchant vessels complied with direction from U.S. forces to turn around to re-enter an Iranian port on the Gulf of Oman,” CENTCOM said on social media.

The military said 10,000 U.S. sailors, Marines and airmen are conducting the blockade with more than a dozen warships and dozens of aircraft.

Mr. Trump imposed the blockade Monday to squeeze Iran economically and force Tehran officials back to the negotiating table before the two-week ceasefire expires on April 21.

Iran’s restrictions on oil traffic through the Strait of Hormuz led to energy shortfalls around the world, so Mr. Trump cut off Iran’s access to oil revenue by blocking maritime traffic.

“U.S. forces are supporting freedom of navigation for vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz to and from non-Iranian ports,” CENTCOM said.

Foreign leaders, feeling the economic squeeze, called for open navigation of the Strait of Hormuz and continued to criticize Israel’s bombardment of Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon.

Italy suspended a defense agreement with Israel that had been in place since 2005. French President Emmanuel Macron said any ceasefire in the Middle East fighting should include Lebanon.

Israeli and Lebanese officials met in Washington for the first set of in-person direct talks in decades to find a diplomatic solution to Israel’s war on Hezbollah fighters.

Israel and Lebanon do not maintain diplomatic ties, and the talks were the first in-person negotiations between the two nations since the Oslo Accords process in the early to mid-1990s.

“This is a historic opportunity,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said. “We understand we’re working against decades of history.”

Lebanon wants Israel to agree to a ceasefire, during which diplomats could begin negotiations to reach a comprehensive peace agreement.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said in a statement Monday that his nation is looking for a “sustainable solution” to the conflict that isn’t “one-sided.”

Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter struck a positive tone as he emerged from the talks. Mr. Leiter said the Lebanese side “made it very clear that they will no longer be occupied by Hezbollah.”

He said the militant group and Iran had both been weakened.

Hezbollah, however, is not part of the talks and has signaled it has no plans to abide by what the countries decide.

Israel launched fresh rounds of airstrikes on two cities in southern Lebanon just hours before the talks, according to Lebanon’s state-affiliated National News Agency.

Hezbollah launched several rocket attacks against targets in northern Israel.

Weeks of fighting in the Middle East are taking a tangible economic toll on the entire world.

The International Monetary Fund said Tuesday that it expected global growth to be 3.1% in 2026, down from pre-conflict projections of 3.4%.

Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, an economic counselor and director of research at the IMF, said this year was supposed to show economic momentum.

“War in the Middle East has halted this momentum,” he wrote. “The closing of the Strait of Hormuz and serious damage to critical facilities in a region central to global hydrocarbon supply raise the prospect of a major energy crisis should hostilities continue.”

The average price of a gallon of gas in the U.S. slipped to $4.12, down from $4.14 a week ago but more than a dollar higher than when the war started.

Americans are feeling pain at the pump because higher oil prices are being passed through to gasoline, which is made by refining and treating crude oil.

Iran’s crackdown on traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and its attacks on oil-producing Persian Gulf nations constrained global supply.

Iran is demanding compensation from five Arab countries that Tehran says are allowing their territories to be used by American forces as part of Operation Epic Fury, the U.S. and Israeli air campaign against the Islamic republic, according to Iran’s official Press TV network.

In a letter to Mr. Guterres, Iran’s ambassador rejected compensation demands from Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan. He said Iran was the “victim of aggression” and was exercising its inherent right of self-defense when it launched strikes against those countries.

Instead, the Arab states “should make full reparation to the Islamic Republic of Iran, including compensation for all material and moral damage sustained as part of their internationally wrongful acts,” Ambassador Amir-Saeid Iravani said in the letter.

Leaders in other parts of the world simply want the fighting to stop.

Mr. Macron said he personally urged Mr. Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian to resume peace negotiations.

“I urged the resumption of the negotiations suspended in Islamabad, the clearing up of misunderstandings, and the avoidance of any further escalation,” Mr. Macron posted on X.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Mr. Trump called him to discuss the war and other matters. They talked about “the situation in West Asia and stressed the importance of keeping the Strait of Hormuz open and secure.”

China, meanwhile, criticized the U.S. blockade.

“This will only aggravate confrontation, escalate tension, undermine the already fragile ceasefire and further jeopardize safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said. “It is a dangerous and irresponsible move. China believes that only a complete ceasefire can fundamentally create conditions for easing the situation.”

Chinese President Xi Jinping offered veiled criticism of the U.S. operation against Iran during a meeting with the crown prince of Abu Dhabi in Beijing.

Mr. Xi said the world needs to maintain the “authority of international rule of law” and not backslide into “the law of the jungle.”