By Maayan Lubell, Ariba Shahid and Asif Shahzad
JERUSALEM/ISLAMABAD, April 16 (Reuters) – Optimism grew on Thursday that the Iran war may be near an end, with a source saying a Pakistani mediator had made a breakthrough on “sticky issues”, although Iran said the fate of its nuclear program had not been resolved.
The United States and Pakistan have been talking up prospects for a deal after nearly seven weeks of war, with U.S. President Donald Trump saying the accord would open the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and gas supply flows.
Closure of the strait has caused the worst oil price shock in history and forced the International Monetary Fund to downgrade its outlook for the global economy, warning prolonged conflict could push the world to the brink of recession.
Pakistan’s army chief and Field Marshal Asim Munir, an important figure in mediation efforts, arrived in Tehran on Wednesday to try to prevent a renewal of the conflict after talks in Islamabad that ended without a deal.
A senior Iranian official told Reuters on Thursday the trip had led to greater hopes for a second round of talks and an extension of a two-week ceasefire, but said fundamental differences remain over its nuclear program.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said troops were poised to restart combat operations if a deal was not reached.
“We are reloading with more power than ever before, and better intelligence,” Hegseth told a Pentagon briefing. “We are locked and loaded on your critical dual-use infrastructure, on your remaining power generation, and on your energy industry. We’d rather not have to do it.”
A security source told Reuters a deal was closing in and that the U.S. wants a breakthrough before the ceasefire expires next week. Washington is offering to lift sanctions and unfreeze billions of dollars worth of Iranian assets, he said.
Iran will open the strait only if a permanent ceasefire is reached and there are United Nations guarantees that the U.S. and Israel will not attack again in future, he said.
“We hope that the field marshal will have a draft in his hand when he flies out of Tehran,” the source said.
A separate government source said the talks would be held “soon” in Islamabad although no date has been set.
LEBANON CEASEFIRE ON THE AGENDA
The issue of a ceasefire in Lebanon, where Israel has been waging a parallel campaign against Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, would also be an essential component of any peace talks, Pakistan said.
Israel’s cabinet met on Wednesday to discuss a possible ceasefire in Lebanon, a senior Israeli official said, and Trump announced the leaders of the two countries would speak for the first time in decades.
However, three Lebanese officials told Reuters there were no plans for a call between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in the near future, with two officials saying Washington had been informed.
Fighting in southern Lebanon continued on Thursday. A senior Lebanese security official said an Israeli strike had severed the last bridge linking southern Lebanon to the rest of the country. One person was killed in an Israeli strike targeting a car on the road that links to Syria, the state news agency said.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on either strike.
Stock markets have rallied strongly in recent days on expectations of a swift resolution to the fighting, with global equities vaulting past their previous all-time highs in trading on Thursday. However, oil prices gained, showing continued uncertainty about the ceasefire prospects and the opening of the strait. [MKTS/GLOB]
NUCLEAR ISSUES REMAIN UNRESOLVED
The war began with U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran on February 28, triggering Iranian attacks on Iran’s Gulf neighbours and reigniting the Israel-Hezbollah conflict. Thousands of people have been killed, mostly in Iran and Lebanon. Soaring energy costs have rattled investors and policymakers globally.
Iran’s nuclear ambitions were a sticking point at last weekend’s talks. The U.S. proposed a 20-year suspension of all nuclear activity by Iran – an apparent concession from longstanding demands for a permanent ban. Tehran suggested a halt of three to five years, according to people familiar with the proposals.
Washington has pressed for any highly enriched uranium (HEU) to be removed from Iran. Tehran has demanded that international sanctions against it be lifted.
Two Iranian sources said there were signs of a compromise emerging on the HEU stockpile, with Tehran considering shipping part, but not all, of it out of the country, something it had previously ruled out.
ECONOMIC PRESSURE ON IRAN
The war has led Iran to effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz to ships other than its own, sharply reducing exports from the Gulf. The U.S. has sought to increase pressure on Iran’s oil-dependent economy by imposing its own blockade on ships travelling to Iranian ports.
On Thursday, the U.S. widened its blockade on Iranian shipping to include what it called contraband, including weapons, weapons systems, ammunition, nuclear materials, crude and refined oil products as well as iron, steel and aluminium.
Any vessel suspected of trying to reach Iranian territory will be subject to “visit, board, search and seizure”, the U.S. Navy said in an advisory.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine said as of Thursday morning the U.S. military had not boarded any ships and that 13 had turned around.
Tehran could consider allowing ships to sail freely through the Omani side of the strait without risk of attack as part of proposals it has offered in negotiations with the U.S., providing a deal is clinched to prevent renewed conflict, a source briefed by Tehran said.
(Reporting by Reuters bureaus, Writing by Lincoln Feast and Sharon Singleton; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Alexandra Hudson)