{"id":392335,"date":"2026-04-14T22:55:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T22:55:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/392335\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T22:55:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T22:55:09","slug":"diplomats-try-to-arrange-second-round-of-us-iran-talks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/392335\/","title":{"rendered":"Diplomats try to arrange second round of US-Iran talks"},"content":{"rendered":"

ISLAMABAD (AP) \u2014 Diplomats worked through back channels on Tuesday to arrange a new round of talks<\/a> between the United States and Iran after Washington enacted its blockade of Iranian ports<\/a>, while Tehran threatened to retaliate by striking targets across the war-weary region.<\/p>\n

U.S. President Donald Trump<\/a> said a second round of talks could happen \u201cover the next two days,\u201d telling the New York Post the negotiations could be held again in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan.<\/p>\n

United Nations Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres concurred, saying it\u2019s \u201chighly probable\u201d that talks will restart. He cited a meeting he had with Pakistan\u2019s deputy prime minister, Ishaq Dar.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile in Washington, the first direct talks in decades between the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to the U.S.<\/a> concluded on a productive note, according to the U.S. State Department.<\/p>\n

Israeli Ambassador Yechiel Leiter said the two countries are \u201con the same side of the equation\u201d in \u201cliberating Lebanon\u201d from the militant Hezbollah group. Lebanese Ambassador Nada Hamadeh Moawad called the meeting \u201cconstructive\u201d but urged an end to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants. Since March, that war has displaced more than 1 million people in Lebanon. <\/p>\n

Israel and Lebanon have technically been at war since Israel was established in 1948, and Lebanon remains deeply divided over diplomatic engagement with Israel.<\/p>\n

First round of talks failed to end conflict<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n AP AUDIO: Pakistan proposes second round of US-Iran talks as standoff deepens\n <\/p>\n

AP Washington correspondent Sagar Meghani reports Pakistan is trying to set up more talks between the U.S. and Iran.<\/p>\n

Last weekend in Pakistan, an initial round of talks aimed at permanently ending the U.S.-Iran conflict failed to produce an agreement. The White House said Iran\u2019s nuclear ambitions were a central sticking point.<\/p>\n

A U.S. official said Tuesday that fresh talks with Iran were still under discussion and that nothing has been scheduled. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss sensitive negotiations.<\/p>\n

Muhammad Aurangzeb, Pakistan\u2019s finance minister, told The Associated Press that \u201cour leadership is not giving up\u201d on efforts to help the U.S. and Iran end the conflict.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll keep at it,\u201d Aurangzeb said Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Though the ceasefire appeared to hold<\/a>, the showdown over the strategic Strait of Hormuz<\/a> risked reigniting hostilities and deepening the regional war\u2019s economic fallout<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The war, now in its seventh week, has jolted markets and rattled the global economy<\/a> as shipping has been cut off and airstrikes have torn through military and civilian infrastructure across the region<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The fighting has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, more than 2,100 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Thirteen U.S. service members have also been killed.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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Tankers turned around after blockade took effect<\/p>\n

The blockade is intended to pressure Iran, which has exported millions of barrels of oil<\/a>, mostly to Asia, since the war began on Feb. 28. Much of it has likely been carried by so-called dark transits that evade sanctions and oversight, providing cash flow that\u2019s been vital to keeping Iran running.<\/p>\n

U.S. Central Command said Tuesday no ships made it past the blockade in the first 24 hours, while six merchant vessels complied with direction from U.S. forces to turn around and re-enter an Iranian port on the Gulf of Oman.<\/p>\n

Tankers approaching the strait on Monday turned around shortly after the blockade took effect, though one reversed course again and transited the waterway.<\/p>\n

The tanker Rich Starry had been waiting off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, according to shipping data firm Lloyd\u2019s List, which cited data from the energy cargo-tracking firm Vortexa. It was not immediately clear whether the tanker had earlier docked in Iran. Yet it was listed by the U.S. Treasury\u2019s Office of Foreign Assets Control as linked to Iranian shipping.<\/p>\n

Lloyd\u2019s List, citing ship registry and tracking data, reported that the vessel is owned by a Chinese shipping company and was ultimately bound for China with a stopover in an Omani port, south of the strait. The vessel updated its broadcast signal on Tuesday evening to no longer show it was headed for Sohar, Oman, according to tracking data reported by maritime analytics firm MarineTraffic.<\/p>\n

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Chinese tankers will not be allowed passage through the strait. \u201cSo they\u2019re not going to be able to get their oil,\u201d he told reporters Tuesday.<\/p>\n

In rare public criticism<\/a> seemingly directed at Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping said nations should \u201coppose the world\u2019s retrogression to the law of the jungle.\u201d Xi said nations should work to \u201cjointly safeguard genuine multilateralism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since the start of the war, Iran has curtailed maritime traffic, with most commercial vessels avoiding the waterway. Tehran\u2019s effective closure of the strait<\/a>, through which a fifth of global oil transits in peacetime, has sent oil prices skyrocketing, pushing up the cost of gasoline, food and other basic goods far beyond the Middle East.<\/p>\n

Trump has threatened to destroy any Iranian military vessels that challenge the U.S. blockade. Iran has threatened to retaliate against Persian Gulf ports if attacked.<\/p>\n

French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will co-chair a conference Friday for nations willing to deploy warships to escort oil tankers and container ships through the strait. The deployment will happen \u201cwhen security conditions allow,\u201d Macron\u2019s office said Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Israel and Lebanon conclude talks <\/p>\n

The Israel-Lebanon talks in Washington were \u201cproductive,\u201d the U.S. State Department said in a statement, adding that \u201call sides agreed to launch direct negotiations at a mutually agreed time and venue.\u201d<\/p>\n

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who facilitated the talks, had downplayed expectations for any immediate agreement.<\/p>\n

Leiter, the Israeli ambassador to the U.S, said after the talks that both countries saw eye-to-eye in several areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Lebanese government made it very clear that they will no longer be occupied by Hezbollah, and Iran has been weakened. Hezbollah is dramatically weakened,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is an opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moawad, Lebanon\u2019s top U.S. envoy, said in a brief statement that she had called for a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah and the return home of Lebanese displaced by the fighting.<\/p>\n

After the ceasefire in Iran, Israel pressed ahead with its air and ground campaign, insisting that the truce does not apply to fighting in Lebanon. It has, however, halted strikes in Beirut, the country\u2019s capital since April 8, after a deadly bombardment that hit several crowded commercial and residential areas in central Beirut and killed more than 350 people in one day. <\/p>\n

The deaths sparked an international outcry and threats by Iran that it would end the ceasefire. <\/p>\n

Lebanese officials have pushed for a ceasefire. Israel has framed the negotiations around Hezbollah\u2019s disarmament and a potential peace deal, without publicly committing to halting hostilities or withdrawing its forces.<\/p>\n

Israel wants Lebanon\u2019s government to assume responsibility for disarming Hezbollah, much as was envisaged in a November 2024 ceasefire. But the militant group has survived efforts to curb its strength for decades and said on Monday that it will not abide by any agreements<\/a> that may result from the talks.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Metz reported from Ramallah, West Bank. Associated Press writers Aamer Madhani, Matthew Lee, Fatima Hussein, Collin Binkley, Chris Rugaber and Konstantin Toporin in Washington; Sylvie Corbet in Paris; Toqa Ezzidin in Cairo; Natalie Melzer in Jerusalem; Edith Lederer and Farnoush Amiri at the United Nations, and Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ISLAMABAD (AP) \u2014 Diplomats worked through back channels on Tuesday to arrange a new round of talks between…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":392336,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[6603,2035,38306,114,54,99,12354,122,42,86,119,87,20889,117780,46,1984,5357,88,11741,2034,3896,185063,186732,43,158728,172544,7319,186731,2635,40,38,41,39,107571,12131,121,12526,8012,126,8429,172216],"class_list":{"0":"post-392335","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-antonio-guterres","9":"tag-ap-top-news","10":"tag-blockades","11":"tag-business","12":"tag-donald-trump","13":"tag-emmanuel-macron","14":"tag-energy-industry","15":"tag-general-news","16":"tag-headlines","17":"tag-hezbollah","18":"tag-international-agreements","19":"tag-iran","20":"tag-iran-government","21":"tag-iran-war","22":"tag-israel","23":"tag-israel-government","24":"tag-keir-starmer","25":"tag-lebanon","26":"tag-marco-rubio","27":"tag-mideast-wars","28":"tag-military-and-defense","29":"tag-muhammad-aurangzeb","30":"tag-nada-hamadeh-moawad","31":"tag-news","32":"tag-oil-and-gas-industry","33":"tag-pakistan-government","34":"tag-religion","35":"tag-rich-starry","36":"tag-scott-bessent","37":"tag-top-news","38":"tag-top-stories","39":"tag-topnews","40":"tag-topstories","41":"tag-u-s-department-of-state","42":"tag-united-states-government","43":"tag-war-and-unrest","44":"tag-washington-news","45":"tag-waterways","46":"tag-world-news","47":"tag-xi-jinping","48":"tag-yechiel-leiter"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=392335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392335\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/392336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=392335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=392335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=392335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}