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Hello and welcome to our live coverage of events in the Middle East.
Donald Trump says the leaders of Israel and Lebanon will hold talks on Thursday, after the countries’ first face-to-face diplomatic negotiations in decades.
“Trying to get a little breathing room between Israel and Lebanon,” the US president posted on Truth Social on Wednesday. “It has been a long time since the two leaders have spoken, like 34 years. It will happen tomorrow.”
Trump did not say who would be involved or give more detail. The Financial Times said a ceasefire could be announced soon, citing Lebanese officials.
Reports earlier said Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was weighing a possible truce with Lebanon after pressure from Washington.
Meanwhile, the White House denied reports the US had requested an extension to its ceasefire with Iran, set to expire next week. Talks between them were “productive and ongoing”, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, and the US “feels good about the prospects of a deal”.
The US also announced it was tightening sanctions against Iran’s oil industry. Oil transport infrastructure would be targeted with sanctions on more than two dozen people, companies and ships that operated within the network of petroleum shipping magnate Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani, the Treasury department said.
Israeli army vehicles and bulldozers operate in southern Lebanon on Wednesday. Photograph: Ariel Schalit/APIn other developments:
Pakistan’s army chief met with Iran’s foreign minister in Tehran on Wednesday in the latest diplomatic move to ease Middle East tensions and arrange a second round of US-Iran negotiations. Trump said earlier that the war was “very close to over”.
Leavitt said a second round of US-Iran talks would “very likely” take place in Islamabad again and that Pakistan was “the only mediator” in the discussions.
Major Wall Street stock indices extended an upward climb on optimism about a US-Iran agreement.
Israel’s security cabinet met to discuss a ceasefire after the Israel-Lebanon talks mediated by the US in Washington on Tuesday. But the Israeli military continues to strike the country, with Netanyahu saying Israel was about to “overwhelm” the southern Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil, calling it a Hezbollah stronghold.
Four Lebanese rescue workers were killed in consecutive Israeli strikes in the southern Lebanon village of Mayfadoun on Wednesday, paramedic groups said. Six others were wounded.
The US military’s Middle East command Centcom said it stopped 10 vessels from sailing out of Iranian ports during the first 48 hours of the US naval blockade. But ship tracking data indicated at least three ships sailing from Iranian ports crossed the strait of Hormuz, though some vessels taking the route later turned back.
The finance ministers of 11 countries including the UK and Japan called for “coordinated emergency support” from the IMF and World Bank to help countries hit by disruptions from the Middle East war.
ShareUpdated at 07.22 CEST
Middle East crisis live: Trump says Israel and Lebanon to hold talks Thursday; US hits Iran’s oil sector with new sanctions NYT News Today.
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