live Israel, Lebanon Set To Meet April 14 For US-Hosted Peace Talks

US President Donald Trump on April 10 said the Strait of Hormuz will be opened "with or without" the cooperation of Iran, hours before crucial talks were scheduled to take place in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital.

"We're going to open up the Gulf with or without them...or the strait as they call it. I think it's going to go pretty quickly, and if it doesn't, we'll be able to finish it off," Trump told reporters.

"We will have that open fairly soon."

A crucial demand by Trump as part of the two-week cease-fire deal is the free flow of shipping through the strait, which Iran effectively closed in the immediate aftermath of the US-Israeli strikes on February 28 as a retaliatory measure.

Israeli and Lebanese officials are scheduled to meet in Washington on April 14 to discuss ways to end fighting in Lebanon that has killed hundreds of people since renewed battles on March 2.

Lebanon's presidency ⁠said ⁠Israeli and Lebanese delegations made their first contacts on April 10 ahead of the talks through a telephone call between their ambassadors in ⁠Washington, with the US envoy to Lebanon participating in the call.

"During the call, it was agreed to hold the first meeting next Tuesday [April 14] at the State Department to discuss declaring a cease-fire and the start date for negotiations between Lebanon and Israel under US auspices," a statement said.

The US-brokered talks could play a major role in the search for a lasting cease-fire in the wider Middle East war involving US-Israeli forces against Iran.

The United States and Israel say Lebanon was not included in the agreed two-week cease-fire with Iran. Tehran, meanwhile, insists that it was and has threatened to halt the peace process unless Israel ceases its massive military campaign against Iran-allied Hezbollah forces in Lebanon.

Hezbollah, which has been deemed a terrorist organization by Israel and the United States, has suffered massive losses while also firing projectiles into Israeli territory. Israel said it will not be meeting with Hizbollah representatives in Washington.

Lebanon's Health Ministry said the one-day toll from Israel's air strikes on April 8 has risen to 357 people killed and 1,223 injured, with the totals expected to rise as rubble is cleared from buildings.

Lebanese authorities say 1,953 people have been killed since the fighting began on March 2.

Pakistani Prime Minister Sharif said the US-Iran talks in Islamabad are due to start on April 11 and called it a “make or break situation,” multiple media outlets reported.

JD Vance was on his way to Pakistan for the talks, which come after the US and Iran reached a two-week cease-fire agreement on April 7 after about five weeks of war.

Iranian media reported that Tehran's team had landed in the Pakistani capital, led by parliament spaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi.

"In response to my sincere invitation, the leaderships of both countries are coming to Islamabad," Sharif said in a televised address. "There, negotiations will be held for the establishment of peace."

Restricted passage through the Strait of Hormuz and continued Israeli attacks on Lebanon, the home of Iran-backed Hezbollah militants, are adding to tension ahead of the talks.

US President Donald Trump told The New York Post that the United States was reloading warships with weaponry and suggested they would strike Iran hard if the talks fail.

"We’re loading up the ships with the best weapons ever made.... And if we don’t have a deal, we will be using them, and we will be using them very effectively," he said.

Asked on April 10 whether he thought the talks would be successful, he told the Post: “We’re going to find out in about 24 hours. We’re going to know soon.”

Iran has "no cards" other than the use of international waterways for "short term extortion," US President Donald Trump said in a social media post ahead of planned US-Iranian talks.

As Vice President JD Vance headed for Islamabad to lead the US delegation at the talks, Trump suggested that Tehran has few options other than negotiations.

"The Iranians don't seem to realize they have no cards, other than a short term extortion of the World by using International Waterways," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on April 10, apparently referring to the Strait of Hormuz. "The only reason they are alive today is to negotiate!"

Trump has accused Iran of violating the terms of a cease-fire agreement reached on April 7 by maintaining restrictions on shipping through the strait, a key artery for oil and gas shipments from the Persian Gulf.

His Truth Social post came not long after Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, who will be part of Iran's delegation, wrote on X that "a cease-fire in Lebanon and the release of Iran’s blocked assets…must be fulfilled before negotiations begin."

Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, who will be a key part of Iran's negotiating team with the United States in Pakistan, has called for the fulfillment of two conditions: "Establishing a cease-fire in Lebanon" and "releasing Iran's frozen assets."

In a message on X, Qalibaf said that these conditions were measures agreed upon by both sides -- which is disputed by the US -- and called for them to be fulfilled before negotiations begin.

Qalibaf is referring to Iran’s demand for the full release of its frozen overseas assets -- primarily billions of dollars in oil revenues and other funds held in foreign banks that have been blocked due to US sanctions.

Since the cease-fire began on April 8, Iranian officials have repeatedly called for a halt to Israeli attacks on Lebanon, citing it as part of the cease-fire agreement. The United States and Israel have said that Lebanon was not part of the truce.

WASHINGTON - US Vice President JD Vance has departed for Islamabad where he will hold negotiations with Iranian representatives aimed at bringing about an end to the war that began with US and Israeli air strikes on Iran on February 28.

“We’re looking forward to negotiation. I think it's going to be positive,” he told reporters before leaving Washington.

“As the president of the United States said, if the Iranians are willing to negotiate in good faith, we're certainly willing to extend the open hand. If they're going to try to play us, then they're going to find the negotiating team is not that receptive," he added.

Vance, who did not take questions from reporters before boarding the plane, added that President Donald Trump had provided “clear guidelines” for the talks.

Trump announced a two-week cease-fire on April 7, hours after threatening that “a whole civilization will die tonight” unless Iran indicated it was ready for substantive talks.

The precise basis for the cease-fire and the talks is unclear. Trump has said Iran is violating the cease-fire by not reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has accused Israel of breaking the truce by continuing its attacks in Lebanon, where it is fighting Hezbollah.

Vance is expected to be accompanied in Islamabad by special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Iran has sent parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi.

Amnesty International marked what it described as the 1,000th hour of Iran's Internet blackout -- though web monitoring group NetBlocks put the figure at 984 hours as of April 10 -- by calling it a human rights violation and demanding immediate restoration of access.

"People in Iran have lived under digital darkness for 1,000 hours," the organization wrote on X. "Access to the internet is a basic human right and indispensable in times of conflict. Authorities must immediately restore internet access."

The Islamic republic cut Internet access on the first day of the US-Israeli strikes on February 28, and has kept it severed for 42 days. On April 7, the blackout surpassed all previous recorded cases to become the longest nationwide Internet shutdown in history.

The cutoff is not total. NetBlocks noted that while the general public is restricted to Iran's domestic National Information Network, the state has whitelisted selected users, allowing them to post on social media and shape narratives reaching the outside world.

That double standard has not gone unnoticed inside Iran. Since the two-week cease-fire took effect on April 8, ordinary Iranians have been quick to point out that the war -- used as the justification for the blackout -- is now on pause, removing the clerical establishment’s stated pretext for maintaining it.

The economic toll is also mounting. A preliminary estimate, based on figures cited by Iranian officials during the 2024 12-day war with Israel, puts losses at roughly 200 trillion rials (approximately $126 million) to the digital economy and around 2,000 trillion rials (approximately $1.26 billion) to the broader economy -- calculated at April 9 open market exchange rates. The calculation does not capture the full scale of ongoing damage.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Ukrainian personnel have shot down Iranian Shahed drones in the Middle East.

In a X post, the Ukrainian president wrote:

"We sent our military experts to the Middle East, including specialists in interceptor drones and electronic warfare. We demonstrated to some countries how to work with interceptors. Did we destroy Iranian “shaheds?” Yes, we did. Did we do it in just one country? No, in several. And in my view, this is a success."

In late March, President Zelenskyy toured the Middle East, promoting Ukraine’s advanced drone and anti-drone technologies to Gulf Arab states that are increasingly vulnerable to Iranian drones breaching their airspace.

During this trip, Ukraine signed long-term security and defense cooperation agreements with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates.

"In those countries that opened up their air defense systems to us, our experts were able to very quickly advise how to make those systems stronger, " Zelenskyy wrote.

Zelenskyy also said that Ukraine had "shot down drones with jet engines."

He was referring to Ukrainian-made drones intercepting Iranian kamikaze drones with small turbojet engines -- namely the Shahed-238, which Russia also uses under the name Geran-3.

Most Shahed drones are driven by propellers.

"Now it is only a matter of time before we begin mass production of interceptors that will destroy drones with jet engines," Zelenskyy said.

Top US and Iranian officials are due to gather in Islamabad on April 10 for what could be the most consequential diplomatic encounter between the two countries in over four decades, even as disputes over the Strait of Hormuz and Israel's bombardment of Lebanon continue to cloud prospects for a deal to end the war, which entered a two-week ceasefire on April 8.

US Vice President JD Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff, and Jared Kushner are expected to lead the American delegation. Iran has sent Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf -- who has been vociferous in anti-US statements in recent weeks.

It was not immediately clear whether formal negotiations would begin on April 10 or 11 but Pakistan has declared two days of public holidays in the capital ahead of the talks, as authorities often do for major diplomatic events for security reasons.

The sessions are to be held at the Serena Hotel in Islamabad's heavily fortified Red Zone, where over 10,000 police, paramilitary, rangers, and army personnel have been deployed. Visa conditions have been waived for delegates and journalists arriving for the talks.

Kamal Kharrazi, Iran's former foreign minister and head of the country’s Strategic Council on Foreign Relations, has died more than a week after his home in Tehran was targeted in an Israeli strike.

On April 1, Kharrazi's residence was hit in an attack that killed his wife. Kharrazi himself survived but was critically wounded.

Late on April 9, state media confirmed his death by publishing a condolence message from Iran’s First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref.

Kharrazi was 82 at the time of his death. He spent a decade as head of Iran’s official news agency, IRNA, before serving eight years as ambassador to the United Nations. He then served two consecutive terms as foreign minister under reformist President Mohammad Khatami (1997-2005) and in recent years led the Strategic Council on Foreign Relations, which advises the supreme leader on foreign affairs.