live Israel, Lebanon Agree To 10-Day Cease-Fire, Says Trump

US President Donald Trump has sharply criticized Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni for refusing to join the war against Iran, straining ties with one of his closest European allies.

“I'm shocked at her. I thought she had courage, but I was wrong,” he said in an interview with Corriere Della Serra, published on April 14.

Trump added that “she doesn't help us with NATO” and “doesn't want to help get rid of a nuclear-weaponed Iran,” calling her stance “very sad” and saying she was “much different than I thought.”

The remarks come after Meloni said Trump’s criticism of Pope Leo after the pontiff's calls for an to the war was "unacceptable."

The Italian far-right leader has been one of Trump's closest allies in Europe and has often sought to act as a mediator between diverging US and European views.

Trump also criticized Europe’s broader stance on security, including reluctance to defend the Strait of Hormuz.

Italian officials, including Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, defended Meloni, stressing national interests and calling for unity "built on mutual loyalty, respect, and honesty."

With reporting by AFP

The US Central Command said on April 14 that no ships have made it past the US blockade of Iranian ports and that six merchant vessels "complied with direction from U.S. forces to turn around to re-enter an Iranian port on the Gulf of Oman."

WASHINGTON -- Israel and Lebanon concluded a rare round of direct talks in Washington on April 14 after roughly two hours, marking their first such engagement since 1983.

The meeting at the US State Department, hosted by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, was described by officials as a “historic opportunity” despite “decades of history and complexities”.

Israel’s ambassador to the US, Yechiel Leiter, offered an upbeat assessment, saying the sides found alignment during the talks.

“We discovered today that we’re on the same side of the equation. That’s the most positive thing we could have come away with,” he told reporters, adding both countries were “united in liberating Lebanon from an occupation power dominated by Iran called Hezbollah.”

Hezbollah is an Iran-backed militant group and political party that controls much of southern Lebanon and is considered a terrorist organization by the United States, while the European Union has only blacklisted its armed wing.

The meeting had been planned before the US-Israeli war with Iran, and Israel had ruled out discussing a potential cease-fire at the talks, which Hezbollah denounced.

Leiter described the discussions as focusing on a long-term vision including a clearly defined border and normalization.

“The only reason we’ll need to cross each other’s territory will be in business suits to conduct business or in bathing suits to go on vacation,” he said.

He also reiterated Israel’s security stance.

“We made it very clear that the security of our civilians is not up for negotiation. That is understood by the government of [Lebanese President] Joseph Aoun,” he said, calling the talks “a victory for sanity, for responsibility and for peace”.

Leiter said a joint statement would be issued, outlining positions from both sides, and confirmed work was under way toward a broader agreement.

“We’re working on the agreement on every front… to try to achieve together a complete peace treaty,” he said.

Leiter also said the Lebanese side had signaled a shift.

“What gives me hope is the fact that the Lebanese government made it very clear that they will no longer be occupied by Hezbollah,” he said, though Lebanese officials have not publicly confirmed that position.

He added that Iran’s influence had weakened, creating an opening. “This is the first time our two countries are sitting together in over three decades. Let’s seize the moment,” he said.

On the regional impact, he said it was “imperative” to delink Lebanon from Iran, describing Tehran as a “malign influence”, and said progress on security could pave the way for ties similar to those between Israel and Arab states under normalization agreements.

A US official said the meeting was not linked to separate US-Iran talks, reiterating Washington’s support for disarming Hezbollah and restoring Lebanese sovereignty.

The State Department said the participants "held productive discussions on steps toward launching direct negotiations between Israel and Lebanon," and that all sides "agreed to launch direct negotiations at a mutually agreed time and venue."

"The United States congratulated the two countries on this historic milestone and expressed its support for further talks, and for the government of Lebanon's plans to restore the monopoly of force and to end Iran's overbearing influence," State Department spokesman Tommy Piggott said in a statement.

No date was set for additional talks, and no other specific agreements were announced following the meeting.

The discussions come amid continued cross-border fire between Israel and Hezbollah despite a fragile cease-fire, with more than one million Lebanese displaced by ongoing Israeli strikes, according to US estimates.

US President Donald Trump has said that US-Iran talks could resume in Pakistan "over the next two days," the New York Post reported on April 14.

"You should stay there, really, because something could be happening over the next ‌two days, and we're more inclined to go there [than to another location]," the Post quoted Trump as telling a reporter who was apparently in Islamabad.

"It's more likely, you know why? Because the field marshal is doing a great job," Trump said in a reference Pakistani army chief Asim Munir.

Pakistan hosted and mediated talks between high-level US and Iranian officials on April 11-12, with the US team led by Vice President JD Vance.

The talks -- the first of their kind in nearly half a century -- did not produce an agreement and the US delegation leaders left Pakistan after they broke up early on April 12.

The United States and Iran agreed on a two-week cease-fire on April 7, five weeks after the war began with US and Israeli air strikes on Iran on February 28.

The International Red Cross movement said its first cross-border aid shipments have reached Iran since the start of the conflict, as humanitarian supply lines remain severely disrupted.

A convoy organized by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) that left Turkey on April 11 has since reached Iran to deliver "one of the first cross-border shipments of medical supplies" by any organization since the conflict began on February 28, IFRC spokesman Tommaso Della Longa told reporters in Geneva.

Della Longa said the IFRC had sent trauma kits, "designed to provide immediate, life-saving care."

"The operation is critical as humanitarian supply chains into Iran have been severely disrupted in recent weeks due to the conflict, making it increasingly difficult and more costly for essential medical and relief items to reach those in need," he said.

Separately, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) sent 171 tons of relief items from Jordan, including essential household goods for over 25,000 people, along with generators and pumps to support rescue operations.

Officials warned that needs remain high, while Della Longa also paid tribute to Iranian Red Crescent workers, four of whom have been killed during relief efforts.

With reporting by AFP

Based on preliminary estimates, the damage caused by US and Israeli attacks on Iran is currently estimated at around $270 billion, an Iranian government spokesperson said.

“One of the issues that our negotiating team is pursuing, and which was also pursued in the Islamabad talks, is the issue of war reparations,” Fatemeh Mohajerani told Russia’s RIA Novosti, according to Iran’s Tasnim news agency, which is close to the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.

"Preliminary and very crude figures put the damage at $270 billion so far," she said.

Without providing details, she suggested that the figure is not final and that “damages usually have to be examined in several layers."

During the nearly six-week US-Israel war with Iran, many of the country’s military and security centers were attacked. According to the US and Israeli militaries, this included more than 16,000 targets.

Parts of Iran’s infrastructure-- including steel factories, petrochemical complexes in Mahshahr and Asaluyeh, as well as bridges -- were also targeted, leading to their complete shutdown.

Iran’s permanent mission to the United Nations also reportedly announced in a letter to the organization that it was seeking compensation from five Middle Eastern countries-- Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Jordan-- for their participation in the US-Israeli war with Iran.

This request comes while Iran also targeted various military and economic sites in those countries during the war and also blocked the Strait of Hormuz, preventing the transfer of oil, gas, and other products from the Persian Gulf to global markets.

Ships linked to Iran are reported to have transited the Strait of Hormuz on April 14, the first full day of a US naval blockade targeting vessels "entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas."

Data from ship tracking services listed at least four ships, two of which had recently called at Iranian ports, that had passed or were passing through the 30-kilometer-wide waterway in the hours after the blockade came into force the previous day.

There were no reports of Washington taking direct action against the ships to enforce the blockade.

The voyages are the first test of the blockade, launched after failed US-Iranian peace talks in Islamabad on April 11-12. Media reports on April 14 said Pakistan was seeking to facilitate a new round of talks later this week.

To read the full report, click here.

French President Emmanuel Macron says he spoke separately with his Iranian counterpart, Masud Pezeshkian, and US President Donald Trump on April 14 and called for the resumption of talks between Washington and Tehran and for a halt to any escalation of tensions.

In a post on X, Macron pointed out that the cease-fire between the parties must be fully respected by all parties and that it should include Lebanon.

"It is also very important that the Strait of Hormuz be reopened as soon as possible, without any restrictions or complications, unconditionally," he added. "In such circumstances, negotiations should be able to resume quickly and with the support of the main actors."

He continued: "France and Britain will hold a conference in Paris this Friday that will bring together, via videoconference, countries not involved in the war that are ready to contribute to a multilateral and purely defensive mission with the aim of restoring freedom of navigation in the strait."

Since the beginning of the US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has effectively restricted passage through the Strait of Hormuz, with only a small number of tankers and ships belonging to "friendly countries" of Iran being able to pass through.

Disruptions in the supply chain of energy and other products such as helium, chemical fertilizers, and petrochemical products have caused a sharp increase in oil and gas prices, as well as a shortage of strategic goods in the world.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in Beijing as China steps up diplomatic efforts around the war in Iran amid a US blockade on vessels calling at Iranian ⁠ports that the Chinese Foreign Ministry has called "dangerous and irresponsible."

Lavrov is expected to hold talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his April 14-15 visit, which will cover the wars in Iran and Ukraine, as well as Beijing and Moscow's deepening ties, according to Russia's Foreign Ministry.

"A thorough ⁠exchange of views ‌is expected on a number of 'hot topics' and regional issues, including the Ukrainian crisis and the situation in the Middle East," the statement said, adding that Chinese-Russian cooperation at multilateral bodies like the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, BRICS, the G20, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), and the United Nations will also be discussed during the visit.

To read the full report, click here.

The International Energy Agency says global oil demand will shrink more than at any time since the COVID-19 pandemic amid the "most severe supply shock in history" owing to the Iran war.

The IEA's annual monthly oil market report was released on April 14, the first full day of a US naval blockade of Iran that the agency said was the latest development in a "fast-evolving situation."

The blockade was launched after US-Iranian peace talks in Islamabad on April 11-12 failed to reach agreement, although a cease-fire that began on April 8 is still holding.

"It remains unclear whether the cease-fire will turn into a lasting peace and a return to regular shipping flows through the Strait of Hormuz. With oil-importing nations scrambling to source replacement barrels from an increasingly shrinking pool of supply, physical crude oil prices surged to record levels," the IEA said.