Iran war updates: Trump teases more talks; Israel, Lebanon meet in US

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We will be closing this live page soon. Here’s a brief recap of the day’s main developments:

• Lebanon and Israel’s envoys have met for rare direct talks in Washington, DC, with Beirut seeking to secure a ceasefire and Israeli officials seeking disarmament of the Hezbollah group.
• US President Donald Trump tells the New York Post that a second round of talks with Iran could take place in Pakistan “over the next two days”.
• US Vice President JD Vance, expected to head the Islamabad talks, said mistrust between Washington and Tehran is a hurdle that “cannot be resolved overnight”, but added that the Iranian negotiators have shown a genuine desire to reach an agreement.
• The US Treasury Department has said that “the short-term authorization permitting the sale of Iranian oil already stranded at sea will not be renewed” under the “maximum pressure” strategy against Tehran.
• Italy has suspended the auto-renewal of the defence agreement with Israel amid domestic pressure. The agreement involves the exchange of military equipment and technological research.
• Israeli forces bulldozed buildings in southern Lebanese towns and carried out strikes there, while Hezbollah said its members engaged Israeli forces in northern Israeli areas.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty on Tuesday.

A spokesperson for Rubio said the leaders “discussed the ceasefire with Iran and the importance of securing long-term peace in the Middle East”.

The statement further noted that Rubio “also discussed joint efforts to disarm Hamas, in line with the President’s 20-Point Plan for Gaza, and explored ways to bolster the US-Egypt economic and commercial relationship”.

Rubio also “stressed the importance of ongoing US and Egyptian efforts to achieve a humanitarian truce in Sudan,” the statement read.

It’s difficult in terms of what to expect from any ongoing talks because of this initial meeting [between Israel and Lebanon in the US]. Because the Lebanese, on the one hand, are hoping for a ceasefire, and the Israelis are saying that that’s not really on the table; they are focused on disarming Hezbollah.

What we may see is a continuation of the status quo for the last couple of days, when American pressure reportedly forced the Israelis to stop hitting Beirut and its suburbs, but instead, their campaign in the south has merely continued.

The reaction to these talks here in Lebanon has been mixed. On the one hand, there are people who hope for anything that may lead to an end to a conflict, which has killed well over 2,000 Lebanese people, according to official counts.

But there are also many who are concerned, particularly by this statement that we had from the Israeli ambassador to the US after that meeting, saying that he was happy to learn that Israel and Lebanon were on the same side.

There are many people here in Lebanon who will be deeply concerned at the idea that they are on the same side as a state that, at this point, has killed 2,134 of its citizens, including nearly 400 in 10 minutes last Wednesday.

It’s all well and good for the Israelis and the Lebanese government to talk if they do continue to hold talks, but of course, the actual party to the conflict here, Hezbollah, has made it very clear that not only are they opposed to direct negotiations with Israel, but that they would disregard the outcome of any negotiations that may occur down the line.

Jailed Palestinian political figure Marwan Barghouti has been subjected to three violent assaults in Israeli prison in recent weeks, his Israeli lawyer, Ben Marmarelli, said in a statement today.

According to the testimony, Barghouti was severely beaten on April 8, 2026, in Ganot Prison, and was left bleeding for more than two hours without medical care.

Barghouti was also assaulted on March 25 during his transfer from Megiddo Prison to Ganot, and on March 24 in Megiddo Prison, when guards unleashed a dog that attacked him several times.

“These are not isolated incidents,” Marmarelli said. “They form a clear pattern of escalating abuse: violence, medical neglect, and treatment that places him at immediate risk.”

Marmarelli said that his visit with Barghouti, who has been in Israeli prison for more than 23 years, happened in “absurd” conditions.

“The phones did not work, so we had to shout through the glass just to hear each other. For five hours, I sat there without food or water, trying to make sure this visit meant something.”

“And still, despite all of that, his mind was sharp, focused, and deeply engaged with everything happening outside those prison walls,” he said.

Israel wants only one thing: the disarmament of Hezbollah. And it wants the Lebanese government and the Lebanese army to take on that responsibility, as we’ve been hearing time and again.

Israel has been saying that it cannot disarm Hezbollah just by bombarding the country, just by pushing more troops into southern Lebanon. They say that it requires conquering and occupying all of the country, which is impossible.

Israel has been threatening the Lebanese government during the past few weeks, saying that if they don’t take on the responsibility, then they will pay a heavy price.

Israel’s government cares about showing the communities in northern Israel that they’re working and acting to protect them. This has proven difficult, given the rockets that Hezbollah has, which continue to threaten communities in northern Israel, as well as the troops.

All of these things are playing in Israeli politics, as some people are warning about fatigue in the army and the fact that the strategy of the army is not necessarily clear.

Lebanese Ambassador to the US Nada Hamadeh Moawad told reporters that the first high-level diplomatic engagement between Beirut and Israel was “constructive”, as she reiterated calls for a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

She met with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Israel’s ambassador to the US on Tuesday.

She said she had “underscored the need to preserve our territorial integrity and state sovereignty” during the two-hour discussion.

“I emphasised the integrity of our territory and the full sovereignty of the state over all Lebanese land,” the Lebanese envoy said. “I called for a ceasefire and for displaced persons to return to their homes.”

“I also urged the adoption of practical steps to alleviate the severe humanitarian crisis that the country continues to suffer from as a result of the ongoing conflict.”

In the last hour or so, there have been continued Israeli air strikes across southern Lebanon. The National News Agency is reporting that at least two people were killed in Aabbasiyyeh.

We’ve also seen strikes on Tyre in the last hour, which gives you some indication of the pace and the intensity of these strikes, which have continued throughout the day all across southern Lebanon.

That is to say nothing of the continuing Israeli ground operation, which, for the last couple of days, has been concentrated on the town of Bint Jbeil, which is a town in the central part of the border area, about 4 to 6km (2.5 to 3.7 miles) from the frontier with Israel.

They have been seeking to encircle and take control of that town because it’s symbolically and strategically quite important, and they say that they are close to completing that operation.

Israeli tanks have been spotted basically in the centre of Bint Jbeil today and for the last couple of days, so yes, perhaps a pause in Beirut and its suburbs, but no letup in the ground operation on the south, and no letup for civilians who remain in the south, and there are still thousands of them.

The US Treasury Department has said that “the short-term authorization permitting the sale of Iranian oil already stranded at sea is set to expire in a few days and will not be renewed”, in a post on X.

The Trump administration earlier allowed the sale of Iranian crude oil already in transport before March 20, up until April 19.

“Treasury is moving aggressively with Economic Fury, maintaining maximum pressure on Iran,” the statement noted. “Financial institutions should be on notice that the department is leveraging the full range of available tools and authorities and is prepared to deploy secondary sanctions against foreign financial institutions that continue to support Iran’s activities.”

US President Donald Trump says a new round of negotiations with Iran could happen in the next couple of days.

A source from Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry told Al Jazeera that Islamabad is offering to host the talks.

Tehran has said the US delegation’s “excessive demands” and “lack of political will” prevented a breakthrough last weekend. Washington says Iran still wants to make a deal.

Al Jazeera’s White House correspondent Kimberly Halkett has more details from Islamabad, Pakistan:

Hezbollah says it launched a drone attack on Israeli military sites in the occupied Golan Heights late today.

In a statement, the group said it targeted an artillery position in Za’oura and the artillery battalion command headquarters in Odem, using a “squadron of drones”.

The claims could not be independently verified, and Israel did not immediately comment.

Israel has carried out a new series of air strikes across southern Lebanon, according to our colleagues on the ground.

• Air strike reported on Kafr Reman, in the Nabatieh area.
• Strike hits the vicinity of al-Abbasiyya, near the coastal city of Tyre.
• An air strike was reported on the western neighbourhood of Khiam, close to the Israeli border.