Trump says Iran talks may resume as Israel, Lebanon open direct track

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that U.S.-Iran peace talks could resume this week, while Israel and Lebanon agreed to launch direct negotiations, signaling movement on two key fronts in efforts to ease the Middle East conflict.

The parallel diplomatic openings come even as violence persisted, underscoring both the fragility of the process and Washington's push to stabilize a region shaken by the over-six-week war.

Trump told The New York Post a new round of talks with Tehran could take place in Pakistan "over the next two days," after saying the day before that unnamed Iranian officials had called him seeking a deal.

At the same time, Israel and Lebanon agreed to open direct talks after meeting in Washington, in what amounted to a rare diplomatic breakthrough between two countries formally at war for decades.

The negotiations were fiercely opposed by Hezbollah, which said it fired rockets at more than a dozen towns in northern Israel just as the meeting got underway.

Washington is pressing for an end to the Israel-Hezbollah conflict, fearing it could unravel the fragile two-week ceasefire in its own war with Iran, after earlier talks with Tehran in Pakistan failed to produce a breakthrough.

The Washington meeting -- the first direct, high-level talks since 1993 -- was mediated by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and involved the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to the United States.

"This is a historic opportunity," Rubio said as he welcomed the ambassadors, acknowledging the "decades of history" weighing on the process.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said he hoped the talks would "mark the beginning of the end of the suffering of the Lebanese people."

A State Department spokesperson later described the discussions as "productive," adding: "All sides agreed to launch direct negotiations at a mutually agreed time and venue."

AFP