Middle East crisis live: US says Iran talks ‘productive’; Israel continues Lebanon strikes as pressure mounts for ceasefire

There is a White House press briefing due to take place imminently, hosted by US president Donald Trump’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt.

My colleague Lucy Campbell is taking over this blog now and will bring you any news lines that may emerge from that in relation to the Middle East crisis.

• US president Donald Trump said that China and the United States are working together and that Beijing is happy that he is opening the strait of Hormuz. “China is very happy that I am permanently opening the Strait of Hormuz. I am doing it for them, also – And the World. This situation will never happen again. They have agreed not to send weapons to Iran,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

• Donald Trump said the war was “close to over” as he hinted at another round of peace talks in Pakistan in the coming days. Speaking to Fox News, the US president said the conflict was near its end. “I think it’s close to over, yeah, I mean I view it as very close to over.

• The pro-Hezbollah outlet al-Mayadeen, citing an Iranian official, has reported that a one-week ceasefire will take effect in Lebanon starting tonight. The move comes after pressure from Iran, according to the official. The truce will coincide with the final week of the temporary ceasefire between the US and Iran.

• The US military said that it successfully stopped nine vessels from sailing out of Iranian ports during the first 48 hours of a naval blockade against the Islamic republic. “Nine vessels have complied with direction from US forces to turn around and return toward an Iranian port or coastal area,” US Central Command (Centcom), which is responsible for American troops in the Middle East, said in a post on X.

• Pakistan’s prime minister Shehbaz Sharif arrived in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday at the start of a four-day tour before a possible second round of US-Iran peace talks, his office said in a statement. Sharif will also visit Qatar and Turkey on his trip, which comes after Washington and Tehran held their highest-level talks in decades in Islamabad last weekend.

• Lebanon’s health ministry said Israeli strikes targeted paramedic teams in south Lebanon on Wednesday, killing at least three of them. “The Israeli enemy targeted paramedic teams in the town of Mayfadoun, Nabatiyeh District, three consecutive times,” the ministry said in a statement.

• Israel’s military chief of staff said he had ordered areas south of Lebanon’s Litani River to be turned into a Hezbollah “kill zone” as troops pressed a major offensive there. “I have ordered that all of the area of south Lebanon up to the Litani (River) line be turned into a Hezbollah terrorist kill zone,” chief of staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said on a visit to troops operating in the area.

• The pro-Hezbollah outlet al-Mayadeen, citing an Iranian official, has reported that a one-week ceasefire will take effect in Lebanon starting tonight. The move comes after pressure from Iran, according to the official. The truce will coincide with the final week of the temporary ceasefire between the US and Iran.

• Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet will convene on Wednesday at 8pm to discuss a possible ceasefire in Lebanon, a senior Israeli official has said.

• The United States has not formally agreed to the extension of its ceasefire with Iran, a senior official said on Wednesday. “There is continued engagement between the US and Iran to reach a deal,” a senior US official told Reuters.

• Iran’s foreign ministry has said that Tehran’s right to enrich uranium was “indisputable” although the level of enrichment is “negotiable”. In a weekly press briefing, foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said the right to peaceful use of nuclear energy could not be “taken away under pressure or through war”.

• Finance ministers from more than 10 countries, including the UK, have called for a “swift and lasting” end to the US-Iran war. In a joint statement issued by the UK Treasury, the ministers said the US-Israeli strikes and Iran’s retaliatory attacks have caused “unacceptable loss of life and significant disruption to the global economy and financial markets”.

The world’s top 100 oil and gas companies made more than $30m every hour in unearned profit in the first month of the US-Israeli war in Iran, according to exclusive analysis for the Guardian.

The conflict pushed the price of oil to an average of $100 a barrel in March, leading to estimated windfall war profits for the month of $23bn for the companies.

Lucy Hough speaks to Damian Carrington, the Guardian’s environment editor…

Israel’s military chief of staff said he had ordered areas south of Lebanon’s Litani River to be turned into a Hezbollah “kill zone” as troops pressed a major offensive there.

“I have ordered that all of the area of south Lebanon up to the Litani (River) line be turned into a Hezbollah terrorist kill zone,” chief of staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said on a visit to troops operating in the area.

The US military said that it successfully stopped nine vessels from sailing out of Iranian ports during the first 48 hours of a naval blockade against the Islamic republic.

“Nine vessels have complied with direction from US forces to turn around and return toward an Iranian port or coastal area,” US Central Command (Centcom), which is responsible for American troops in the Middle East, said in a post on X.

“No vessels have made it past US forces,” Centcom said.

However, maritime tracking data appeared to contradict the US assertion.

Tracking data from Tuesday indicated at least three ships sailing from Iranian ports crossed the strait of Hormuz, though some vessels taking the route later turned back.

Pakistan’s prime minister Shehbaz Sharif arrived in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday at the start of a four-day tour before a possible second round of US-Iran peace talks, his office said in a statement.

Sharif will also visit Qatar and Turkey on his trip, which comes after Washington and Tehran held their highest-level talks in decades in Islamabad last weekend.

The Pakistani leader will discuss the “regional situation” with crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi de facto ruler, his office said.

Lebanon’s health ministry said Israeli strikes targeted paramedic teams in south Lebanon on Wednesday, killing at least three of them.

“The Israeli enemy targeted paramedic teams in the town of Mayfadoun, Nabatiyeh District, three consecutive times,” the ministry said in a statement.

“This resulted in the martyrdom of three paramedics and the injury of six others, while one paramedic remains missing.”

Donald Trump’s counter blockade of the strait of Hormuz has “reversed” a gradual increase in ships getting through the choke point since the US launched its war with Iran in late February.

Data from AXSMarine said that an average of five vessels per day crossed in most of March rising to 10 at the end of the month and into early April “before any ceasefire was announced, suggesting traffic was already beginning to recover”.

“The early-April ceasefire added modest momentum, with crossings peaking at 17 on 12 April. However, within 24 hours of the counter-blockade enforcement, daily crossings fell back to single digits.

“As of 15 April, 949 merchant vessels are tracked west of Hormuz inside the Gulf, with 307 operating without Automatic identity signals (AIS). This puts the AIS-dark rate at 32%, more than double the pre-conflict baseline of 17%” it said in its latest report on strait traffic.

Diplomatic efforts by Iran and other regional countries could produce a ceasefire in Lebanon “soon,” senior Hezbollah lawmaker Ibrahim al-Moussawi told Reuters on Wednesday, saying Tehran had used its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz as leverage.

“The Iranians are exercising high pressure against the Americans and they have put their conditions that the Americans should include Lebanon in the ceasefire. If they don’t do it, they are going to continue their blockade of Hormuz. It’s the economic card,” Moussawi said.

“The Iranians have opened up to several regional and international parties to achieve this goal,” he said.

Moussawi declined to comment on whether the group would abide by such a ceasefire.

Iranian state TV said Tehran will welcome a Pakistani delegation led by army chief Asim Munir on Wednesday, after the Islamic republic confirmed that exchanges with the US had continued via Pakistan after failed talks in Islamabad to end the war.

State TV reported that Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi will welcome the delegation, which will bring a new message from Washington following the negotiations in the Pakistani capital over the weekend.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet will convene on Wednesday at 8pm to discuss a possible ceasefire in Lebanon, a senior Israeli official has said.