By Elizabeth Melimopoulos and AFP

Published On 15 Apr 202615 Apr 2026

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Updated: 15 Apr 2026 04:51 PM (GMT)Updated: 15 Apr 2026 04:51 PM (GMT)

War diplomacy

• Rare US-brokered talks: Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors held direct talks in Washington, with Beirut seeking a ceasefire and Israel pushing for Hezbollah’s disarmament.
• Iran-US talks may resume: Trump said negotiations with Iran could resume in Pakistan “within days”, though uranium enrichment remains the main sticking point. The US is reportedly seeking a 20-year halt, while Iran has proposed five years. Disputes over the Strait of Hormuz persist.
• Pakistan shuttle diplomacy: Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has embarked on a four-day diplomatic tour of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkiye, his office said, as the country engages in feverish diplomacy ahead of potential new peace talks.
• Mixed signals on progress: Vice President JD Vance expressed optimism about progress with Iran, while Iranian analyst Hamid Reza Gholamzadeh said that surviving US pressure has strengthened Tehran’s position at the table.
• Starmer ‘won’t yield’: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he would not “yield” to pressure from Trump to join the Iran war after the US president threatened to renege on a UK trade deal.
•  UN call for Lebanon support: United Nations refugee chief Barham Salih urged the international community to provide urgent support to Lebanon, with a fifth of the country’s population displaced by the Israel-Hezbollah war.

In the US

• Senate to vote on war powers: The Senate could vote as early as Wednesday on a Democratic-led effort to limit Trump’s war powers, with lawmakers pledging to keep pushing the issue.
• US blockade raises pressure on Trump: Former US defence official David Sedney said Iran has “called Trump’s bluff”, arguing the Hormuz blockade is backfiring by increasing pressure on Washington as global partners face disruption and US domestic support weakens.
• CENTCOM says Iran port blockade fully implemented: US Central Command (CENTCOM) head Admiral Brad Cooper said US forces have enforced a blockade of Iranian ports and maintain maritime superiority in the Middle East.
• Trump criticises Meloni: The US president lashed out at Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, saying she lacked courage for not joining US strikes on Iran. “I’m shocked at her. I thought she had courage, but I was wrong,” he told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.
• US to block China tankers: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the US will block Chinese tankers carrying Iranian oil through the Strait of Hormuz. “They’re not going to be able to get their oil… Not Iranian oil,” he told reporters in Washington, DC.
• Trump on China arms to Iran: Trump said he wrote to China’s President Xi Jinping asking him not to supply weapons to Iran, and said Xi replied, denying any such support. Trump plans to visit China next month for a summit with Xi that was pushed back from late March by Washington because of the war.
• US to send ‘thousands of additional troops’: The US will deploy thousands more troops to the Middle East in the coming weeks, according to a report by The Washington Post, citing unnamed US officials.

In Israel

• Israel proposes long-term presence in Lebanon: Israeli media report a proposal for a long-term troop presence in southern Lebanon, extending up to 8km (5.5 miles) into the country until Hezbollah is dismantled.
• Ongoing military operations: Israel continues its air strikes across southern Lebanon, including a concentrated effort to encircle the symbolically and strategically important town of Bint Jbeil.
• Diverging priorities with the US on Iran: Former US Assistant Secretary of State Jeffrey Feltman noted a growing gap between the US and Israel regarding the war on Iran. He noted that Israel is far more concerned about Iran’s ballistic missile programme than the US is, creating a split in their strategic perspective.
• Italy fallout: Italy’s PM Meloni suspended the automatic renewal of a longstanding defence agreement with Israel, a move driven by growing domestic pressure from Italian civil society. Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid lambasted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Saar over the suspension, calling it “yet another embarrassing failure” to advance Israel’s interests with its allies.

In Lebanon

• Israeli attacks continue: Lebanese civil defence teams and paramedics have recovered four bodies following an Israeli raid in the Qadmus area in southern Lebanon, according to the official National News Agency (NNA). Five people were killed in an Israeli air attack in the town of Ansariyah in Lebanon’s south.
• Hezbollah fires rockets: Israel’s Channel 12 broadcaster says 20 rockets were launched from Lebanon to the Galilee region in northern Israel this morning, with some intercepted and others falling in open areas.
• Mixed reactions in Lebanon: Reactions to the Israel-Lebanon talks are mixed, with some hoping for peace while others reject negotiations with Israel after more than 2,100 deaths. Hezbollah has rejected the negotiations.
• Lebanese villages razed ‘just like’ in Gaza: Israeli soldiers have told the Haaretz newspaper that the Israeli military is demolishing villages in southern Lebanon in “methods similar to those used in the Gaza Strip”.
• Civilian infrastructure hit: Strikes have hit homes, farmland and critical infrastructure, including the last functioning hospital in Tebnin, as the death toll grows and services come under severe pressure.

Global economy:

• IMF warns of recession risk: The International Monetary Fund said further escalation in the war on Iran and continued oil market disruption could push the global economy towards recession.

• IMF cuts regional outlook: The IMF lowered its 2026 growth forecast for the Middle East and North Africa to 1.1 percent from 3.9 percent, citing war-related disruptions to Gulf energy exports.

• Stocks rise, oil slips: Stock markets climbed and oil prices tumbled on Tuesday on rekindled hopes for a deal to end the Middle East war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.