U.S. President Donald Trump said the war in Iran was “very close to over” in clips of an interview set to air Wednesday, while the U.S. military said its blockade on Iranian ports had been “fully implemented.”
Pakistan said Tuesday it was pursuing efforts to help the U.S. and Iran negotiate an end to the war, after Trump told the New York Post earlier that a second round of talks with Iran “could be happening over next two days.”
Lebanese Ambassador to the U.S. Nada Hamadeh Moawad said talks between Lebanon and Israel in Washington were “constructive,” and Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter praised his Lebanese counterparts after the two-hour meeting, saying “we’re on the same side of the equation.”
The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah opposes the direct talks and has said it won’t abide by any agreements made as a result.
The fighting in the Middle East has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, more than 2,100 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Thirteen U.S. service members also have been killed.
Here is the latest:
Russia’s top diplomat on Wednesday reiterated that Moscow was ready “to play a role in solving the problem of enriched uranium” in Iran.
“This role can take on many forms, including reprocessing highly enriched uranium into fuel-grade uranium, transferring a certain amount to Russia for storage. Anything that is acceptable to Iran without, I repeat, violating its inalienable right, like the right of any other state, to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes,” Lavrov told reporters in Beijing, where he was on a two-day visit.
Russia was part of the 2015 deal between Iran and six nuclear powers offering sanctions relief for Tehran in exchange for curbing its atomic program and opening it to broader international scrutiny. As part of the deal, Moscow removed large amounts of enriched uranium from Iran.
The Kremlin offered political support to Iran when the U.S. unilaterally withdrew from the agreement during Trump’s first term.
Responding to reports that there may be a second round of negotiations between the U.S. and Iran, China said it “welcomes all efforts conducive to a ceasefire and the cessation of hostilities,” at a regular press briefing at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing Wednesday.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun also praised Pakistan for its “role in facilitating a temporary ceasefire between the US and Iran and playing a fair and balanced mediating role.”
Beijing has been working behind the scenes to bring Iran to the negotiation table. Trump also said that he believed China helped to encourage Iran to agree to the ceasefire.
Mediators’ efforts to extend a ceasefire between the United States and Iran have made progress as the warring sides are expected to return soon to the table for another round of negotiations, regional officials said.
The officials said mediators aim to extend the ceasefire, which is due to expire on April 22, for at least another two weeks to allow diplomacy another chance. They said that both sides gave an “in principle agreement” to extend the ceasefire.
One of the officials, who is involved in the mediation efforts, said mediators were working on a compromise to the three main disputed points, including the nuclear program, the Strait of Hormuz and war compensation.
Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the matter.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, after holding a video conference with leaders from Southeast Asia, told reporters that the assistance, dubbed as “Power Asia,” is aimed at providing loans needed to secure crude oil, petroleum products and to maintain the supply chain in an emergency response to help hard-hit nations.
The fund also aims to expand an oil reserve system within Asia, diversify energy, and to promote energy conservation and industrial advancement, Takaichi said.
Japan, which imports petroleum-related products such as medical supplies from Southeast Asia, is increasingly worried that the region’s oil supply shortages would affect the Japanese economy.
The fund is one year’s worth of oil imports for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations member countries, or about 1.2 billion barrels, Takaichi said. The assistance is not meant to just provide oil, but for Asian nations to support each other.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Wednesday that “the right to enrich uranium for civilian purposes is an inalienable right of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
Whether Iran, in its negotiations with the United States, decides to “pause” or “insists on preserving this right,” Russia will accept “any approach based on this principle, the principle of the universality of the right to enrichment,” Lavrov told reporters in Beijing, where he was on a two-day visit this week.
Lavrov emphasized that Russia and China “firmly support” the talks to end the Mideast war, “so that the parties can advance realistic and fair goals, fully respecting the legitimate rights of each party, in accordance with international law.”
Iran is a signatory to the 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which gives countries the right to peaceful nuclear energy programs with safeguards, but does not explicitly mention enrichment.
The official Mizan news agency reported that Taj said, “We really do not know and cannot predict what will happen with the war over the next one to two months. Our serious plan was to hold the league until May 10.”
He added, “For this, we wrote to FIFA President Gianni Infantino and also informed Amir Ghalenoei, the head coach of Iran’s national team. But we then saw that no one can tell us what the future plan will be.”
“We will wait and see what happens, but in any case, we will make a decision this week. We are also looking to see what political officials and the Foreign Ministry say.”
He warned, “It would be very bad if we start the league for a few days and then, God forbid, a military attack occurs, which would make things much more difficult to manage.”
The oil-and gas-rich Nordic country is reporting record-high revenues from crude oil exports as the closure of the Strait of Hormuz in the wake of the Iran war drove up prices.
Government agency Statistics Norway says export revenues in March soared to nearly 200 billion kroner ($21 billion) last month, up more than 28% from the same month last year.
Exports of natural gas shot up 19% in March from the level a year earlier to over 69 billion kroner, marking the highest level since February 2023.
“The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has caused a significant supply shock in the oil market, which contributed to the high oil prices in March, and thus the highest export value ever,” said Jan Olav Rørhus, a senior adviser for the agency.
The “geopolitical unrest in the Middle East … effectively led to a halt in deliveries of liquefied natural gas through the Strait of Hormuz” in March, which affected prices, he said.
South Korea says it secured 273 million barrels of crude oil and 2.1 million tons of naphtha in agreements with Gulf states and Kazakhstan as it looks to mitigate an energy crunch caused by the war.
Kang Hoon-sik, chief of staff to President Lee Jae Myung, said Wednesday the agreements were reached during his visits last week to Kazakhstan, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
Most of the crude secured for delivery later this year will come from Saudi Arabia, with some shipments routed through the Red Sea to avoid the Strait of Hormuz, Kang said.
Oman will supply about 1.6 million tons of naphtha, a key petrochemical feedstock used in plastics manufacturing that South Korea has largely sourced via the strait.
War-related shortfalls of naphtha have raised concerns about industrial disruption and shortages of medical supplies such as IV bags and syringes.
Two remotely operated, improvised explosive devices detonated in Tehran early Wednesday, Iran’s state media reported.
A Revolutionary Guard security source said the explosions slightly injured three people including a member of the paramilitary Basij, an all-volunteer force loyal to the Islamic Republic, the Islamic Republic News Agency said.
The state media agency reported a third device was defused.
Mohammad Balideh, a Revolutionary Guard commander for Tehran region 10, told the Hamshahri newspaper “the situation is normal and under control.”
“Nothing extraordinary happened here, just a limited explosion on the street at the hands of traitorous and unpatriotic elements, with no fatalities or serious damages,” Balideh said.
The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog says “very detailed” measures to verify Iran’s nuclear activities must be included in a potential U.S.-Iran agreement to end their war in the Middle East.
International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi said in Seoul on Wednesday that “Iran has a very ambitious, wide nuclear program so all of that will require the presence of IAEA inspectors.”
U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that a second round of talks with Iran could happen over the next two days.
The Trump administration has said preventing Iran from gaining a nuclear weapon is a key war aim.
Iran has said it isn’t developing such weapons, but rejected limits on its nuclear program.
Saudi Arabia will deposit $3 billion into Pakistan’s central bank, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said Wednesday.
The funds will provide a much-needed financial boost to Pakistan, where the economy has come under strain during regional tensions linked to the conflict between the United States and Iran.
Aurangzeb is in Washington to attend meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
Aurangzeb said an existing $5 billion Saudi deposit will no longer be subject to an annual rollover arrangement and will instead be extended for a longer period, a government statement said.
Pakistani authorities said earlier this month that the country would return $2 billion deposited by the United Arab Emirates in Pakistan’s central bank in 2019.
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Brunei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah signed a joint statement committing to avoid unjustified energy and food trade restrictions stemming from the Iran war.
They signed the agreement Wednesday while Albanese visited the tiny Southeast Asian nation.
Australia is the biggest trade partner of Brunei, which provides Australia with diesel and fertilizer-grade urea. Albanese said he discussed Brunei potentially increasing the supply of urea.
“What’s guaranteed is that they are not looking at export restrictions on Australia,” he said.
Albanese plans to meet Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on Thursday to shore up Australian supplies of gasoline and diesel.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will travel to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey this week during a diplomatic push to secure a new round of talks between the United States and Iran.
The trip comes days after Islamabad hosted rare negotiations that ended without a formal agreement.
Sharif is attempting to facilitate a second round before a temporary ceasefire expires on April 22.
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the visits starting Wednesday and ending Saturday will focus on bilateral relations.
Sharif is expected to discuss ongoing cooperation and regional peace and security with leaders of Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
In Turkey, Sharif is expected to participate in the fifth Antalya Diplomacy Forum and hold meetings with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other world leaders.
South Korea says it provided information to Iran, the United States and Gulf nations concerning 26 vessels from South Korea that are stuck in the Strait of Hormuz.
South Korea is attempting to secure their safe passage out the strait.
South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said in a legislative hearing Wednesday that officials consider the ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran as a window to ensure the safe exit of the ships from the region.
Residents sit on a sofa in front of charred cars at the site of a building destroyed in an Israeli airstrike last Wednesday in central Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, April 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
A volunteer talks on his phone while walking amid the debris of a residential building that, according to the authorities, was damaged on March 4 during the U.S.-Israeli military campaign, in southeastern Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, April 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
A young girl carries a portrait of a killed Hezbollah fighter at a mass grave where civilians and Hezbollah fighters killed in Israeli airstrikes are temporarily buried in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Tuesday, April 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
From left, Michael Needham, counselor for the U.S. Dept. of State, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa, Lebanese Ambassador to the U.S. Nada Hamadeh Moawad, and Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter pose for a photo before a meeting at the State Department in Washington, Tuesday, April 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Damage is visible on a residential building that, according to Iranian authorities, was hit by a strike on March 4 during the U.S.-Israeli military campaign, in southeastern Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, April 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
