Here's the latest
• Trump teases more talks: As the US and Iran try to get back to the negotiating table before the ceasefire expires in a week, President Donald Trump said that “something could be happening” over the next two days in Pakistan, where previous talks faltered.
• Sticking points: Both sides have proposed a suspension in Iranian uranium enrichment, but so far cannot settle on a timeframe, officials said. The US also wants the dismantling of Iran’s major nuclear enrichment facilities and the immediate reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
• US blockade: Multiple Iran-linked ships have transited the Strait of Hormuz after the US-declared marine blockade began yesterday, data shows, but overall activity at Iranian ports appears to be lower. The US said six merchant ships have turned around after encountering the blockade.
• Israel-Lebanon talks: Direct negotiations took place for the first time in decades, with a Lebanese official telling CNN that Lebanon would seek a ceasefire as a precondition for broader talks.
US officials appear to be discussing more Iran talks. Here's how they went this weekend
Today, we’ve brought you reporting that Trump administration officials are internally discussing details for another potential in-person meeting with Iran before the US-Iran ceasefire expires on April 21, according to a source familiar with the talks.
US President Donald Trump also said today that “something could be happening” over the next two days in Pakistan, as the US and Iran try to come back to the negotiating table.
Officials from both countries met in Islamabad this weekend, but after a marathon 21 hours of discussions, the delegations were unable to reach an agreement on ending the war.
Here’s an overview of what happened during those talks:
- Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US Vice President JD Vance met with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif before beginning the face-to-face talks on Saturday afternoon.
- A few hours into the talks, experts in economic, military, legal and nuclear issues from both sides met with each other, Iran’s government said.
- In the early hours of Sunday morning local time, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim News Agency reported that the delegations had begun a new round of trilateral talks, also saying that significant challenges remained.
- Hours later, Vance held a news conference, where he announced that the sides had “not reached an agreement.” The primary sticking point was Iran’s refusal to abandon its nuclear program, he said.
- Meanwhile, Iran’s Tasnim blamed “US overreach and ambitions” for preventing “a common framework and agreement.”
- A short while after his news conference, Vance departed Islamabad on Air Force Two.
- The leader of the Iranian negotiators, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, posted on X that the US failed to gain the trust of the Iranian delegation at the talks in Islamabad.
CNN’s Aileen Graef, Laura Sharman, Lex Harvey, Betsy Klein, Sophia Saifi, Sophie Tanno, Issy Ronald, Mohammed Tawfeeq, Kevin Liptak, Tim Lister and Aida Karimi contributed to this reporting.
"Highly probable" there will be more talks between US and Iran, UN chief says
It is “highly probable” that peace talks between the United States and Iran will restart before the ceasefire ends next week, UN Secretary General António Guterres said.
“The indication we have is that it is highly probable that these talks will restart,” Guterres said.
It comes after US President Donald Trump said “something could be happening” over the next two days in Pakistan as US and Iran try to come back to the negotiating table.
Trump says "something could be happening" over next 2 days in Pakistan
President Donald Trump said “something could be happening” over the next two days in Pakistan as US and Iran try to come back to the negotiating table.
“You should stay there, really, because something could be happening over the next two days, and we’re more inclined to go there,” Trump told a New York Post reporter on assignment in Islamabad. “It’s more likely, you know why? Because the field marshal is doing a great job.”
Trump was referring to Pakistan Field Marshal Gen. Asim Munir, calling him “fantastic.” Geneva has also been floated as another potential location for peace talks, but Trump seemed to downplay that possibility.
“Why should we go to some country that has nothing to do with it?” Trump said.
Trump declined to say who from the United States would be participating in the potential next round of talks. Vice President JD Vance led the US side of negotiations in Pakistan over the weekend, which ended without an agreement.
The president also said he wasn’t keen on the idea of Iran pausing its uranium enrichment for 20 years, something CNN reported the US negotiators proposed.
“I’ve been saying they can’t have nuclear weapons,” Trump told the New York Post. “So I don’t like the 20 years.”
Lebanon-Israel talks offer "glimmer of hope" for no more wars, analyst says
Talks today in Washington between Israel and Lebanon — which just wrapped up — are a “glimmer of hope” for the Lebanese people after decades of conflict, said Saleh Machnouk, a nonresident fellow at the Middle East Institute and lecturer at a university in Lebanon.
The interests of the Lebanese people have been “held as a hostage by Hezbollah,” he said, and by engaging in these talks, Lebanon is “reclaiming its diplomatic sovereignty.”
Israel began attacks on what it says are Iran-backed Hezbollah targets in the country just over six weeks ago. At least 2,100 people have been killed in Israeli attacks on Lebanon since the conflict began, according to the Lebanese health ministry.
The Lebanese government also needs to “assert its military and security sovereignty” with the help of the international community, according to Machnouk.
“Lebanon needs a permanent ceasefire,” Machnouk said, adding that there should also be a security agreement with Israel to make sure there are not future rounds of fighting.
CNN’s Charbel Mallo and Catherine Nicholls contributed reporting to this post.
Journalist detained in Kuwait after posting video of crashed US fighter jet
Ahmed Shihab-Eldin, a journalist known for his past work at VICE, HuffPost, Al Jazeera and other outlets, is apparently behind bars in Kuwait, six weeks after posting a video of a US Air Force fighter jet crash west of Kuwait City.
Shihab-Eldin’s friends and allies went public about his case on Tuesday, hoping publicity would help win his release.
The Committee to Protect Journalists said “it is understood that authorities have charged him with spreading false information, harming national security, and misusing his mobile phone – vague and overly broad accusations that are routinely used to silence independent journalists.”
Since the Iran war began, Kuwait and other Gulf states have cracked down on individuals posting videos of Iranian missile strikes and other sensitive subject matter.
The Gulf Centre for Human Rights said in an early April report that the war “is being used as a pretext to stifle free speech, confiscate citizens’ public freedoms, and target journalists, bloggers, and online activists who express opinions that do not align with government policies.”
Shihab-Eldin, who is Kuwaiti-American, was visiting family in Kuwait in early March when he was apparently detained.
CNN has reached out to the Kuwait government for comment.
At least 35 people killed in Lebanon in past 24 hours, according to health ministry
At least 35 people have been killed in Israeli attacks on Lebanon in the past 24 hours, the Lebanese health ministry just said in its daily update, as officials from both Lebanon and Israel are meeting in Washington, DC, to discuss potential ceasefire talks.
Israel began attacks on what it says are Iran-backed Hezbollah targets in the country just over six weeks ago, and it has continued to conduct strikes following the current ceasefire between Iran and the US.
The country’s strikes on Lebanon have now killed at least 2,124 people since March 2, the health ministry said. At least 168 children are among those killed, it said, as well as at least 88 health workers.
Multiple Iran-linked ships have transited strait since US blockade, tracking data shows
Several more vessels have passed through the crucial Strait of Hormuz since our update earlier today, tracking data appears to show, on the first full day of the US-declared marine blockade.
As US Central Command said Sunday, the blockade only applies to traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports and coastal areas. Ships traveling to or from elsewhere are permitted to pass through the waterway, CENTCOM said. It added today that no ships made it past the US blockade during the first 24 hours.
At least nine commercial vessels have crossed the strait since yesterday, according to Kpler, a data intelligence and analytics platform. This includes Rich Starry, an oil tanker which has been sanctioned by the United States since 2023 due to its Iran ties, and another sanctioned Iran-linked tanker, the Elpis.
Data from MarineTraffic, a ship tracking and maritime intelligence provider, appears to show several other vessels crossing the waterway today, including a Liberia-flagged bulk carrier – the Christianna – and a tanker called Murlikishan, which is owned by a company in the Marshall Islands and has been sanctioned by the US under the Iran sanctions program.
The latest crossings listed by MarineTraffic also include an oil tanker owned by a Chinese company and a Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) tanker.
CNN cannot independently verify these journeys as shipping data can sometimes show irregularities due to signal gaps and spoofing – the transmission of false signals to mislead tracking systems.
Before the conflict erupted more than 100 vessels would typically cross the strait every day. Now, traffic is less than 10% of that.
A blockade is "never the answer,” European Council President tells CNN
European Council President António Costa has criticized the US naval blockade of Iranian ports today, telling CNN that a “blockade is never the answer.”
Costa pointed to this week’s French and British-led conference of a coalition of countries willing to take defensive action in the Strait of Hormuz as the most viable path forward.
“We are doing by the right way, and the right way is to address this issue in the full respect of international law,” he said.
When pressed on the fact that the UN Security Council resolution to authorize such a coalition was blocked by China and Russia last week, Costa insisted that it is still not “impossible” to make progress.
Costa said he is “crossing his fingers” for progress in today’s direct talks between Lebanon and Israel in Washington, while also condemning Israel for flouting international law in its attacks on its neighbor.
Trump says pope doesn't understand Iran's nuclear threat
President Donald Trump said Pope Leo XIV doesn’t understand Iran’s nuclear threat.
“He doesn’t understand and shouldn’t be talking about war, because he has no idea what’s happening,” he told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera in a brief phone interview Tuesday.
Trump also criticized Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni for calling his comments about the pope “unacceptable.”
“It’s her who’s unacceptable, because she doesn’t care if Iran has a nuclear weapon and would blow up Italy in two minutes if they had the chance,” the president said.
Trump, who’s previously complimented Meloni, said he was “shocked” by the prime minister. “I thought she was brave, but I was wrong,” he said, going on to lament Italy’s lack of support in the US war with Iran and reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
Meloni defended her disagreements with the Trump administration on Tuesday.
“When you’re friends and have allies, especially if they’re strategic, you also have to have the courage to say when you disagree, which is what I do every day, because I believe this is beneficial for Europe, the United States, and the West in general,” she said.
And Italy’s foreign minister defended Meloni’s defense of the pope.
“Until today, President Trump considered Giorgia Meloni a courageous person. He was not mistaken because she is a woman who never shies away from saying what she thinks. And on Pope Leo XIV, she said exactly what all of us Italian citizens think,” Antonio Tajani wrote on X.
Rubio says he's hopeful for "very positive" progress as Israel-Lebanon talks start
High-stakes direct talks between Israel and Lebanon are underway at the US State Department, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressing hope that the sides can “being to move forward with a framework” where something “very positive” and “very permanent” can happen.
Rubio, US Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa, US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz, State Department counselor Mike Needham, Lebanese Ambassador to the US Nada Hamadeh and Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter posed for a photo.
They did not speak or answer shouted questions in the photo opportunity, but Rubio gave brief remarks in a second photo spray with the delegations seated at the table.
“All of the complexities of this matter are not going to be resolved in the next six hours, but we can begin to move forward and create the framework for something can happen, something very positive, something very permanent, so the people of Lebanon can have the kind of future they deserve, and so that the people of Israel can live without fear,” Rubio said.
Israel must withdraw from southern Lebanon to ensure stability, says Lebanese president
Israel must withdraw from southern Lebanon for the area to become stable again, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said today, ahead of talks between representatives from both countries in the US.
“The only solution lies in the Lebanese Army redeploying up to the internationally recognized borders, thereby becoming the sole party responsible for the security of the area and the safety of the residents,” Aoun said during a meeting with Italy’s Chief of the Defense Staff Luciano Portolano.
These talks are the highest-level direct talks between the two countries in more than 40 years. Still, Beirut expects negotiations to be a “long, complicated process,” a Lebanese official told CNN.
Even as Lebanese officials like Aoun call for Israel to withdraw from southern Lebanon, the Israel Defense Forces have sought to establish a buffer zone there.
There have been reports of cross-border fire ahead of the talks.
US military says 6 ships have turned around due to Strait of Hormuz blockade
Six merchant ships have turned around and returned to Iranian ports after encountering the US naval blockade limiting traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, US Central Command said on Tuesday.
More than 10,000 US service members and 12 US Navy ships are engaged in the blockade of Iranian ports that is being enforced “against vessels of all nations” coming in or out of Iranian ports, the command said.
“During the first 24 hours, no ships made it past the US blockade and 6 merchant vessels complied with direction from US forces to turn around to re-enter an Iranian port on the Gulf of Oman,” a release from US Central Command said.
CNN reported Monday that there were at least 15 US ships in the region that could participate in the blockade, though it was unclear where specifically the ships were.
Central Command’s release also said the US military is “supporting freedom of navigation for vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz.”
A US official told CNN that the Navy is not escorting any ships through the strait, but has been communicating to merchant vessels that have not entered or exited Iranian ports that it is safe to pass and encouraging them to do so.
The official said the US is not enforcing a full blockade of the strait — only a blockade of ships entering and exiting Iranian ports along the entire Iranian coastline.
The US also sent destroyers through the Strait of Hormuz last weekend to demonstrate that there is a safe path through the waterway, the official said.
Reports of cross-border fire as Israel-Lebanon talks began
As talks between Lebanese and Israeli diplomats began in Washington, DC, Hezbollah said it shot rockets toward northern Israel and Lebanese media reported fresh Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon.
Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah said in two statements just before talks began that it had targeted the northern Israeli towns of Karmiel, Kiryat Shmona and Manara. The Israeli military told CNN that it detected 15 rocket and drone launches over the border from Lebanon, and Israel’s Fire and Rescue Service said it is attending to several fires in “open areas” after projectile interceptions.
Soon after diplomats began convening, the militant group announced new rocket barrages toward nearly a dozen other towns in northern Israel, where residents heard sirens ringing out to alert of incoming fire.
Meanwhile, the Lebanese state-owned National News Agency reported that Israeli shelling, airstrikes and drones targeted vehicles and towns in southern Lebanon this morning. CNN has reached out to the Israeli military for comment on the reports.
This post has been updated with additional reporting.
Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors arrive at State Department in DC for talks
Israel’s ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter and Lebanese ambassador to the US Nada Hamadeh have arrived at the State Department in Washington, DC, for direct talks mediated by the US.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to meet with the diplomats beforehand.
International foreign ministers call for ceasefire in Lebanon
The foreign ministers of a host of European countries, as well as Australia, have just released a joint statement calling for a ceasefire in Lebanon ahead of talks between Lebanese and Israeli diplomats in Washington today.
The officials called for the “inclusion of Lebanon in the regional de-escalation efforts,” urging “all parties to work toward a lasting political solution,” the statement said.
The foreign ministers of Australia, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Iceland, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom all added their names to the statement.
The current conflict in Lebanon endangers the ceasefire that Israel, the US and Iran agreed to last week, the statement said, calling on Israel and Lebanon to “seize this opportunity.”
The foreign ministers condemned Hezbollah attacks on Israel “in the strongest terms,” as well as “the massive Israeli strikes on Lebanon conducted on 8 April” which they said killed more than 350 people, citing Lebanese authorities.
They also condemned “in the strongest terms” attacks against United Nations peacekeepers in Lebanon.
Italy suspends defense agreement with Israel amid mounting criticism of war in Lebanon
Italy today suspended a defense agreement with Israel amid mounting criticism of Israeli strikes in the ongoing war in Lebanon.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced the suspension of the longstanding agreement, signed more than two decades ago to increase defense cooperation.
The Memorandum of Understanding was signed in 2003 by then-Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and went into force in 2006. The agreement was subject to automatic renewal every five years.
In response to the suspension, Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs minimized the importance of the agreement.
Meloni’s government had previously maintained close ties with Israel, even after the beginning of the war in Gaza more than two years ago. But those relations have frayed with increasing Italian criticism of Israel over attacks in Lebanon, which have killed more than 2,000 people, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
Some context: Israel and Lebanon will begin their highest-level direct talks in more than 40 years in Washington, DC today.
Any tolls in Strait of Hormuz likely to be passed on to consumers, says chief IMF economist
Among the things Iran may now demand to end the war in the Middle East is an ability to charge tolls to ships for passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
Several analysts now see a potentially permanent tolling system for ships transiting the crucial international waterway. Tehran has already moved to start charging ships transiting the strait in recent weeks, with at least one vessel coughing up $2 million to do so, according to shipping intelligence firm Lloyd’s List.
Today, the International Monetary Fund’s chief economist was asked whether those charges would be absored primarily by consumers around the world or by oil and natural gas producers.
Last week, economists at consultancy Capital Economics also looked at the economic consequences of tolls in the Strait of Hormuz and concluded that “the burden of the tax would likely be shared between producers and consumers.”
“But given the relatively small sums involved, the overall impact on global prices and demand would probably be limited,” they wrote in a note.
CNN’s Hanna Ziady contributed reporting.
What's at stake in historic meeting between Israel and Lebanon
Israel and Lebanon begin their highest-level direct talks in more than 40 years in Washington on Tuesday, with the status of Hezbollah at the heart of the negotiations.
“Israel and Lebanon don’t have any major disputes between them. The problem is Hezbollah,” said Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar Tuesday.
He said the two sides would discuss cooperating on dismantling the militant group “in order to move to a different phase we want to reach – of peace and normalization with the state of Lebanon.”
Lebanon’s government has banned Hezbollah’s militant activity but the army lacks the capability to forcibly disarm the group. Israeli officials have previously cast doubt on Beirut’s will or capacity to do so.
Lebanon’s representative at the talks will seek a ceasefire as a precondition for broader negotiations, a Lebanese official told CNN, which would center on a withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanese territory in exchange for the disarmament of Hezbollah.
Israeli forces have advanced several miles into southern Lebanon in the last month in order to deprive Hezbollah of sites from which to fire rockets into northern Israel.
Beirut expects negotiations to be a “long, complicated process,” the Lebanese official said.
A member of Hezbollah’s political council, Wafiq Safa, told the Associated Press Tuesday that the negotiations were of no interest to the group.
For context: The last official bilateral Lebanese-Israeli meeting took place in 1983.
Israel and Hezbollah have fought each other repeatedly since the 1980s, with the Lebanese group armed and financed by Iran and the former Syrian regime of Bashar al Assad.
The day after Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, Hezbollah joined the conflict as Israeli forces began striking Gaza.
It resumed rocket and drone attacks on Israel in March after the Israeli military began air strikes on Iran.
IMF trims global growth forecast due to Iran war and warns of bigger possible hit
The International Monetary Fund has modestly reduced its forecast for global economic growth this year, but warned the damage from the war with Iran could be much more severe if the conflict dragged on and oil prices rose further.
The IMF now expects global growth of 3.1% in 2026, a 0.2 percentage point downgrade from its January forecast. This modest revision assumes that the war will be “relatively short-lived,” it said. Global inflation is also seen rising to 4.4% this year.
However, the fund also outlined two scenarios for a longer-lasting conflict. Under the more severe of these — in which oil and natural gas prices spike 100-200% relative to January and stay at that level into 2027 — global economic growth would come in at only 2% this year.
That would amount to “a close call for a global recession,” defined as economic growth below 2%, which has happened only four times since 1980, the IMF said.
Before the war, the global economy was performing better than expected, with growth on track to be revised upward this year, it noted. In one positive development, the downward revision was partly offset by reduced US tariff rates compared with last year, the IMF said.
CNN’s Olesya Dmitracova contributed reporting.
Israel and Hezbollah have agreed to a ceasefire before. A look at their recent conflicts
Diplomats from Lebanon and Israel are set to meet in Washington, DC later today to discuss a potential ceasefire amid continued Israeli attacks on the country that have killed more than 2,000 people since March 2.
Conflict between Israel and the militant group Hezbollah, which Israel says it is currently targeting in Lebanon, has been ongoing for decades.
In 1982, Israel launched a full-scale invasion of Lebanon to counter the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). The same year, Hezbollah was formed with the purpose of ridding Lebanon of Israeli influence.
In recent years, Israel and Hezbollah have participated in several distinct conflicts. Most recently, Israel launched a full-scale war on Hezbollah after the group fired at Israeli-held territory in support of Hamas following its October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
A notable moment took place in September 2024, when explosions targeting the pagers and walkie-talkies of Hezbollah members killed dozens of people in Lebanon, including children, and injured thousands.
In November 2024, Hezbollah and Israel agreed to a ceasefire deal brokered by the US and France. But Israeli forces remained in the country after this time and carried out near-daily strikes, citing Hezbollah violations.
After Israel killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in an airstrike in late February, Hezbollah began firing at Israel once again.
The Israeli military retaliated by launching an intense wave of airstrikes on what it said were Hezbollah positions and sent troops deeper into Lebanese territory, seeking to establish a buffer zone in the south of the country.
The attacks have continued, despite the ceasefire agreed upon by the US, Israel and Iran last week.
CNN’s Nadeen Ebrahim, Sarah Tamimi and Tamara Qiblawi contributed to this reporting.
