Israel and Lebanon hold a new round of talks in Washington on Thursday, during which Beirut plans to request a one-month extension of a ceasefire due to expire within days. Follow our liveblog for the latest updates.
Soccer-Trump envoy seeks to replace Iran with Italy in upcoming World Cup, FT reports
A top envoy to US President Donald Trump has asked FIFA to replace Iran with Italy in the upcoming World Cup, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.
The plan is an effort to repair ties between Trump and Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni after the two fell out amid the American president’s attacks against Pope Leo XIV over the Iran war, the FT reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
“I confirm I have suggested to Trump and (FIFA president Gianni) Infantino that Italy replace Iran at the World Cup. I’m an Italian native and it would be a dream to see the Azzurri at a US-hosted tournament. With four titles, they have the pedigree to justify inclusion,” US special envoy Paolo Zampolli told the FT.
Stocks sink and oil rises with Iran, US no closer to peace talks
Asian stocks fell and oil prices rose Thursday as the United States and Iran appeared no closer to holding fresh peace talks and Tehran continued to refuse to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Hopes that the two would meet for a second round of negotiations in Pakistan have dissipated, with the Islamic republic targeting three container ships in the waterway and citing Washington’s blockade as its reason for keeping it closed.
Investors have spent most of the week upbeat that a breakthrough to end the seven-week conflict will be made soon, while healthy earnings and a resumption of the AI trade has also provided support.
Crude prices jumped as much as four percent in early Asian business after global security monitors and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Iranian forces had seized two ships and fired on a third in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran’s Araqchi tells South Korea envoy “aggressors” responsible for consequences of war, Tehran says
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told a South Korean special envoy that responsibility for the consequences of the war lay with “aggressors,” referring to the United States and Israel, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.
The envoy, Chang Byung-ha, held a meeting with Araqchi in Tehran, the ministry said in a post on X.
Lebanon meets Israel in Washington to request truce extension
Israel and Lebanon hold a new round of talks in Washington on Thursday, during which Beirut plans to request a one-month extension of a ceasefire due to expire within days.
Israel stated ahead of the talks that it has no “serious disagreements” with Lebanon, calling on it to “work together” against the pro-Iran Hezbollah, which is notably absent from and opposed to the negotiations.
The two countries, officially at war for decades, held a meeting in Washington on April 14, the first of its kind since 1993, in an attempt to put an end to the more than six-week war between Hezbollah and Israel.
The United States announced a 10-day truce shortly after the first meeting, and it is due to expire on Sunday.
Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed at least 2,454 people and displaced one million since the start of the war, according to Lebanese authorities.
On the eve of talks in Washington between the Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said Beirut’s envoy to Thursday’s talks, Lebanese Ambassador to Washington Nada Moawad, would seek a ceasefire extension and a halt to demolitions being carried out by Israel in villages in the south.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Wednesday in an interview with Fox News that Iran must agree to turn over its enriched uranium to the United States as part of negotiations to end the war.
US President Donald Trump has not set a deadline by which Iran must submit a peace proposal, the White House said on Wednesday.
