The China Mail - Lebanon, Israel start direct talks as Hezbollah launches new attacks

The United States is pressing for a halt to the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, fearing it could derail the two-week ceasefire in Washington's war with Iran after talks with Tehran in Pakistan failed to achieve a breakthrough.

Washington said "the ball is in the Iranian court" on ending the region-wide war, after a US naval blockade on Iranian ports began in the Strait of Hormuz, which had already been effectively closed by Tehran.

Lebanon was pulled into the broader conflict when Hezbollah attacked Israel in support of its backer Iran, sparking an Israeli ground invasion and strikes -- including an extremely heavy attack on Beirut on April 8 -- that have killed more than 2,000 people and displaced over one million.

Tuesday's meeting in Washington -- the first high-level, direct talks since 1993 -- was mediated by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and involved the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to the United States.

"This is a historic opportunity," Rubio said as he welcomed the ambassadors, acknowledging the "decades of history" complicating the process.

"The hope today is that we can outline a framework upon which a current and lasting peace can be developed."

Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun said he hoped the talks "will mark the beginning of the end of the suffering of the Lebanese people".

But expectations of any major breakthroughs were low, with Hezbollah's leader Naim Qassem calling for the talks to be scrapped before they even began, describing them as "futile".

Shortly after the talks began, Hezbollah said it had launched "simultaneous rocket salvos" at 13 northern Israeli towns.

Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said his country was seeking "peace and normalisation" with Lebanon.

But he insisted that Hezbollah was the "problem", and that it needed to be addressed in order to move to a "different phase".

The Israeli military had previously warned it expected a rise in attacks by Hezbollah as the talks kicked off.

Foreign ministers from 17 countries, including Britain and France, urged both countries to seize the chance to bring lasting security to the region.

- US blockades Iran -

While attention shifted to the meeting in Washington, Trump sought to squeeze Iran with a naval blockade as diplomatic efforts accelerated towards a new round of peace talks with Tehran.

US Central Command had said the measures covered "vessels of all nations entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas".

But at least two ships using Iranian ports passed through the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, data from maritime tracking firm Kpler indicated Tuesday.

Iran's military command branded the blockade an act of piracy and warned that if the security of its harbours was "threatened, no port in the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea will be safe".

The US military said Tuesday that it successfully stopped six ships from sailing out of Iranian ports during the first 24 hours the blockade.

With his blockade of Iranian ports, Trump was trying to starve Iran of funds but also pressure Beijing, the biggest buyer of Iranian oil, to lean on Tehran to reopen Hormuz, analysts said.

China said the blockade was "dangerous and irresponsible", after Trump threatened to sink any boats that sought to leave or dock at Iranian ports.

The standoff at the strait, through which one-fifth of global oil transited in peacetime, failed to dampen optimism in global markets, with Asian equities rallying while oil continued a downward slide.

France said it would co-host a video conference with Britain on Friday of countries ready to contribute to a "purely defensive mission" to secure the Strait of Hormuz.

Crucially, despite the blockade, the fragile two-week truce agreed last Wednesday between Washington and Tehran remained in place.

Trump insisted that Iranian representatives had called Washington since a US delegation returned empty-handed from the negotiations in Islamabad, adding they would "like to make a deal. Very badly."

Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Monday that "full efforts are underway" to reach an agreement to stop the fighting.

On Tuesday, senior Pakistani sources told AFP that Islamabad was working to bring Iran and the United States together for a second round of talks.

Foreign ministers from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt will meet Ankara's top diplomat in Turkey this week "to discuss regional affairs", a ministry source told AFP on Tuesday.

- Nuclear enrichment pause? -

Trump has insisted that an agreement must include stopping Iran from ever acquiring a nuclear weapon, having launched the war after accusing Tehran of seeking to develop an atomic bomb -- an allegation it denies.

During weekend talks, the United States reportedly sought a 20-year suspension of Iran's uranium enrichment programme, according to media reports on Monday.

Iran in turn proposed to suspend its nuclear activity for five years, which US officials rejected, The New York Times reported.

Moscow has offered to hold Iran's enriched uranium safely as part of any deal.

Chinese President Xi Jinping also vowed Tuesday that Beijing would play a "constructive role" in promoting peace talks in the Middle East.

M.Chau--ThChM