US President Donald Trump speaks to the press outside the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, on April 13, 2026. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / AFP
President Donald Trump said Tuesday that US-Iran peace talks could resume this week, while Israel and Lebanon agreed to launch direct negotiations, signaling movement on two key fronts in efforts to ease the Middle East conflict. The parallel diplomatic openings came even as violence persisted, underscoring both the fragility of the process and Washington's push to stabilize a region shaken by the over-six-week war.
Trump told the New York Post a new round of talks with Tehran could take place in Pakistan "over the next two days," after saying the day before that unnamed Iranian officials had called him seeking a deal. At the same time, Israel and Lebanon agreed to open direct talks after meeting in Washington, in what amounted to a rare diplomatic breakthrough between two countries formally at war for decades.
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