Pakistan’s army chief is set to meet Iranian officials in Tehran in a bid to extend the ceasefire which paused almost seven weeks of war between Israel, the US and Iran that has killed thousands of people and upended global markets by disrupting the flow of oil.
Uncertainty remains whether the frantic diplomacy can lead to a deal as the ceasefire passes the halfway mark in the original two-week agreement.
The meeting comes as US President Donald Trump announced the leaders of Israel and Lebanon will speak later on Thursday about halting the fighting between them.
If it takes place, the conversation would be the first time the leaders of the two countries have spoken directly in more than 30 years.
Both the Israeli and Lebanese governments refused to confirm a conversation. Meanwhile, the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and Israel’s military continued cross-border attacks on Thursday.
The White House said any further talks would likely take place in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, though no decision had been made on whether to resume negotiations.
The fragile ceasefire, which halted the fighting in the Middle East a week ago, is holding despite a US naval blockade of Iranian ports and Iranian counter-threats to target regional ports across the Red Sea.
Pakistan has emerged as a key mediator after it hosted direct talks between the US and Iran in Islamabad that authorities said helped narrow differences between the two sides. Mediators are seeking a new round before the ceasefire expires next week.
The war has jolted markets and rattled the global economy as shipping has been cut off and air strikes have torn through military and civilian infrastructure across the region. Oil prices have fallen amid hopes for an end to fighting, and US stocks on Wednesday surpassed records set in January.
Mr Trump said that Israel and Lebanon are expected to speak later on Thursday about a possible ceasefire, but did not elaborate which leaders would speak.
Officials from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office and the Lebanese government refused to confirm the possible conversation.
An Israeli minister said Mr Netanyahu will speak to Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Thursday.
“Today the prime minister will speak for the first time with the president of Lebanon, after so many years of a complete disconnection in the dialogue between the two countries,” Gila Gamliel, Israel’s minister of science and technology, told Army Radio on Thursday morning.
Ms Gamliel, who was at a cabinet meeting late Wednesday night about negotiations with Lebanon, is part of Israel’s security cabinet. She said the talks “will hopefully ultimately lead to prosperity and flourishing” between the two countries.
Lebanon and Israel held their first direct diplomatic talks in decades on Tuesday in Washington following more than a month of war between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah.
But the two countries continued exchanging fire across the border on Thursday, with Hezbollah targeting towns in northern Israel with rockets and drones. Israeli fire against southern Lebanon intensified, especially around the cities of Tyre, Nabatieh, and the strategic town of Bint Jbeil near the border with Israel.
Israel and Lebanon have technically been at war since Israel was established in 1948, and Lebanon remains deeply divided over diplomatic engagement with Israel.
On Thursday, Mr Aoun said Lebanon wants a ceasefire but Israeli troops must first withdraw from southern Lebanon as an “essential step” to allow the Lebanese army to deploy to the border and disarm Hezbollah.
Israeli troops pushed deeper into southern Lebanon with the aim of creating what officials have called a “security zone”, which Mr Netanyahu has said will extend at least five to six miles into Lebanon to avoid threats from short-range rockets and anti-tank missiles.
Even as the US blockade on Iranian ports and renewed Iranian threats strained the ceasefire agreement, regional officials reported progress, telling the Associated Press the United States and Iran had an “in-principle agreement” to extend it to allow for more diplomacy.
But while mediators worked for peace, tensions simmered.
The commander of Iran’s joint military command, Ali Abdollahi, threatened to halt trade in the region if the US does not lift its naval blockade, and a newly appointed military adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said he does not support extending the ceasefire.
Mediators are pushing for a compromise on three main sticking points that derailed direct talks last weekend — Iran’s nuclear programme, the Strait of Hormuz and compensation for wartime damages, according to a regional official involved in the mediation efforts.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said Iran is open to discussing the type and level of its uranium enrichment, but his country “based on its needs, must be able to continue enrichment”, Iranian state media reported.
The fighting 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 US service members have also been killed.
US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said the Trump administration would ramp up economic pain on Iran with new economic sanctions on countries doing business with it, calling the move the “financial equivalent” of a bombing campaign.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif arrived in Qatar on Thursday as part of a regional visit aimed at discussions on the ongoing US-Iran peace process and efforts to promote stability in the Middle East amid continuing tensions, his office said.
Since the war began, Iran has curtailed maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, which a fifth of global oil transited through in peacetime.
Tehran’s effective closure of the strait sent oil prices skyrocketing, raising the cost of fuel, food and other basic goods far beyond the Middle East, and the US has responded with a blockade on Iranian shipping.
US Central Command said on Wednesday that no ships had made it past the blockade since it was imposed two days earlier, while 10 merchant vessels complied with a direction from US forces to turn around and re-enter Iranian waters.
The blockade is intended to pressure Iran, which has exported millions of barrels of oil, mostly to Asia, since the war began on February 28.
