Hello and welcome to our live coverage of events in the Middle East.
Hours before the ceasefire between the US and Iran was due to expire, Donald Trump on Tuesday said he would extend it at Pakistan’s request while awaiting a “unified proposal” from Tehran, even as the US military maintained its blockade of Iranian ports.
The move comes as the White House put on hold vice-president JD Vance’s planned trip to Pakistan for a second round of truce talks with Iran, which has balked at further discussions.
Iran has said the US must end the blockade of its ports in order for negotiations to resume. But Trump and Treasury secretary Scott Bessent on Tuesday both warned that the US Navy blockade will continue. Tehran’s position has been it will only take part in talks if it believes discussions in Islamabad will yield results.
AH-64 Apaches fly above the strait of Hormuz during a patrol. Photograph: US Central CommandAfter Trump’s unilateral announcement, Pakistan’s president, Shehbaz Sharif, thanked the US president for extending the ceasefire with Iran, saying it would allow ongoing diplomatic efforts to proceed.
In a post on X, Sharif said he was expressing gratitude “on my personal behalf and on behalf of Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir” for Trump’s “gracious acceptance” of Pakistan’s request to extend the ceasefire.
Oil prices also wavered before Trump announced the extension, and the price for a barrel of Brent crude went from less than $95 to about $100 during the day. It settled at $98.48, up 3.1%.
Israel and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah traded some fire on Tuesday. Hezbollah said it had fired rockets and drones at Israeli forces maintaining a buffer zone in southern Lebanon. In response, Israel said it had struck the launcher, calling Hezbollah’s strikes a blatant violation of the ceasefire.
The US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, will be part of the US delegation for upcoming direct talks between Israel and Lebanon, according to CNN. Israel and Lebanon, will hold fresh talks in Washington on Thursday, a state department official said.
The US Treasury’s Scott Bessent said that as a result of the US blockade, “in a matter of days, Kharg Island storage will be full and the fragile Iranian oil wells will be shut in”. In a statement posted on X, Bessent said the US “will continue to apply maximum pressure through Economic Fury to systematically degrade Tehran’s ability to generate, move, and repatriate funds”.
Gen Majid Mousavi, the aerospace chief for Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, said oil facilities across the region would be harmed if neighbouring countries allow the US to carry out attacks. “If southern neighbours allow the enemy to use their facilities to attack Iran, they should say goodbye to oil production in the Middle East region,” he told Iranian state media.
Britain will host military planners from over 30 countries for two days of talks starting Wednesday on a multinational mission led by the UK and France to protect navigation in the strait of Hormuz, the defence ministry said.
Since the war started, fighting has killed at least 3,375 people in Iran and more than 2,290 in Lebanon, the Associated Press reports. Additionally, 23 people have died in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Fifteen Israeli soldiers in Lebanon and 13 US service members throughout the region have been killed.
