A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
President Trump says U.S. talks with Iran could resume in the next two days.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
At the same time, the U.S. has tightened its pressure on Iran by blocking Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz. And there are other negotiations happening, historic talks between Israel and Lebanon and negotiations with Hamas. In a few minutes, we'll talk about all this with former U.S. ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro. But first, here's the latest information from the region.
MARTÍNEZ: NPR's Daniel Estrin is in Tel Aviv.
All right, Daniel, let's do the numbers here. Three Mid-East wars, three negotiations. Let's start with Iran. What are the chances of new talks there?
DANIEL ESTRIN, BYLINE: President Trump told the New York Post that talks could be happening over the next two days in Pakistan. We will have to see about that. The top Pakistani mediators are actually scheduled to be traveling abroad for the next several days. But U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres says it is his indication that it's highly probable the talks will restart. At the very same time, A, the U.S. military has announced it has completed its blockade of Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz.
The U.S. says about 90% of Iran's economy is fueled by international trade at sea. And now that's blocked. So the question is is whether this economic pressure on Iran can break the impasse between the U.S. and Iran in the talks. The hourglass is slowly running out here. We are one week into the two-week ceasefire, and the chances of any resolution are complicated by the fact that Iran wants any deal to include an end to the fighting in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah, absolutely. And there were historic talks yesterday between Israel and Lebanon. Tell us about those.
ESTRIN: These were the first direct diplomatic talks of that kind since 1993. These are two countries with a long history of war. So it really was something to see the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors literally standing shoulder to shoulder next to each other. But besides a photo op, these are just very preliminary talks. These are not even negotiations yet. And it's very high stakes.
I mean, even during the talks yesterday, Hezbollah and Israel continued their fighting. And in Lebanon, more than 2,000 people have been killed in Israel's offensive, according to Lebanon. Now, Israel says most of the people killed are Hezbollah operatives. The Lebanese government says the dead include over 168 children. And more than a million people have been displaced from their homes in Lebanon.
So Lebanon is asking here for a ceasefire, and Israel says it won't agree to that until Hezbollah disarms. Hezbollah is not willing to disarm, and in the meantime, Israel is expanding its military occupation of Southern Lebanon. What is happening here is that Israel is under pressure to advance as much as it can in Lebanon in case Trump pressures Israel to accept a ceasefire.
MARTÍNEZ: We've talked about Iran and Lebanon. There is the first war that led to all of the other Mid-East wars, Gaza. Daniel, tell us about that.
ESTRIN: Yeah. Behind the scenes, there have been high-level negotiations going on with Hamas. In Cairo, President Trump's Board of Peace presented Hamas with a proposal to lay down its weapons, but a Hamas spokesman has told us that they won't enter talks on laying down their weapons until Israel upholds the first part of the ceasefire deal, like increasing aid to Gaza, like allowing more Palestinians to come and go from Gaza.
And Hamas is also waiting to see the outcome of the Iran negotiations. So, A, you see here how three separate negotiations over three separate wars actually are all influencing each other.
MARTÍNEZ: NPR's Daniel Estrin in Tel Aviv. Daniel, thanks.
ESTRIN: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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