US says optimistic about reaching peace deal with Iran

WASHINGTON, United States, April 16, 2026 (AFP): The United States is discussing a possible second round of peace talks with Iran in Pakistan and is optimistic about reaching a deal, US officials said, as Tehran threatened to shut down Red Sea trade unless Washington lifted a naval blockade of its ports.

A Pakistani delegation arrived in Tehran bearing a new message from Washington after US President Donald Trump indicated negotiations could resume this week following last weekend's failed talks in Islamabad.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that further talks "would very likely" be in the Pakistani capital. "Those discussions are being had," Leavitt said, and "we feel good about the prospects of a deal."

The optimism came on the back of Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's four-day diplomatic blitz, with the leader meeting Wednesday with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

US Vice President JD Vance, who led the first round of talks, has said Iran is being offered a "grand bargain" to end the six-week war with Israel and the United States and address the decades-old dispute over Tehran's nuclear program.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel and the US have "identical" goals -- enriched material removed from Iran, elimination of enrichment capability and a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

The strait, through which one-fifth of the world's crude oil normally flows, has been choked by Iranian forces since the US-Israeli offensive began and is now the focus of the US blockade.

On the economic front, IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva warned of "tough times ahead" for the global economy if the war is unresolved and oil prices stay high, adding that inflation risks could seep into food prices.

Optimism about an accord in the conflict sent share prices higher on Wall Street, however, with the major stock indices finishing at records on Wednesday while crude prices dropped.

- 'Zero ships have broken through' -

Washington has sought to turn the screws on Tehran with a blockade of its ports, with US Central Command claiming to have "completely halted economic trade going into and out of Iran by sea."

CENTCOM said it had turned back 10 vessels that tried to sail out of Iranian ports during the first 48 hours of the blockade and "zero ships have broken through."

The picture based on recent maritime tracking data in the Strait of Hormuz was less clear-cut, and Iran's Tasnim news agency reported shipping has continued from southern Iran.

The head of Iran's military central command center warned that a US failure to lift the blockade would constitute "a prelude" to violating the two-week ceasefire struck on April 8.

Keeping up the pressure, the United States slapped fresh sanctions on Iran's oil industry Wednesday, which Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said targeted "regime elites."

Unless Washington relents, Iran's armed forces "will not allow any exports or imports to continue in the Persian Gulf, the Sea of Oman and the Red Sea," Ali Abdollahi said.

The military adviser to Iran's supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei also warned that Iran would sink American ships in the strait if the United States decides to "police" the key shipping channel.

"These ships of yours will be sunk by our first missiles," Mohsen Rezaei, a former commander-in-chief of Iran's Revolutionary Guards who was named as a military adviser by Khamenei last month, told state TV.

In Tehran, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi welcomed a Pakistani delegation on Wednesday led by army chief Asim Munir that Iranian state television said was to relay a new US message and discuss a second round of talks.

- No nuclear weapons -

Trump has insisted that any deal with Iran must permanently bar the Islamic Republic from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

He launched the war on February 28, claiming that Tehran was rushing to complete an atomic bomb, an assertion not backed by the UN nuclear watchdog.

Washington has reportedly sought a 20-year suspension of Iran's uranium enrichment program, while Tehran has proposed suspending nuclear activity for five years -- an offer US officials rejected.

Tehran insists its nuclear program is for civilian purposes and its foreign ministry said Wednesday that Iran's right to enrich uranium was "indisputable," although the level of enrichment was "negotiable."

The latest signals on the US-Iran talks came as Israel and Lebanon agreed to open direct negotiations after their first high-level face-to-face meeting since 1993 took place on Tuesday in Washington.

Trump said the leaders of the two countries would speak on Thursday. But an official source later told AFP that Lebanon is "not aware" of any upcoming contact with Israel.

Netanyahu on Wednesday spoke of two central objectives in the talks with Lebanon: "First, the dismantling of Hezbollah; second, a sustainable peace... achieved through strength."

The Trump administration is pressing for an end to the conflict between Israel and Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, fearing it could jeopardize a broader settlement.

A senior US administration official said Wednesday that Trump would "welcome" an end to the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah as part of a peace agreement between Israel and Lebanon, but such a deal is not part of peace talks with Iran.