Stocks rose and crude dropped again Wednesday after Donald Trump said a second round of US-Iran talks could take place "over the next two days", fuelling hopes for a deal that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz and allow crude to flow again.
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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.
Lebanese and Israeli representatives were set to meet Tuesday in Washington for their first direct talks in decades, but Hezbollah's opposition to the US-mediated negotiations signalled little prospect of an agreement to stop fighting.
Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem urged Lebanon to cancel a planned meeting with Israel in Washington on Tuesday, reiterating his group's rejection of direct negotiations with its foe.
From his small shop in Beirut, facing a building destroyed by an Israeli airstrike, Qassem Saad said he was exhausted by repeated Israeli wars on Lebanon, and hoped negotiations could end decades of suffering.
Pakistan was poised on Friday to host Iranian and US delegations for negotiations in its capital, although Tehran's participation remained uncertain after deadly Israeli strikes on Lebanon threatened this week's temporary truce.
The latest developments in the Middle East war:
The scale of the killing in Israeli strikes on Lebanon Wednesday is "horrific", the UN rights chief said, urging the international community to help end the unfolding "nightmare".
Israel warned Friday that it would keep striking Lebanon until militant group Hezbollah has been disarmed, after hitting south Beirut in what …
UN peacekeepers in Lebanon patrol through rocky hills and olive groves near the border with Israel, ahead of a deadline for a truce in the war…