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Hezbollah claimed that it attacked 13 northern Israeli towns with rockets shortly after the start of Lebanese-Israeli talks in Washington.

The U.S. military claimed to have prevented six ships from sailing from Iranian ports during the first 24 hours of the naval blockade against the Islamic republic.

Earlier, maritime tracking data indicated that at least two ships sailing from Iranian ports crossed the Strait of Hormuz despite the blockade.

According to maritime data provider Kpler, these vessels were among at least four Iranian-linked ships that used the route after Washington's blockade went into effect at 10 a.m. EST on Monday.

U.S. President Donald Trump told The New York Post on Tuesday that a second round of Iran talks could happen in Pakistan "over the next two days," after a first round ended at the weekend without a deal.

"You should stay there, really, because something could be happening over the next two days, and we’re more inclined to go there," Trump was quoted as saying in a phone interview with a New York Post reporter in Islamabad.

Earlier, senior Pakistani sources told AFP that Pakistan was working to bring Iran and the United States together for a second round of talks, with one source saying negotiators were working to extend the countries' current two-week ceasefire "to allow for additional time."

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called for Israel and Lebanon to seize a "historic opportunity" for peace as the first direct talks in decades between the two countries got underway in Washington.

Ahead of the taks, Israel said it was open to peace with Lebanon, but that Hezbollah remained the "problem" blocking an agreement on ending fighting.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said in a statement: "I hope that the meeting in Washington... will mark the beginning of the end of the suffering of the Lebanese people in general, and those in the south in particular."

The United States is pressing for a halt to the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, fearing it could derail the two-week ceasefire in Washington's war with Iran.

U.S. President Donald Trump criticized Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, a political ally, in an interview published Tuesday for her unwillingness to help in the war against Iran.

"I'm shocked at her. I thought she had courage, but I was wrong," he told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.

Stock markets rose and oil prices retreated on renewed hopes for an agreement to end the war in the Middle East and reopen the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

Major Wall Street indexes rose at the start of the trading session, and European stock markets posted gains during the afternoon.

Major international oil contracts retreated to levels just below $100 per barrel.

At least two ships from Iranian ports crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Monday despite the U.S. military blockade, maritime data firm Kpler said on Tuesday.

The Liberian-flagged bulk carrier Christianna crossed the strait after unloading corn at the Iranian port of Bandar Imam Khomeini at around 12 p.m. EST on Monday and a second vessel, the Comoros-flagged tanker Elpis, crossed the strait at around the same time.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday that he held talks the previous day with his U.S. counterpart, Donald Trump, and Iranian counterpart, Masoud Pezeshkian, and urged both leaders to "resume the interrupted negotiations" between the U.S. and Iran.

Israel claims it wants peace with Lebanon. However, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar maintained that the problem is Hezbollah.

Lebanese and Israeli representatives will meet Tuesday in Washington, under U.S. mediation, for direct preliminary peace talks.

The Israeli military said Tuesday that 10 soldiers were injured in overnight clashes with Hezbollah fighters in the strategically important southern Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil, which Israeli forces have surrounded.

"Efforts are being made to bring both sides to the negotiating table. Of course, we want them to return to Islamabad, but the venue is yet to be determined," a Pakistani source told AFP, which says the U.S.-Iran meeting "could take place soon."

China warned it will take "countermeasures" if U.S. President Donald Trump imposes new tariffs, as he threatened to do if Beijing provides military aid to Iran in the war in the Middle East.

Oil prices fell and stocks rose Tuesday on hopes of a deal to end the war, with Trump saying Tehran had called to seek an agreement even as a U.S. blockade of Iranian ports went into effect.

While weekend peace talks in Pakistan ended with no breakthrough, investors were encouraged that the two sides found some areas of agreement, with the Islamic republic saying they had been "inches away" at one point.

The United States sought a 20-year suspension of Iran's uranium enrichment program as part of a deal to end the war, media reported Monday, after Washington and Tehran failed to reach an agreement.

U.S. President Donald Trump launched the war on Feb. 28 saying Iran was developing an atomic bomb—something it denies—and vowed never to let the Islamic republic get hold of a nuclear weapon.

Chinese President Xi Jinping vowed Tuesday that his country will play a "constructive role" in promoting new peace talks and called for "respect" for the national sovereignty of Middle East and Gulf countries, state media reported.

Xi stressed "China's principled stance of promoting peace and urging talks," according to the state-run Xinhua news agency, as the United States initiated a blockade of Iranian ports after a first round of peace talks ended without agreement.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who met Xi on a visit to Beijing, said China could play an "important role" in ending the war.

April could turn out to be a tougher month than March for energy markets and the economy, the head of the International Energy Agency said Monday.

Fatih Birol said loaded cargoes were delivered in March ahead of the Middle East crisis, but "during the month of April nothing has been loaded."

"The longer the disruption goes on, the more serious the problem will be," he told reporters after a meeting at the International Monetary Fund in Washington.

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem urged Lebanon to cancel talks scheduled for Tuesday with Israel in Washington, reiterating his group's rejection of direct negotiations with the neighboring country.

"We call for a historic and heroic stance by canceling this negotiation meeting," Qassem, whose Iranian-backed group has been at war with Israel since March 2, he said in a televised speech.

Iran on Monday slammed the U.S. blockade around its ports as a "grave violation" of its sovereignty. They also called the U.S. navy's actions an "act of piracy."
Trump said earlier that U.S. forces would destroy any Iranian "fast attack ship" that came close to the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports that went into effect on Monday.