Democracy Dies with Dictatorship
NY Times
Apr 16, 2026
Iran War Live Updates: Hegseth Says U.S. Is Poised to Resume Combat if Talks Fail
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth urged Iran’s leaders to “choose wisely” and said a U.S. blockade of Iranian ports would continue “as long as it takes.”
Updated
April 16, 2026, 8:44 a.m. ET8 minutes ago
Eric SchmittJohn IsmayElian Peltier and Aurelien Breeden
Here’s the latest
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday threatened U.S. attacks on Iran’s energy infrastructure if its leaders did not agree to a peace deal, less than a week before a temporary cease-fire is set to expire.
Speaking at a news conference at the Pentagon, Mr. Hegseth repeatedly urged Iran’s leaders to “choose wisely” and said an American naval blockade of Iranian ports would continue “as long as it takes.”
“But if Iran chooses poorly, then they will have a blockade and bombs dropping on infrastructure, power, and energy,” Mr. Hegseth said. Under international law, intentionally targeting Iran’s civilian infrastructure could constitute a war crime.
Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at the news conference that U.S. Navy forces in the Pacific could be called upon to intercept ships moving to resupply Iran — which would broaden the naval blockade beyond the Middle East.
Iran threatened on Wednesday to halt all trade in the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Oman and the Red Sea in response to the blockade. It was unclear how much control Iran could exert over shipping in the region. Its battered armed forces can still use mines and fast boats to harass ships in the Strait of Hormuz. Its allies in Yemen, the Houthi militia, have also shown they can attack shipping in the Red Sea.
Analysts say the U.S. blockade will squeeze Iran’s economy but might not be enough to force concessions from its government or lessen the global energy crunch.
Here’s what else we’re covering:
Peace talks: Pakistan said Thursday that it expected to host a second round of peace negotiations between the United States and Iran but declined to give a date, as senior Pakistani mediators visited Tehran in an effort to shore up the U.S.-Iran cease-fire. American and Iranian officials have said that indirect negotiations are continuing but have not confirmed they will hold another round of direct discussions.
Israel-Lebanon: As the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese militia, threatens to upend the cease-fire, Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke by phone with Lebanon’s president on Thursday, the Lebanese president’s office said. President Trump said that Israeli and Lebanese leaders would speak on Thursday, though neither side confirmed it. Lebanon’s official news agency reported new Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon on Thursday.
Iranian sailors: Sri Lanka has used the U.S.-Iran cease-fire to repatriate more than 200 Iranian sailors who came into its custody last month after a U.S. submarine torpedoed an Iranian warship near its waters, resolving a diplomatic standoff for Sri Lanka with Iran.
8 minutes ago
Reporting from Washington
Hegseth said that President Trump has spoken to President Xi of China about a report in The New York Times that China might have shipped missiles to Iran, “and China has assured us that that indeed is not going to happen.”
April 16, 2026, 8:42 a.m. ET12 minutes ago
Covering the Pentagon
And with that, the briefing has ended.
April 16, 2026, 8:36 a.m. ET19 minutes ago
Covering the Pentagon
Hegseth was asked whether any other nations would join the U.S. Navy in maintaining the blockade. “There should be,” he said, but has not named any countries willing to do so.
April 16, 2026, 8:29 a.m. ET25 minutes ago
Reporting from Washington
Adm. Brad Cooper, the head of Central Commmand, joined Hegseth and Caine for his first live interview with the news media since the war started on Feb. 28. Cooper is talking about his recent visit to troops in the region. Previously, Cooper had provided only pre-recorded operational updates.
April 16, 2026, 8:24 a.m. ET30 minutes ago
Reporting from Washington
Caine said that the U.S. military “has not been required to board any ships” amid its blockade. In other words, the vessels have all turned back rather than trying to run the blockade.
April 16, 2026, 8:21 a.m. ET34 minutes ago
Reporting from Washington
Caine said that U.S. military commanders elsewhere in the world, including in the Indo-Pacific region, “will actively pursue any Iranian flagged vessel or any vessel attempting to provide material support to Iran.” That would broaden the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports beyond the Middle East.
April 16, 2026, 8:17 a.m. ET37 minutes ago
Covering the Pentagon
Caine said that U.S. Navy forces in the Pacific could be called upon to intercept ships moving to resupply Iran.
April 16, 2026, 8:17 a.m. ET37 minutes ago
Covering the Pentagon
Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, reiterated Hegseth’s claims that U.S. forces were ready to resume combat operations against Iran “at a moment’s notice.”
April 16, 2026, 8:16 a.m. ET38 minutes ago
Reporting from Washington
Hegseth seemed to be speaking to Iran’s leaders in an attempt to persuade them that their best option is to agree to a peace deal with the Trump administration. “While you are digging out, we are only getting stronger,” he said. “You can move things around, biut you can’t actually rebuild.”
A few seconds later: “We are locked and loaded,”Hegseth said.
And then added, “You can’t control anything.”
April 16, 2026, 8:15 a.m. ET39 minutes ago
Reporting from Washington
Hegseth acknowledged that Iran was digging out missile launchers that the U.S. military bombed but said it could not rebuild its prewar arsenal of drones, missiles and ships. “You can dig out for now, but you can’t reconstitute,” he said of Iran’s military. “But we can.”
April 16, 2026, 8:12 a.m. ET43 minutes ago
Covering the Pentagon
If Iran does not agree to a deal, U.S. forces will attack electrical power infrastructure in Iran, Hegseth said. Under international law, intentionally targeting the country’s energy infrastructure could constitute a war crime.
April 16, 2026, 8:11 a.m. ET43 minutes ago
Covering the Pentagon
Hegseth addressed the negotiations between the U.S. and Iran, saying, “We urge the new Iranian regime to choose wisely.” The Trump administration has been claiming that it has achieved regime change with its attacks on Iran, though analysts beleve the war may only have increased the internal sway of hard-line forces, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.
April 16, 2026, 8:09 a.m. ET45 minutes ago
Covering the Pentagon
Hegseth called the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports “the polite way to go.”
April 16, 2026, 8:08 a.m. ET47 minutes ago
Reporting from Washington
Hegseth said that that the U.S. military was “maximally postured to restart combat operations” if Iran did not agree to a deal.
April 16, 2026, 8:04 a.m. ET50 minutes ago
Covering the Pentagon
Adm. Brad Cooper, the leader of U.S. Central Command, is in attendance as well and is expected to offer an update on the war with Iran.
April 16, 2026, 8:04 a.m. ET50 minutes ago
Covering the Pentagon
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have just walked into the Pentagon briefing room for their first press briefing since April 8.
April 16, 2026, 7:54 a.m. ET1 hour ago
Isabel Kershner and Sanam Mahoozi
Iran’s top negotiator and speaker of its Parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, met on Thursday with a Pakistani delegation led by the head of the Army, Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, according to Mehr, a semiofficial Iranian news agency. Earlier, Pakistan, which is mediating between Iran and the United States, said it expected to host a second round of peace negotiations between the two countries.
April 16, 2026, 6:17 a.m. ET3 hours ago
Reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan
Pakistan looks to play peacemaker again between U.S. and Iran
In Iran and in the Arab world, Pakistani diplomacy has risen to the forefront of efforts to broker peace between the United States and Iran, as the top leaders of Pakistan tried to preserve a shaky cease-fire between the combatants and to offer their country up, again, as the venue for potential peace talks.
Pakistan’s powerful army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, arrived in Tehran on Wednesday, becoming the first regional player to visit Iran since the United States and Israel began attacking it on Feb. 28. He carried with him the praise of the White House.
“Pakistanis have been incredible mediators,” Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said after the army chief’s arrival in Iran. “The president feels it’s important to continue to streamline this communication through the Pakistanis.”
Pakistan helped negotiate a two-week cease-fire last week, scoring a major diplomatic victory. That cease-fire is set to expire on April 21.
Pakistan’s military said Field Marshal Munir was visiting Iran to sustain ongoing peace efforts. On Thursday, Tahir Andrabi, a spokesman for Pakistan’s foreign ministry, said that a second round of talks between the United States and Iran was expected to take place in Islamabad, though he declined to provide a date. Neither U.S. nor Iranian officials have confirmed that, though both sides have said that indirect negotiations were continuing.
A Pakistani official speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing negotiations said Field Marshal Munir was still in Iran as of Thursday morning local time.
Gen. Muhammad Saeed, a former Pakistani chief of general staff and former deputy to the field marshal, said: “Pakistan is helping with an exit strategy that must be a respectable outcome for both” countries.
The diplomatic push is a pivot for Pakistan, which has spent more time as a combatant over the past year in its own conflicts than as a peace broker.
When the United States and Israel began their war in Iran, Pakistan was conducting a series of airstrikes against another neighbor, Afghanistan. They have stopped for now, but only after the deaths of hundreds of civilians in Afghanistan. And last spring, Pakistan and India were embroiled in a tense military conflict that ended after a diplomatic push by the United States.
After President Trump took credit for ending that war, Indian officials bristled, but Pakistani officials drew closer to the White House. Field Marshal Munir personally met with Mr. Trump twice last year, and the American president has referred to him as his “favorite field marshal.”
While Field Marshal Munir was traveling to Iran, Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia on Wednesday. Their countries are allies and have a mutual defense agreement that was a potential source of tension between Pakistan and Iran, after Iranian forces began firing missiles at the Saudis and other Gulf countries last month.
Asif Durrani, a former Pakistani ambassador to Iran, said that unlike other countries involved in the war, Pakistan didn’t have major conflicts with Iran. On Saturday, Mr. Sharif greeted Iran’s Parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, in Islamabad with a warm embrace.
“Iran would not trust any other country,” Mr. Durrani said about Pakistan’s role as a mediator between the United States and Iran. “Pakistan is the only candidate.”
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April 16, 2026, 5:41 a.m. ET3 hours ago
Leily Nikounazar
Iran has increased its weapons production in the months since the war waged in June by Israel with U.S. help, an official with Iran’s armed forces said. The production rate of attack drones increased tenfold, Mahmoud Sheikh Hassani, the deputy executive officer of Iran’s armed forces, said Thursday in remarks carried by Tasnim, a semiofficial Iranian news agency.
April 16, 2026, 5:20 a.m. ET4 hours ago
Israeli and Lebanese leaders will speak Thursday, Trump says
President Trump said that Israeli and Lebanese leaders would speak again on Thursday, as he sought to build on lower-level talks this week aimed at ending Israel’s war against Iran-backed Hezbollah.
There was no confirmation from either Israel or Lebanon. A senior official in the Lebanese presidency, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, said that he was not aware of any planned call between Lebanese and Israeli officials. The Israeli prime minister’s office said it would not confirm one either.
Mr. Trump did not give further details, including any information on which officials would participate.
“Trying to get a little breathing room between Israel and Lebanon. It has been a long time since the two leaders have spoken, like 34 years,” Mr. Trump wrote on social media late Wednesday. “It will happen tomorrow. Nice!”
The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia backed by Iran, has threatened to upend the cease-fire between the United States and Iran, which expires next week. Iran has insisted that the cease-fire be extended to Lebanon, a proposal Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has rejected, with backing from senior White House officials, including Vice President JD Vance.
Lebanon and Israel, who have technically been at war since 1948, do not have official diplomatic relations. On Tuesday, Israeli and Lebanese officials held talks in Washington, their first in decades. The State Department said afterward that steps had been taken toward further “direct negotiations” between the two countries.
Israeli and Lebanese officials have said that Israel is considering a short-term cease-fire in Lebanon. Two Israeli officials said the cease-fire could begin as early as Thursday and last about a week. The Israeli government has yet to formally sign off on the plan, and it remains unclear whether Hezbollah would comply even if Israel and Lebanon agreed on one.
President Joseph Aoun of Lebanon views a cease-fire with Israel as “the natural entry point for direct negotiations between the two countries,” the Lebanese presidency said in a social media post on Thursday.
Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has continued during the two-week cease-fire between Iran and the United States. Israel has stopped strikes on Beirut, the Lebanese capital, but has continued attacking Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
Days before the talks in Washington, the Israeli military launched two attacks on towns in southern Lebanon on Sunday, killing at least 11 people, according to Lebanon’s official news agency. The Israeli military said it had killed an armed combatant on the same day in a raid on what it described as a Hezbollah infrastructure site in southern Lebanon.
And on Thursday, the news agency reported clashes overnight in the southern Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil between Israeli ground forces and Hezbollah militants. The Israeli military has been surrounding Bint Jbeil and advancing through the town for days. In a statement, the Israeli military said that its forces had raided a Hezbollah compound in the Bint Jbeil area on Wednesday and located weapons there.
Israel launched its military campaign in Lebanon in early March, days after the United States and Israel began an air campaign against Iran. Hezbollah had fired rockets at northern Israel in solidarity with Iran, its patron. Since then, the group has launched more than 6,500 rockets, missiles and drones toward Israeli territory and at its forces in Lebanon, according to the Israeli military. Much of the incoming fire has been intercepted.
Late last month, Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, said that Israel would demolish Lebanese towns near the border and set up a security zone, which would displace hundreds of thousands of Lebanese residents.
Reporting was contributed by Christina Goldbaum, Isabel Kershner, Dayana Iwaza, Rawan Sheikh Ahmad and Euan Ward.
April 16, 2026, 5:12 a.m. ET4 hours ago
Reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan
Tahir Andrabi, a spokesman for Pakistan’s foreign ministry, said on Thursday that a second round of talks between the United States and Iran was expected to take place in Islamabad, but declined to provide a date. Neither U.S. nor Iranian officials have confirmed that a second round of talks will occur, though both sides have said that indirect negotiations are continuing. Speaking to reporters at a weekly news briefing, Andrabi said that Pakistan was maintaining “open channels of communication with the concerned parties.”
April 16, 2026, 4:57 a.m. ET4 hours ago
Euan Ward and Isabel Kershner
Hours after President Trump said on social media that Israeli and Lebanese leaders would speak on Thursday, there is still no confirmation from either country. Three Lebanese officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, said they were not aware of any such meeting. The Israeli prime minister’s office would not confirm one either.
April 16, 2026, 12:23 a.m. ETApril 16, 2026
President Trump said on social media that Israeli and Lebanese leaders would speak to each other on Thursday. He did not elaborate and it was not clear if he was referring to the countries’ heads of state or other senior officials.
The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon has threatened to upend the fragile cease-fire between the United States and Iran. On Tuesday, after a rare meeting in Washington between the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors, the U.S. announced that the two sides had agreed to “launch direct negotiations” to end the fighting.