Democracy Dies with Dictatorship
NY Times
Apr 14, 2026
Iran War Live Updates: U.S. and Iran Trade Proposals on Nuclear Restrictions
Iran said it could suspend uranium enrichment for up to five years but the Trump administration insisted on 20 years, officials from both countries said.
By Tyler PagerEric SchmittFarnaz Fassihi and David E. Sanger
Here’s the latest
The United States and Iran have traded proposals for a suspension of Iranian nuclear activities, but remain far apart on the length of any agreement, according to Iranian and U.S. officials.
During weekend negotiations in Pakistan, the United States asked Iran for a 20-year suspension of uranium enrichment. The Iranians, in a formal response sent on Monday, said they would agree to up to five years, according to two senior Iranian officials and one U.S. official. President Trump rejected Iran’s offer, according to a U.S. official.
Still, the discussions suggested a possible path to a deal, even as the U.S. military began its blockade of Iranian ports.
Officials also said they were discussing a second round of face-to-face talks, but provided no details.
In Washington, Israeli and Lebanese officials were set to hold rare talks on Tuesday, as Israel’s continued bombardment of Lebanon and expanded ground operations strained a fragile cease-fire with Iran.
The meeting is expected to be largely preparatory and is not likely to produce an immediate deal, according to a Lebanese official and another person briefed on the plans. The sides remain far apart, with Lebanon calling for a cease-fire and Israel signaling it would continue its campaign against Hezbollah.
Tensions continued to escalate over the Strait of Hormuz. President Trump announced a U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports along the strait after high-level negotiations with Iran broke down over the weekend, and said that other countries would join in.
But on Monday, several European leaders rejected the idea, and several ships coming from Iran were able to cross the Strait of Hormuz in the hours before and after the U.S. military blockade, according to the global trade analysis firm Kpler.
Ship-tracking data also showed a tanker that had been placed under sanctions by the United States reversing course near the strait shortly before the blockade but then completing its passage later.
Here’s what else we’re covering:
Israel: The 40-day war with Iran and the continued war with Hezbollah have left many Israelis despairing over how little they believe the fighting accomplished, particularly compared with what they had been promised, according to two new polls. Read more ›
Death tolls: The Human Rights Activists News Agency said at least 1,701 civilians, including 254 children, had been killed in Iran as of Wednesday. Lebanon’s health ministry on Monday said that 2,089 people had been killed in the latest fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, including 357 in a wave of Israeli strikes last Wednesday. In attacks attributed to Iran, at least 32 people have been killed in Gulf nations. At least 22 people had been killed in Israel as of Sunday, as well as 12 Israeli soldiers fighting in Lebanon. The American death toll stands at 13 service members.
April 14, 2026, 5:21 a.m. ET2 hours ago
Reporting from Beirut, Lebanon
Israel launched airstrikes on two cities in southern Lebanon on Tuesday morning, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported, hours before envoys from Israel and Lebanon were scheduled to meet in Washington. The two sides remain sharply divided in their aims for the talks, which are not expected to produce an immediate deal to end the war between Israel and the Iran-backed Lebanese militia, Hezbollah.
April 14, 2026, 5:16 a.m. ET2 hours ago
The International Energy Agency on Tuesday sharply revised its forecasts for the global supply and demand for oil because of the war in Iran. The agency expects oil demand in the current quarter to shrink by 1.5 million barrels per day, which would be the deepest decline since the Covid-19 pandemic, as the spike in prices drives cutbacks around the world. The largest cuts to demand have so far come in the Middle East and Asia, but “demand destruction will spread as scarcity and higher prices persist,” the agency noted.
Resuming the typical flow of energy supplies via the Strait of Hormuz “remains the single most important variable in easing the pressure on energy supplies, prices and the global economy,” the agency said. Before the war, 20 million barrels of oil and related products passed through the strait every day. This month, flows have fallen to less than four million barrels a day.
April 14, 2026, 4:40 a.m. ET2 hours ago
China’s leader, Xi Jinping, said on Tuesday that his country would “continue to play a constructive role” in talks to end the war in the Middle East. “Maintaining the authority of international rule of law means not only using it when it suits us and abandoning it when it doesn’t,” he said during a meeting in Beijing with the crown prince of Abu Dhabi. “We cannot allow the world to revert to the law of the jungle.”
April 14, 2026, 4:34 a.m. ET2 hours ago
Israeli and Lebanese officials are set to meet in Washington
With Israel’s bombardment of Lebanon and widened ground invasion leaving the cease-fire with Iran on shaky ground, Israeli and Lebanese officials were expected to hold rare talks on Tuesday in Washington to try to find a way forward.
The meeting would be the first direct, in-person talks in decades between Israel and Lebanon, which do not have diplomatic relations. Israel’s and Lebanon’s ambassadors to Washington were expected to participate. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will also take part, according to the State Department.
But the talks will be largely preparatory, according to a Lebanese official and another person briefed on them, who both requested anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy. They are not expected to immediately produce a deal to end the war between Israel and Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese militia that Israel says its attacks are targeting. Hours before the meeting was to begin, Israel launched airstrikes on two cities in southern Lebanon on Tuesday morning, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported.
Israel and Lebanon remain sharply divided in their aims for the talks. President Joseph Aoun of Lebanon told Italy’s foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, that Lebanon was hoping that a cease-fire would be reached, after which direct negotiations could begin, according to a statement shared by the Lebanese presidency on Monday. Mr. Aoun said that any long-term solution must entail Israel’s heeding the growing international calls for it to stop attacking Lebanon.
But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has ruled out a cease-fire and said that Israel would not stop its attacks on Lebanon. The aim of the discussions in Washington would be disarming Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group, and establishing a lasting peace deal with Lebanon, he has said.
Mr. Netanyahu agreed last week to engage in the talks as Iran warned that it could withdraw from the cease-fire unless Israel stopped attacking Lebanon.
The meeting will include Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter; his Lebanese counterpart, Nada Hamadeh Moawad; and the U.S. ambassador to Lebanon, Michel Issa.
Lebanon is reeling from weeks of Israeli bombardment that has displaced more than one million residents and, according to the Lebanese health ministry, killed more than 2,000 people and injured more than 6,700 others as of Monday.
The war between Hezbollah and Israel reignited last month after Hezbollah fired on Israel in solidarity with Iran. Hezbollah has since launched more than 6,500 rockets, missiles and drones toward Israel, according to the Israeli military.
Israeli attacks on Lebanon have become a flashpoint in the fragile cease-fire between Iran and the United States. Iran insists that Lebanon is covered by the agreement. Iran and the United States say it isn’t.
Israel sharply escalated its attacks in the hours after the cease-fire was reached last week, killing at least 357 people in Lebanon on Wednesday, according to the Lebanese authorities.
Hezbollah’s leader, Naim Qassem, said in a televised speech on Monday that Hezbollah categorically rejected Lebanon’s planned talks with Israel. He called on Lebanese authorities to cancel the talks, urging them not to become “a tool of Israel.”
Proceeding with the talks would represent “capitulation and surrender” to a country intent on occupying Lebanon, Mr. Qassem said.
Hwaida Saad, Rawan Sheikh Ahmad and Christina Goldbaum contributed reporting.
April 14, 2026, 4:27 a.m. ET2 hours ago
Two tankers traveling to and from the United Arab Emirates also crossed the Strait of Hormuz safely on Monday, according to Kpler. The NV Sunshine, an Indonesian tanker, entered the strait en route to the United Arab Emirates, while the Marshall Islands-flagged New Future carried petroleum products from Hamriya, an Emirati port, to Oman. Kpler did not provide specific transit times.
April 14, 2026, 4:25 a.m. ET2 hours ago
The Rich Starry, a Guyanese-flagged tanker operated by a Chinese shipping company with a Chinese crew, crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday morning, according to Kpler. It had picked up methanol from an unspecified port in the Persian Gulf and was bound for China.
The ship-tracking platform MarineTraffic showed the tanker approaching the strait, then making a U-turn around 9 a.m. Eastern on Monday, an hour before the U.S. blockade began. Half an hour later, it turned back toward the strait and passed through before exiting early Tuesday. The Rich Starry, previously known as the Full Star, was sanctioned by the United States in 2023 for helping Iran evade sanctions.
April 14, 2026, 4:17 a.m. ET3 hours ago
Carlos Barragán
Reporting from Madrid
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of Spain defended his opposition to the war in the Middle East during a visit to Beijing on Tuesday. Israel and the United States have criticized Spain in recent weeks for its strong stance against the conflict. Without explicitly referring to them, Sánchez lamented that those who “raise our voices” against violations of international law “find ourselves, paradoxically, facing threats.”
“Spain will continue to stand on the right side of history, defending what is just and lawful,” Sánchez said after an hourlong meeting with China’s leader, Xi Jinping. He also urged Xi to play a role in advancing peace efforts in the Middle East.
April 14, 2026, 3:48 a.m. ET3 hours ago
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun on Tuesday called the U.S. blockade of the Strait of Hormuz “dangerous and irresponsible,” warning it would worsen tensions, undermine a fragile cease-fire and risk safe transit through the strait.