Middle East

The Hill - China is breaking from its mostly quiet stance on the Iran war amid the U.S. blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, placing a strain on relations just weeks ahead of a planned meeting between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Xi railed against the breaking of the international rule of law Tuesday during a reception in Beijing with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, an outspoken critic of the war himself, saying their two countries should work together to “oppose the world’s retrogression to the law of the jungle.”

“Maintaining the authority of international rule of law means not using it when it suits us and abandoning it when it doesn’t,” Xi said during a meeting with the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, also on Tuesday.

The comments are the most direct that the Chinese leader has offered about the U.S.-Iran war since it began at the end of February. China is a major importer of Iranian oil, which the U.S. is seeking to cut off with the blockade that began on Monday.

NPR -   President Trump announced that U.S. talks with Iran might resume within the next two days. This comes as Israel conducts negotiations for other Middle East wars. In Washington, D.C., yesterday, Israel and Lebanon held historic direct diplomatic talks — the first of this kind since 1993. Lebanon wants a ceasefire, but Israel won't agree until the Iranian-backed Lebanese militia Hezbollah disarms. Israel and Hezbollah continued to trade fire during the talks. Both sides agreed to more talks in a few weeks in Washington.

 The U.S. is currently one week into a two-week ceasefire. The chances of a resolution are complicated by the fact that Iran wants the peace deal to include an end to the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, NPR’s Daniel Estrin tells Up First. Today, the U.S. military’s Central Command announced its completion of the blockade of Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. says about 90% of Iran’s economy relies on international trade by sea, and now that pathway is completely cut off. Estrin says a question remains as to whether this form of economic pressure on Iran is enough to bridge the very wide gaps between the U.S. and Iran.

The International Monetary Fund warns that the global economy is at risk of a recession amid the ongoing conflict in Iran. The IMF singled out the United Kingdom as one of the hardest-hit economies because it imports so much gas and oil, says NPR’s Fatima Al-Kassab. U.K. households will already be $500 worse off this year due to the war, according to the think tank The Resolution Foundation. Some analysts say that even if peace is achieved tomorrow, the shock to the system could take weeks or even months to recover from

The Guardian - Donald Trump has said that US-Iranian peace talks could resume in Islamabad over the next two days. The US president was speaking on Tuesday to a New York Post reporter who had gone to Islamabad for the first round of ceasefire talks over the weekend. She said Trump called her back, saying: “You should stay there, really, because something could be happening over the next two days, and we’re more inclined to go there.” He also said Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, was doing a “great job” in arranging the talks.