Middle East crisis live: US claims blockade has ‘completely halted economic trade’ into Iran, as Trump hints at return to talks in Pakistan

By Jonathan Yerushalmy · The Guardian World

US military boasts blockade of the strait of Hormuz will incapacitate Iran’s economy; Trump says negotiations could return to Pakistan US-Iran peace talks could resume in next two days, Trump says Welcome to the Guardian’s continuing coverage of the crisis in the Middle East. The US military has said American forces have completely halted economic trade going in and out of Iran by sea through a blockade. An estimated 90% of Iran’s economy is fueled by international trade by sea. In less than 36 hours since the blockade was implemented, U.S. forces have completely halted economic trade going into and out of Iran by sea.” Donald Trump has said that talks with Iran could resume in Pakistan over the next two days, according to an interview with the New York Post. “Something could be happening over the next two days, and we’re more inclined to go there,” Trump was quoted as saying. US secretary of state Marco Rubio said Israel-Lebanon talks in Washington on Tuesday were a “historic opportunity”. He said that while every complexity would not be resolved immediately, he hoped the parties would begin to move forward. Lebanon’s president expressed hope that direct talks would lead to an end to his country’s “suffering” after war erupted again between Israel and Hezbollah last month. “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,” president Joseph Aoun said in a statement, adding that “stability will not return to the south if Israel continues to occupy its lands”. Lebanon’s top envoy to the US said the high-level diplomatic engagement between her country and Israel was “constructive,” but urged an end to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants that has displaced thousands of Lebanese. After participating in Tuesday’s talks with Rubio and Israel’s ambassador to the US, Nada Hamadeh Moawad said she had “underscored the need to…