Pakistani officials said Tuesday that Islamabad has proposed a second round of talks to the U.S. and Iran, while U.S. Vice President JD Vance earlier said negotiations with Iran “did make some progress" and U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday “we’ve been called by the other side” and “they want to work a deal.”

The Pakistani officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter with the press.

A senior Hezbollah official on Monday said the Lebanese militant group will not abide by any agreements that may result from direct Lebanon-Israel talks set to start Tuesday in Washington.

Lebanese officials hope to broker a ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war that has killed at least 2,089 people in Lebanon. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he doesn’t want a ceasefire and the goal is Hezbollah’s disarmament and a potential peace agreement between Lebanon and Israel.

A U.S. blockade of Iranian ports that began Monday and Iran’s threatened retaliation set up an extraordinary showdown posing serious risks for the global economy and raising the specter of a ceasefire collapse and resumed fighting.

Here is the latest:

Xi floats proposal to promote Middle East peace

Chinese President Xi Jinping floated a four-point proposal for promoting Middle East peace during a meeting Tuesday with Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the crown ⁠prince of Abu Dhabi, Chinese official news agency Xinhua reported.

Xi’s proposal calls for upholding the principle of regional peaceful coexistence and respecting national sovereignty while underscoring the principles of coordinating development and security, Xinhua reported.

“Safeguard the authority of the international rule of law. It can’t be ‘use it when it suits us, discard it when it doesn’t,’ and we cannot allow the world to revert to the law of the jungle,” Xi said.

Oil falls and stocks gain on hopes of renewed US-Iran talks

Asian stocks were trading higher tracking and oil fell on Tuesday as expectations rose over a possible second round of talks between the U.S. and Iran.

Benchmark U.S. crude fell 1.7% early Tuesday to $97.37 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, was down 0.9% to $98.49 per barrel.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 was up 2.3% to 57,804.81. South Korea’s Kospi jumped 2.7% to 5,968.06.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.5% to 25,783.41, while the Shanghai Composite index climbed 0.5% to 4,007.93.

Oil prices continued to pull back on Tuesday from earlier gains.

Pakistan proposes second round of talks in Islamabad

Pakistan has proposed hosting a second round of talks between the United States and Iran in Islamabad in the coming days, before the end of the ceasefire, two Pakistani officials said.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter with the press, said the proposal would depend on whether the parties request a different location.

One of the officials said that, despite ending without an agreement, the first talks were part of an ongoing diplomatic process rather than a one-off effort.

— By Munir Ahmed