Trump: 'In two days new talks with Iran'

Negotiations between the US and Iran to end the war in the Middle East will resume soon, 'within a couple of days in Islamabad' and then 'continue in Europe'. The confirmation, after many rumours spread by both Washington and Tehran, came from Donald Trump. While from the Gulf countries, all the way to India and even China, mediation efforts multiplied. "Something might happen in the next couple of days in Pakistan regarding the negotiations. We are inclined to follow that direction,' the US president told the New York Post, provoking a positive reaction from the financial markets and a drop in oil prices. "It is very likely and do you know why? Because the field marshal is doing a great job, he's fantastic," Trump added in reference to the Pakistani Chief of Staff, Asim Munir.

The United States and Iran will pick up where they left off: the reopening of Hormuz, the truce also in Lebanon, sanctions, Iranian assets and above all the nuclear programme. It was precisely the clash over the Iranian nuclear programme that caused the break-up in the first round of talks on 7 April in Pakistan: the US wanted to impose a total halt of 20 years, while Tehran was willing to accept a halt for only five years.

Over the past week, US diplomacy has nevertheless kept the channels of communication with Tehran open and continued to work under the radar, at least with part of the Iranian regime, to find a way out of a war that is increasingly difficult for the White House to sustain. At the same time, in order to overcome the double closure of Hormuz - the Iranian one and the one decided by the US - which is overwhelming the financial markets and global economies, many countries have taken urgent action by putting pressure on Trump to reactivate negotiations: the usual Turkey, Emmanuel Macron's France, the Arab Emirates and Qatar, Saudi Arabia (worried about the possible blockade of naval traffic also in the Red Sea), Egypt, India, and even China - which has been very harsh in condemning the US and Israeli attacks from the outset - have organised meetings and made statements to ease the tension.

"The international order is collapsing into chaos," said Xi Jinping, who nominated China as a "stabilising force" in a world disrupted by Trump's unpredictable approach, in trade and foreign policy, as in armed conflicts. The Chinese president - in a summit with Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohammed - insisted on the need to maintain the "fragile ceasefire" in Iran, reiterating that China will nevertheless continue to play "a constructive role" in the Middle East. Xi, already the great director of Pakistan's mediation that led to the current truce, then outlined a four-point (fairly generic) proposal for peace and stability in the Middle East: respect for the principle of peaceful coexistence; respect for the sovereignty of countries; respect for international law; and promotion of development and security.

Between Xi and Trump, who are expected to meet in Beijing in mid-May, dialogue remains difficult The Chinese president has promised to respond with 'appropriate countermeasures' to new US threats of tariffs on trade, yet another US move to strike at China-Iran ties and business.