Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff were actually supposed to travel to Pakistan.Image: keystone
April 26, 2026, 2:58 p.mApril 26, 2026, 2:58 p.m
Diplomatic efforts to end the Iran war are stalling, and the ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah militia is also not holding. The German Navy is nevertheless preparing for a possible deployment in the Strait of Hormuz – after the fighting has ended.
Trump cancels trip of his negotiators
US President Donald Trump canceled an announced trip by his negotiators to Pakistan at short notice on Saturday – for the second time in a week. He also justified this with an unacceptable proposal from Iran.
“It remains to be seen whether the US is really serious about diplomacy.”
Tehran had previously signaled that it did not want to take part in direct negotiations with the US side. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi traveled to Pakistan, but according to his own statements only to meet Pakistani mediators. The visit to Islamabad was “very fruitful,” he wrote on “It remains to be seen whether the US is really serious about diplomacy.”
It is therefore unclear whether and when there will be a second round of negotiations. Trump wrote that there was “tremendous internal strife and confusion” within the Iranian leadership. Nobody knows who is in charge, “not even herself”. The original plan was for US special envoy Steve Witkoff to travel to Islamabad with Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said on Friday that the Iranians had asked to speak in person – something Tehran denied.
No threats, no new deadlines
Iran’s proposal was too bad, Trump said. “Interestingly, as soon as I turned them down, within ten minutes we received a new paper that was much better.” The US held all the trump cards, he said. “If you want to talk, all you have to do is call.” Trump’s behavior towards Tehran has changed: He recently relied on maximum military pressure, set deadlines and threatened to wipe out “an entire civilization” if the other side did not move.
The points of contention are Iran’s nuclear program and the development of ballistic missiles. The USA also insists on the Strait of Hormuz being fully opened to shipping traffic. Iran demands compensation for war damage.
Fighting in southern Lebanon
Things are also not going well with the ceasefire agreed between Israel and Lebanon with US mediation. The pro-Iranian Hezbollah said its fighters attacked Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon on Sunday. There were several deaths. This was not confirmed by Israel’s army. According to the Israeli military, three drones attacking from Lebanon were intercepted before they could enter Israeli territory.
The Health Ministry in Beirut said seven people were killed and 24 people injured in Israeli attacks on Saturday in the south of the country. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the army to attack Hezbollah targets “intensively”.
USA is gathering military forces in the region
While Trump rhetorically disarms, the US military is pooling its capabilities in the Gulf region. According to US information, the aircraft carrier “USS George HW Bush” is now under the jurisdiction of the Centcom regional command. It is the first time since 2003 that three US aircraft carriers are deployed in the Middle East at the same time. More than 200 aircraft and around 15,000 sailors and marines are stationed on the ships.
The USA wants to increase pressure on Tehran with a sea blockade. It applies to ships that are heading to or have left Iranian ports. Iran repeatedly attacks container ships moving through the strait. Traffic through the strait, which is important for global oil and gas trade, has almost come to a standstill since the start of the war.
The US military intercepted a sanctioned freighter from the Iranian “shadow fleet”. A helicopter that took off from the destroyer “USS Pinckney” stopped the ship in the Arabian Sea and it was being escorted back towards Iran, Centcom said on X.
German Navy minehunter is relocated
The German Bundeswehr is making preparations for possible participation in a multinational operation to secure the Strait of Hormuz. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) told the “Rheinische Post”: “We will move a minesweeper to the Mediterranean and provide it with a command and supply ship.”
According to a ministry spokeswoman, the mine-hunting boat “Fulda” will be relocated to the Mediterranean in the coming days. There it will initially take on tasks in the NATO Mine Countermeasures Association 2. This saves time so that the capabilities of the “Fulda” can be put into operation quickly as soon as the requirements specified by the federal government have been met.
Pistorius said that the prerequisite for deployment was, first and foremost, an end to the fighting in the US and Israel’s war with Iran. He also recalled that such an operation was only possible with a mandate from the Bundestag. (hkl/sda/dpa)