Lebanon

The US started a blockade on Iranian ports, but Trump said there is still a chance for Tehran to reach a deal.

President Donald Trump said there is still room for Iran to strike a deal, despite the US blockade of Iranian ports, as Israel intensified its invasion of southern Lebanon.

Iran has accused Washington of “piracy” as thousands rally in Tehran against the move, which targets shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

The Associated Press news agency reported on Tuesday that diplomatic efforts to revive US-Iran talks are continuing, with Pakistan offering to host a second round of negotiations in Islamabad this week.

Here is what we know:

In Iran

• US blockade and protests: The US measures are now being enforced, prompting Iranian accusations of “piracy” and demonstrations in Tehran against the restrictions on maritime traffic.
• Tehran calls blockade ‘illegal’: Iran’s armed forces condemned the move as unlawful, warning that targeting its ports could put shipping across the Gulf at risk.
• IRGC warns of escalation: A Revolutionary Guard spokesperson said Iran still has “unused capabilities” and could deploy new tactics if the conflict deepens.
• Tehran backs pope: Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf praised Pope Leo XIV for condemning the war, calling his stance “fearless”.
• Russia withdraws nuclear staff: Russia has pulled most of its personnel from Iran’s only nuclear power plant, built with Moscow’s support, according to the head of the country’s atomic energy agency.

War diplomacy

• Qatar urges mediation: Qatar’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani urged Iran and the US to engage constructively in mediation efforts.
• Pakistan says truce ‘holding’: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the ceasefire between the US and Iran was “holding”, with efforts ongoing to reach a deal after weekend talks failed.
• Shipping disruption grows: A UN spokesperson said there is “no military solution”, warning that instability in the Strait of Hormuz is worsening global economic fragility. About 20,000 vessels are reported stranded, with supply chains, including fertiliser, under strain.
• Push to include Lebanon: The United Kingdom urged Lebanon’s inclusion in a broader US-Iran ceasefire framework, which currently excludes fighting involving Hezbollah.
• Talks planned with Lebanon despite fighting: Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors will hold talks on Tuesday in Washington, DC, aimed at halting the war.
• Hezbollah rejects negotiations: Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem on Monday urged Lebanon to cancel the planned meeting in Washington, reiterating his group’s opposition to any direct engagement with Israel.
• Russia to accept Iran’s uranium: The Kremlin has repeated an offer to accept Iran’s enriched uranium as part of a potential agreement with the US. In comments carried by Russia’s state-owned RIA Novosti news agency, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the proposal “was voiced by President [Vladimir] Putin in contacts with both the United States and regional states”.

In the US

• Iran ‘wants a deal’: Trump said Iranian representatives had reached out to pursue a peace agreement after talks in Pakistan ended without a breakthrough. “They’d like to make a deal. Very badly,” he told reporters, without specifying who made contact.
• No apology over pope remarks: Trump said he had “nothing to apologise for” after criticising Pope Leo XIV for calling for an end to the conflict. He described the pope as “weak” on key issues, including Iran.
• Warning over Iranian vessels: Trump said US forces would destroy any Iranian “fast attack ships” approaching the naval blockade now in effect.
• Domestic politics and war powers: Senate Democrats, led by Chuck Schumer, are pushing for another vote to curb Trump’s authority to wage war on Iran. Schumer criticised the campaign as an “epic fail”, citing rising US fuel prices, while previous efforts have been blocked by Republicans.
• Arrests of protesters: Police in New York City have arrested about 90 protesters in Manhattan as they stopped traffic to protest against the war on Iran and the US’s arms sales to Israel. Jewish Voice for Peace, the group leading the protest, said those taken into custody included whistleblower Chelsea Manning, actor Hari Nef and New York City Council Member Alexa Aviles.
• Trump rails at pope: Trump has doubled down on his criticism of Pope Leo XIV, saying the pontiff’s opposition to the war in Iran was “wrong” and accusing him of being “weak on crime”.

In Israel

• Israel pushes ‘buffer zone’: Israel’s military is continuing ground operations and air raids across southern Lebanon, bulldozing buildings in border towns such as Naqoura as part of efforts to create a “buffer zone”.
• Hezbollah steps up attacks: Fighters have launched rockets and drones at Israeli troops and vehicles in areas including Bint Jbeil and Biyyada.
• Accusations against Israel: Hezbollah chief Qassem accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of pursuing a “Greater Israel” agenda with US backing.
• Tensions with Italy: Israel summoned Italy’s ambassador after Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani condemned attacks on Beirut as “unacceptable”, following reports of more than 300 deaths.
• The Israeli military said one soldier has been killed and three others have been wounded during battle in southern Lebanon.

In Lebanon

• Israel continues to attack Lebanon: Israel has intensified its invasion of southern Lebanon, as the death toll from Israeli attacks since March 2 rises to at least 2,089.
• An Israeli drone attack has hit a car travelling near southern Lebanon’s Nabatieh, killing at least two people, the National News Agency reported on Tuesday. Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic say Israeli forces have launched two raids on the towns of Machgharah and Sohmor in the eastern Bekaa Valley.
• Public opinion divided: Lebanese citizens appear split about negotiations, with some expressing fatigue from the war and hoping for a diplomatic breakthrough, while others remain sceptical of Israel’s intentions and doubt any deal will hold.
• Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand confirmed in a statement posted on X that a Canadian national has died in southern Lebanon. The minister did not provide details on the events that led to the Canadian’s death.

Strait of Hormuz and energy crisis

• The Reuters news agency is reporting that a Chinese tanker sanctioned ⁠by Washington has passed through the Strait of Hormuz despite a ⁠US blockade on the waterway. The tanker and its ‌owner, Shanghai Xuanrun Shipping Co Ltd, were previously sanctioned by the US for dealing with Iran.
• US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said oil prices could keep rising until “we get meaningful ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz”.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned that a potential closure of the Strait of Hormuz and ongoing Israeli strikes on Lebanon threaten regional stability after a meeting in Brussels on the fallout from the Iran conflict. Al Jazeera’s Abdullah Elshamy reports on the bloc’s response.

In a matter of minutes, Israel killed more than 350 people across Lebanon on Wednesday, April 8. Here are some of their stories.

Rescuers are digging through rubble after a new wave of Israeli strikes across southern Lebanon killed at least 13 people. The attacks hit multiple towns in the Tyre and Nabatieh districts. The death toll from Israeli attacks in Lebanon climbs above 2,000.

The Strait of Hormuz is believed to be a key sticking point as Iran and the US continue negotiations in the Pakistani capital.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry says more than 2,000 people have been killed in Israeli attacks since March 2.

Israeli strikes have killed at least 18 people across southern Lebanon, as Lebanese authorities reported that the overall death toll from the war that began last month between Israel and Lebanese group Hezbollah has surpassed 2,000.

Israeli strikes on a village near Sidon in southern Lebanon killed at least eight people and wounded nine others, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said on Saturday.

Earlier, it said that at least 10 people, including three emergency workers, had been killed in Israeli strikes in the Nabatieh district.

In its latest tally, the Health Ministry reported that at least 2,020 people have been killed and 6,436 others wounded since Lebanon was drawn into the US-Israel war on Iran on March 2. Hezbollah launched rocket fire at Israel in support of its backer Iran, sparking massive Israeli strikes and a ground invasion.

Meanwhile, Israeli media reported that two Israeli soldiers were wounded during clashes with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon on Saturday.

Israel’s Channel 13, citing the military, said the two soldiers from the Paratroopers Brigade sustained moderate injuries from shrapnel during the confrontation.

The violence comes as Iran-backed Hezbollah renewed its rejection of direct negotiations between Israel and Lebanon aimed at ending the war.

President Joseph Aoun’s office said on Friday that officials from Lebanon, Israel and the United States would meet next week in Washington “to discuss declaring a ceasefire and the start date for negotiations between Lebanon and Israel under US auspices”.

Hundreds of people gathered on Saturday near the government headquarters in central Beirut in support of Hezbollah and to protest against the talks with Israel, some waving the group’s yellow flags or the Iranian standard.

Demonstrator Ruqaya Msheik said the protest was a message that Lebanon “will not be Israeli”.

“Whoever wants peace with Israel is not Lebanese,” she said, adding: “Those who shake hands with the enemy … are Zionists.”

Hezbollah and its ally, the Amal Movement, issued a statement calling on supporters to avoid demonstrating “at this delicate stage”, citing interests of “stability, the protection of civil peace and avoiding any division that the Israeli enemy seeks”.

Earlier, Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said the decision to hold direct talks with Israel was “a blatant violation of the [national] pact, the constitution and Lebanese laws”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that any peace agreement reached with Lebanon must “last for generations” and also call for Hezbollah’s disarmament.

After a ceasefire was announced between the US and Iran this week, Washington and Tehran have been at odds over whether it also applies to Israel’s bombardment and invasion of Lebanon.

The dispute arose during the historic in-person ceasefire talks held in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, between the US and Iran on Saturday afternoon.

Al Jazeera’s Ali Hashem, reporting from Tehran, said that Iran was able to secure “a kind of guarantee from the US that Israel is going to decrease its attacks on Lebanon”.

However, he said that “nothing [has] been confirmed … from Israel, with respect to Lebanon.” While “there have been fewer attacks on Beirut and the southern suburbs,” nothing has been “announced with respect to a ceasefire”, he said.

April 11 (UPI) — Talks between the United States and Iran began Saturday morning between the two delegations in Islamabad, Pakistan.

Vice President JD Vance arrived at 10:30 a.m. PKT. At Nur Khan air base, Vance walked down a red carpet and met with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Sharif said Friday that the United States is at a “make or break” moment in a national address Friday.

It’s not clear if the talks are direct or indirect, but CNN reported the talks are a mixture of both.

Though there was heavy security, with road closures and checkpoints, the mood in Pakistan was jubilant, The Washington Post reported.

Both sides have repeatedly accused the other of violating the fragile cease-fire that began last week. The United States has said Iran is violating the agreement because the Strait of Hormuz is not open. Only two ships passed through it on Friday, The New York Times reported. Iran is angry that Israel continues to attack Lebanon, though Israel and the United States say they never agreed to stop fighting in Lebanon.

Israel has hit more than 200 targets in Lebanon affiliated with Hezbollah in the past 24 hours, The Times reported the Israeli military said.

Iran can’t find all the mines it set in the strait, The Times reported that U.S. officials said Friday, causing a snarl in Iran’s ability to comply with American demands.

Saturday morning, President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that the United States is “clearing out” the strait.

“We’re now starting the process of clearing out the Strait of Hormuz as a favor to Countries all over the World, including China, Japan, South Korea, France, Germany, and many others. Incredibly, they don’t have the Courage or Will to do this work themselves. Very interestingly, however, empty Oil carrying ships from many Nations are all heading to the United States of America to LOAD UP with Oil.”

He didn’t clarify what “clearing out” of the strait means.

On Friday, he said that Iranians must negotiate.

“The Iranians don’t seem to realize they have no cards, other than a short term extortion of the World by using International Waterways. The only reason they are alive today is to negotiate!” Trump said in a Truth Social post.

The U.S. delegation includes envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. The Iranian side has more than a dozen senior officials, including Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, along with senior security officials and Iran’s central bank governor, The Post reported.

Both sides seem motivated to see the war come to an end, but they remain at odds on several issues. Control of the Strait of Hormuz, war reparations, Iran’s enriched uranium and withdrawal of the U.S. military in the region are some of the sticking points.

As Israel continues its ground offensive into Lebanon, it appears that Hezbollah is increasing its first-person view (FPV) drone strikes on IDF armor and personnel. The uptick in these attacks is the latest example of how the use of the small, fast and easy to maneuver weapons has proliferated from the war in Ukraine to battlefields across the globe.

While the militant Lebanese group has used FPV drones against Israel since 2024, it has ramped up these attacks for a couple of different reasons, according to Ryan Brobst, Deputy Director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD)’s Center on Military and Political Power.

“The IDF is currently operating further north with more troops than in previous operations, which increases the number and proximity of targets for Hezbollah to strike,” Brobst told us. In addition, there are indications that the Iranian proxy has followed additional lessons from the Ukraine war using fiber optic cables to guide the drones. As we have frequently reported, fiber optic cables mitigate the effect of electronic warfare efforts to jam radio signals as well as some of the limitations imposed by geographical features that can impede the line-of-sight radio connection between drone and operator.

“One additional consideration may be the rising availability of fiber optic drones,” Brobst explained. “Just to be clear, I am not certain the extent to which Hezbollah has switched to fiber optics vs radio, or that radio models are totally ineffective. But it seems quite unlikely Hezbollah had significant numbers of fiber optics in 2024, given that Russia and Ukraine were just starting to deploy them that year. They are much more available now.”

Several videos recorded by Hezbollah recently have emerged on social media claiming to show its use of fiber optic-controlled FPV drones.

One video claims to show a compilation of Hezbollah FPV strikes that hit two Merkava Mk.4 main battle tanks, a D9 Caterpillar armored bulldozer, and what appears to be a Namer heavy infantry fighting vehicle (IFV).

The extent of the damage is not fully clear from these videos. The feeds end as soon as the drone strikes the target. Unlike both Ukraine and Russia, it would appear that Hezbollah does not have additional drones flying overhead to record the aftermath of these attacks, at least in select instances.

Another video shows claimed fiber-optic controlled FPV drone strikes on the open hatch of a Merkava as well as on an Eitan Armored Personnel Carrier parked behind a building. Again, there is no clear indication of any damage to either vehicle.

In a scene also reminiscent of the fight in Ukraine, Hezbollah used a fiber-optic controlled FPV drone to fly into a building. This is a tactic that both Ukrainian and Russian troops regularly train on and a skill they repeatedly hone.

🇮🇷🇮🇱🇱🇧 In a similar vein, the fact that Israel operates many very heavily armoured vehicles incentivizes Hizballah to employ its armed “FPV” multirotor drones against IDF personnel, whether in the open or in inside structures. Note that armed “FPV” multirotor drones of the… https://t.co/j9fCoY6Y9g pic.twitter.com/dwwrzpHdnX

— Shahryar Pasandideh (@shahpas) April 6, 2026

While no cables are visible in the drones used in any of these videos, the lack of degradation in their video feeds, even as they approach low to the ground is a good indication of a fiber-optic connection.

It is difficult to know the full extent of Hezbollah’s use of FPV drones of any kind or what damage they are inflicting. Much of the evidence of the attacks, Brobst notes, comes from the release of Hezbollah videos.

“There is evidence that Hezbollah had used FPVs by at least 2024, but significantly fewer videos exist from that time period,” he explained. “If Hezbollah had conducted successful attacks previously, they would likely have been releasing videos of them for propaganda effect, as they are doing now.”

The following video shows one of those Hezbollah FPV drone attacks from September 2024.

🇮🇱🇱🇧 Hezbollah uses a FPV drone to hit an Israeli HMMWV in Jal al-Alam

If Hezbollah has adjusted to new tactics from the Ukraine war and has drones and operators at scale, Israel might be in big trouble … if they move.

Russian instructors in Lebanon would be not surprising. pic.twitter.com/q1RQguqYfg

— Lord Bebo (@MyLordBebo) September 11, 2024

Getting a full picture on the extent of the damage caused is difficult given the IDF’s strict censorship policies. 

“The IDF has not released hard numbers on this unfortunately,” Brobst stated.

While the IDF does not acknowledge these events, its operational updates for March 26 “include a reference to several soldiers of the 7th Brigade sustaining injuries, one of whom was killed,” FDD stated. “It is not clear whether these casualties were the result of a Hezbollah FPV attack, but their unit is an armored brigade known to operate Israel’s Merkava 4 tank.”

A senior IDF official told The War Zone these videos show Hezbollah using FPV drones “with accurate manual control and sensible targeting (top of vehicles, weak points), the clips do show genuine strike capability, and some hits are probably real.”

However, “the videos cannot prove actual damage to a Merkava Mark IV…Footage is selectively edited, so success rates are likely overstated.”

The bottom line, he added is that “FPVs are a credible and growing technical threat, but the clips are evidence of capability — not proof of consistent effectiveness or system failure.”

Israel does have some means of countering drone attacks on armor. In addition to fielding electronic warfare equipment designed to jam drone radio signals (which does not work against fiber optic FPVs), some Israeli military vehicles are equipped with the combat-proven Trophy active protection systems (APS). The system uses radar detect and trigger small hit-to-kill projectiles at incoming threats. It was built mainly to defeat anti-tank missiles and RPGs, but new upgrades of the system have counter-drone capabilities, as well. You can read more about this emerging feature set and its potential here. It is unclear if any of Israel’s armor in Lebanon have this newer active protection system enhancement or if upgrades to earlier systems can also provide some of this capability.

Trophy® APS – The land maneuver enabler

Israel is not alone in being with FPV drones fired by Iranian proxies. As we reported last month, FPV drones targeted a U.S. military Black Hawk helicopter and a critical air defense radar at an American base in Iraq. Khataib Hezbollah, a group separate from the similarly named Lebanese group, is suspected of being behind the attack. This was one of a number of FPV attacks in Arab countries where U.S. forces are based.

You can see one of the drones hit the Black Hawk in the following video.

An Iranian-backed militia carried out a successful FPV drone strike on Camp Victory in Iraq yesterday, successfully hitting multiple targets.

Seen here, one of the FPV attack munitions hits a parked UH-60 Black Hawk. pic.twitter.com/ngY8td9ONZ

— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) March 25, 2026

The widespread use of FPV drones, both radio- and fiber-optic-controlled, has made maneuver warfare in Ukraine exceedingly difficult for either side. Meanwhile, both Russia and Ukraine have been making improvements to extend the range of their FPV drones, especially those controlled by fiber optic cables. This includes bigger spools allowing longer ranges as well as additions of things like wings to improve aerodynamics which also increases range. Both sides are also using a variety of drones as relays to increase the range of their radio-controlled drones.

You can see one example of a winged Ukrainian FPV drone in the video below.

Another Ukrainian variant of a winged FPP, this time recorded by the Russians on a mission armed with a PG-7 series warhead.
The intention is to dramatically increase the range of a standard FPV, and it is promising to be a very significant development in the small drone war. https://t.co/iVv6EyJq7B pic.twitter.com/sqYZEjcj7N

— Roy🇨🇦 (@GrandpaRoy2) April 8, 2026

At the moment, there is no indication that Israel has any plans to cease its invasion of southern Lebanon, which has emerged as a main sticking point in negotiations to end the war against Iran. On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that there was no ceasefire with Hezbollah.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu:

“Dear residents of the North, I am proud of you. You continue to stand firm.

I wish to inform you: There is no ceasefire in Lebanon. We are continuing to strike Hezbollah with full force, and we will not stop until we restore your security. pic.twitter.com/k2JeKXEMBQ

— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) April 9, 2026

How Hezbollah’s FPV capabilities will impact Israeli operations isn’t clear at this time, but if anything else, they are another sign of the proliferation of these capabilities and the challenges of defending against them.

Contact the author: howard@thewarzone.com

Dozens gathered in Madrid for a vigil honouring the victims of Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon a day after a ceasefire was announced between the US and Iran. The strikes killed 357 people according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.

Lebanon is facing a rapidly worsening food security situation as the fallout from the war involving Iran disrupts supply chains and drives up prices. The warning comes from the World Food Programme, which says the crisis is deepening alongside ongoing displacement and economic strain.

A fragile ceasefire between the United States and Iran has done little to stabilise conditions, with continued tensions and regional spillover, including Israeli strikes inside Lebanon, undermining recovery efforts.

From Displacement to Hunger

According to WFP officials, Lebanon’s crisis is evolving beyond displacement into a full scale food emergency.

As conflict intensifies and populations are forced to move, demand for food is rising sharply. At the same time, supply disruptions are making essential goods increasingly scarce and unaffordable.

This combination of rising demand and shrinking supply is accelerating inflation, placing basic food items out of reach for many households.

Collapse of Local Markets

The crisis is not uniform across the country but reflects a fragmented economic landscape

In southern Lebanon, where bombardment has been most intense, more than 80 percent of markets have ceased functioning altogether
In the capital, Beirut, markets remain operational but are under growing pressure from increased demand and limited supply

This two tiered breakdown highlights the uneven but interconnected nature of the crisis, where disruption in one region intensifies strain in another.

Supply Chains Under Strain

One of the most immediate concerns is the rapid depletion of food stocks. Traders report having less than a week’s worth of essential supplies remaining in some areas.

The disruption of key shipping routes and broader regional instability linked to the Iran conflict has made it difficult to replenish these stocks.

Even when aid is available, delivering it has become increasingly challenging. A recent WFP convoy to southern Lebanon took over 15 hours to complete a journey that would normally take only a few hours, underscoring logistical and security constraints.

Ceasefire Fragility and Regional Spillover

The instability of the ceasefire is a central factor in the worsening situation. Accusations of violations, particularly around the Strait of Hormuz, and continued military actions in Lebanon are undermining confidence and prolonging uncertainty.

This environment prevents the normalisation of trade routes and discourages commercial activity, both of which are essential for stabilising food supply.

Lebanon’s vulnerability is heightened by its dependence on imports, making it especially sensitive to external shocks in global and regional supply chains.

Implications

The emerging food crisis carries significant risks

A sharp increase in food insecurity among already vulnerable populations
Further displacement as living conditions deteriorate
Greater reliance on international humanitarian assistance

The situation also places additional strain on aid organisations, which must operate under increasingly difficult conditions while demand for assistance continues to grow.

Analysis

The crisis in Lebanon illustrates how modern conflicts extend far beyond immediate battlefields, disrupting economic systems and humanitarian conditions across borders.

The intersection of war, supply chain disruption, and domestic fragility has created a compounding effect. Lebanon’s pre existing economic weaknesses, including reliance on imports and limited state capacity, amplify the impact of external shocks.

At the same time, the breakdown of local markets and logistical bottlenecks reveals how quickly food systems can collapse under sustained pressure. The difficulty in delivering aid further complicates the response, turning what might have been a manageable shortage into a systemic crisis.

The situation also highlights the limits of ceasefires that fail to stabilise broader regional dynamics. Without secure trade routes and consistent de escalation, even temporary pauses in fighting offer little relief to economies and populations already under strain.

With information from Reuters.

A two day ceasefire between the United States and Iran has paused direct large scale strikes, but key flashpoints across the region remain active.

The closure of the Strait of Hormuz and escalating violence in Lebanon highlight the limited scope of the truce, exposing gaps in its coverage and enforcement.

Strait of Hormuz Remains Closed

Despite expectations that the ceasefire would stabilise energy markets, the Strait of Hormuz remains effectively shut.

This chokepoint normally handles a significant share of global oil shipments, with around 140 vessels passing through daily under normal conditions. In the first 24 hours after the ceasefire, only a handful of ships were able to transit the route.

The continued disruption has driven immediate delivery oil prices sharply higher, with some refiners in Europe and Asia reportedly paying near record levels.

Donald Trump publicly criticised Iran for failing to uphold what he described as an agreement to allow oil flows, while also signalling that shipments could resume soon without detailing mechanisms.

Disputed Scope of the Ceasefire

A central point of contention is whether the ceasefire extends beyond direct US Iran hostilities.

Iran maintains that the truce should include theatres such as Lebanon, where Hezbollah is engaged in conflict with Israel.

The United States and Israel reject this interpretation, arguing that Lebanon falls outside the agreement’s framework. This divergence has created parallel narratives of compliance and violation, undermining the credibility of the ceasefire.

Escalation in Lebanon

Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has continued, with both sides exchanging strikes.

Israeli forces carried out large scale attacks shortly after the ceasefire announcement, while Hezbollah resumed missile launches following earlier indications it would pause operations.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has since signalled a shift by expressing willingness to begin separate negotiations with Lebanon, focusing on disarming Hezbollah and establishing more stable relations.

Meanwhile, Lebanese officials are attempting to broker a temporary ceasefire as a stepping stone toward broader negotiations, indicating a parallel diplomatic track separate from US Iran talks.

High Stakes Talks in Islamabad

The first direct peace talks between the United States and Iran are scheduled to take place in Islamabad, which has been placed under heavy security lockdown.

Pakistan’s role as mediator underscores its diplomatic positioning, with tight security arrangements including restricted zones and controlled access around the negotiation venue.

The Iranian delegation is expected to be led by Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, while the US side will be headed by JD Vance.

Competing Strategic Objectives

The talks are shaped by fundamentally different goals

The United States seeks

• Limits on Iran’s nuclear programme
• An end to uranium enrichment
• Curtailment of missile capabilities
• Withdrawal of support for regional allies

Iran, by contrast, is expected to demand

• Removal of economic sanctions
• Recognition of its authority over the Strait of Hormuz
• Compensation for wartime damage

Iran’s leadership, now under Mojtaba Khamenei, has adopted a defiant posture, signalling that concessions will come at a high price.

Economic Fallout

The disruption in the Strait of Hormuz is already feeding into global economic indicators.

Oil price volatility is expected to influence inflation data, particularly in the United States, where upcoming consumer price figures may reflect the early economic impact of the conflict.

While futures markets have shown some optimism following the ceasefire, spot prices remain elevated, indicating persistent uncertainty about immediate supply conditions.

Military and Strategic Reality

Despite the ceasefire, the broader strategic objectives of the war remain unresolved

Iran retains missile and drone capabilities capable of targeting regional adversaries
Its nuclear programme continues, with a significant stockpile of enriched uranium
The political system has remained intact despite internal unrest

For the United States, initial goals such as dismantling Iran’s nuclear capacity and weakening its regional influence have not been fully achieved.

Analysis

The current situation reflects a fragmented ceasefire architecture in which the absence of a unified framework allows multiple conflicts to persist simultaneously. The continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz demonstrates how economic leverage can be maintained independently of formal military de escalation, reinforcing Iran’s bargaining position ahead of negotiations.

At the same time, the divergence over whether Lebanon is included in the truce highlights the limitations of narrowly scoped agreements in complex regional conflicts involving multiple state and non state actors. The persistence of Israel Hezbollah hostilities illustrates how parallel wars can undermine broader diplomatic efforts, creating a layered conflict environment.

The decision to proceed with talks in Islamabad despite ongoing violations suggests that both the United States and Iran view negotiations as strategically necessary, even in the absence of full compliance on the ground. This indicates a shift toward diplomacy driven not by stability but by mutual recognition of the costs of prolonged confrontation.

With information from Reuters.

WASHINGTON — Vice President JD Vance departed Friday for Islamabad, Pakistan, to open the first direct negotiations aimed at ending the war between the United States and Iran.

Together with a delegation of deeply mistrusting negotiators from Tehran, Vance is tasked with striking a lasting peace between rival nations which have failed to keep promises made days ago in a delicate last-minute ceasefire. Ongoing military activity in the Middle East and disagreements over Iran’s control of key shipping routes have left the diplomatic effort vulnerable to collapse before the talks even begin.

“If the Iranians are willing to negotiate in good faith, we’re certainly willing to extend the open hand,” Vance told reporters before boarding Air Force Two. “If they’re gonna try and play us, then they’re gonna find that the negotiating team is not that receptive.”

On Tuesday, President Trump called off his plans to unleash “hell” on Iran based on assurances that it lift its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, but traffic through the vital waterway was still at a trickle Friday, as more than 600 ships remained stranded in the Persian Gulf, according to marine tracking data. Trump accused Iran on Thursday of doing a “very poor job, dishonorable some would say,” of allowing oil through the strait.

“The Iranians don’t seem to realize they have no cards, other than a short term extortion of the World by using International Waterways. The only reason they are alive today is to negotiate!” he wrote on Truth Social Friday.

Meanwhile, Lebanon has emerged as the central dispute threatening to derail the talks before they begin.

Hours after the ceasefire took effect, Israel launched what Lebanese officials described as its heaviest wave of strikes since the war began, killing at least 303 people, according to local health officials.

Jerusalem argues the Lebanese front is still on the table, but Iran and Pakistan disagree.

“The Iran–U.S. Ceasefire terms are clear and explicit: the U.S. must choose — ceasefire or continued war via Israel. It cannot have both,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said earlier this week. “The world sees the massacres in Lebanon. The ball is in the U.S. court, and the world is watching whether it will act on its commitments.”

Vance has acknowledged a “legitimate misunderstanding” over whether Lebanon was included in the ceasefire terms, telling reporters Washington never made that promise.

Separate negotiations regarding Lebanon are expected next week in Washington, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun confirmed Friday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also OK’d the talks, but said a ceasefire is not possible.

Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf and the Iranian delegation arrived early Saturday in Islamabad, Iranian state media reported. Hours earlier he said a ceasefire in Lebanon “must be fulfilled before negotiations begin.”

Bagher Qalibaf added a second condition — the release of frozen Iranian assets — which he suggested must be returned before Tehran takes its seat at the bargaining table. Little is known about the halted Iranian funds overseas, but such assets are typically held back as a result of U.S.-imposed sanctions.

The vice president’s role in peace talks has grown in recent weeks. Administration officials have cast Vance as one of the few leaders Tehran would be willing to engage with directly. With a global economy upended by Trump’s far-reaching military ambitions, a victory in Islamabad could spike Vance’s standing as a prospect to lead the GOP post-Trump.

That’s if he’s able to take pressure off American wallets with an agreement that liberates Iran’s grip over the strait, which has choked much of the world’s oil supply,

Americans have continued to feel the fallout at the gas pump and grocery stores, as U.S. inflation climbed to 3.3% in March, the highest annual rate in nearly two years, according to the data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Monthly prices rose 0.9%, a sharp increase from February’s 0.3% monthly rise, when annual inflation sat at 2.4%, the new data showed.

The White House characterized the rising inflation as a short-term disruption caused by the Iran war, while noting that the administration is “diligently working to mitigate” rising costs.

“As the Administration ensures the free flow of energy through the Strait of Hormuz, the American economy remains on a solid trajectory thanks to the Administration’s robust supply-side agenda of tax cuts, deregulation, and energy abundance,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai wrote on X.

Britain announced a meeting next week with dozens of countries to coordinate efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The summit will focus countering Iran’s proposal to charge transit tolls to allow ships through the waterway.

In a televised address to the nation, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif spoke of a “devastating storm of inflation,” if peace talks don’t succeed in liberating the Middle East’s oil supply. He characterized the current stage as a “make-or-break moment.”

“We will make every possible effort to ensure the success of the peace process,” he said.

Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf warns ‘time is running out’ amid Israel’s continuing attacks on Lebanon.

WASHINGTON — Pivotal negotiations in Pakistan this weekend between the United States and Iran could hinge on developments in Lebanon, where ongoing Israeli strikes Thursday risked derailing a wider regional ceasefire.

Tensions only deepened amid reports of limited Iranian drone attacks across the region, and as Arab states warned that the Strait of Hormuz — a vital global shipping route — had only partially reopened despite President Trump’s assurances that Tehran had guaranteed full access.

Yet tests of the ceasefire have not deterred Iranian and American officials from their plans to travel to Pakistan on Saturday for the highest-level talks between the two nations, aimed at a final agreement to end the war, now in its sixth week.

The stakes are high for Iran, which has been pummeled by U.S. attacks, and for Trump, whose pursuit of the war has been domestically unpopular. The plan appeared precarious early Thursday, amid ongoing disagreement over whether the ceasefire included Lebanon.

Iran warned that continued Israeli attacks targeting the militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon could jeopardize the two-day-old truce. Hours later, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his government would open direct negotiations with Lebanon — but subsequently declared he would not cease strikes there.

His move to negotiate with the Lebanese came the day after President Trump asked Netanyahu to slow operations in Lebanon ahead of the Pakistan talks, a source familiar with the matter told The Times. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmail Baghaei, told reporters Thursday that the talks starting would be “contingent” upon hostilities ceasing in Lebanon.

As Israel’s posture on Lebanon injected uncertainty into the situation Thursday, the Strait of Hormuz — which Iran agreed to reopen in the ceasefire deal — remained closed, according to Sultan Al Jaber, a government minister in the United Arab Emirates. Traffic through the strait was below 10% of its usual volume Thursday, with only seven ships passing through in a 24-hour period, Reuters reported.

Trump, however, projected optimism Thursday about the weekend negotiations in Islamabad — even as the U.S. position appeared to weaken.

“I spoke with Bibi and he’s going to low-key it. I just think we have to be sort of a little more low-key,” Trump said in an interview with NBC News. He said he was “very optimistic” that a deal with Iran was in reach.

A White House official said Vice President JD Vance will lead the U.S. delegation, which will also include special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law. They would be the highest-level talks between the United States and Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

An Israeli official said the separate talks with Lebanon, to be conducted by the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to Washington, would start next week at the State Department. A State Department official confirmed the agency would host the talks.

Israel is not a direct party to the weekend negotiations in Pakistan between the U.S. and Iran. But “the United States knows our red lines in terms of nuclear disarmament, proxies, ballistic missile production,” the Israeli official said. “We believe we’re on the same page here.”

The Tuesday night ceasefire deal between the United States and Iran came after 39 days of conflict in the region, set off by Trump’s Feb. 28 attack on Iran. The full terms have not been publicly disclosed, and much remains uncertain about the agreement.

The agreement got off to a shaky start Wednesday: The strait remained restricted as the Iranians accused Americans of violating the agreement and it emerged that the U.S. and Israel were at odds with Iran over whether Lebanon was part of the ceasefire.

Trump threatened late Wednesday on his social media website that if Iran did not comply with the ceasefire, “then the ‘Shootin’ Starts,’ bigger, and better, and stronger than anyone has ever seen before.”

The deal’s status became even more fragile as Thursday dawned and Iran said Israeli strikes in Lebanon overnight violated the agreement. European leaders and the prime minister of Pakistan, which is brokering U.S.-Iran talks, warned that the operations could be putting the truce at risk.

“This is a dangerous sign of deception and lack of commitment to potential agreements,” Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Thursday. “The continuation of these actions will render negotiations meaningless.”

The speaker of Iran’s parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, warned of “explicit costs” for any moves Iran views as violations of the ceasefire, saying Lebanon was an “inseparable part” of the deal.

Israel and the U.S. have said that Lebanon, where Israel says it is targeting Iran-backed Hezbollah militants, was not part of the ceasefire agreement. Netanyahu said in a Thursday evening statement that he was pursuing negotiations at the request of the Lebanese government.

“There is no ceasefire in Lebanon. We are continuing to strike Hezbollah with full force, and we will not stop until we restore your security,” he said.

Also Thursday, House Republicans rebuffed an attempt by Democrats to vote on restricting Trump’s war powers. Democratic leaders — who have raised concerns about Trump’s Easter Sunday threat to wipe out Iranian civilization and said his statement amounted to threatening war crimes — afterward called on Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to bring Congress back to session.

Meanwhile, Trump railed on his social media website against conservative figures who have criticized his approach to the war, including former Fox News hosts Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly, calling them “stupid people” and proclaiming that the United States “IS NOW THE ‘HOTTEST’ COUNTRY ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD!”

He also continued to attack NATO members for not living up to his expectations in helping him with the war in Iran. In a post earlier Thursday, the president said the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has been “very disappointing” and suggested the United States needs to pressure allies in order for them to respond to its needs.

That followed a meeting Wednesday afternoon with NATO Secretary Mark Rutte at the White House, after which Trump asserted online that “NATO WASN’T THERE WHEN WE NEEDED THEM, AND THEY WON’T BE THERE IF WE NEED THEM AGAIN.”

In an interview with CNN, Rutte said Trump had made his disappointment with NATO allies clear. Rutte said he had emphasized to Trump that a large majority of European nations have given the U.S. some logistical military help, such as allowing American warplanes to land at their bases and fly over their territories.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry said Israel’s surprise barrage of airstrikes on Wednesday killed 303 people and wounded about 1,150 others, in a preliminary toll. It added that the numbers were likely to rise while search efforts for bodies and DNA testing continue.

If direct negotiations with Israel do take place, they would break a long-standing political taboo for Lebanon. Successive governments have dealt with Israeli diplomats only as far as allowing technical discussions with Lebanese military officials via the United Nations.

The prospect of direct negotiations is likely to kick up fierce opposition from Hezbollah and its political ally, the Lebanese Shiite party Amal.

Both parties — which together form the so-called Shiite Duo, are part of a voting bloc in parliament and hold important portfolios in Lebanon’s Cabinet — are already in a war of wills with the Lebanese government, which recently declared the Iranian ambassador-designate persona non grata and ordered his departure.

Amal and Hezbollah officials told the ambassador-designate to remain in Lebanon and exhorted the government to reverse its decision. He remains at the embassy in Beirut.

McDaniel and Wilner reported from Washington and Bulos from Amman, Jordan. Times staff writer Ana Ceballos in Washington contributed to this report.

Traffic through the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz remains largely stalled, according to multiple reports, despite Iran and the United States agreeing to a two-week ceasefire. Earlier this week, U.S. President Donald Trump had given Tehran a deadline to agree to his ceasefire demands, including reopening the strait, or he threatened to turn Iran into a “living hell.”

Only one oil products tanker and five dry bulk carriers have passed through the Strait of Hormuz in the last 24 hours, according to ship-tracking data analysis, Reuters reports. Since the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran began on February 28, vessel traffic has averaged only a few ships per day, based on data from Kpler, Lloyd’s List Intelligence, and Signal Ocean. Prior to the conflict, an average of ⁠140 vessels transited daily through the strait.

According to data from Windward, a maritime intelligence firm that tracks international shipping, 11 vessels have been allowed transit through the strait in the 24 hours since the ceasefire. Four of these ships are Iranian, four are Greek, and one is Chinese.

Intelligence firm AXSMarine reports that two eastbound ships, the Oman-owned Lucia and Greek-owned Iolcas Destiny, were given passage from the Gulf in the early hours of Thursday morning despite the Iranian declaration that the strait was closed.

Windward said all vessels transiting the strait must still coordinate safe passage with Iranian authorities, who are requiring shippers to pay substantial tolls, reportedly as much as $1 per barrel for outbound oil, settled in cryptocurrency. For context, the largest supertankers can carry up to three million barrels of crude.

According to an unconfirmed report from Russia’s TASS news agency, quoting an unnamed senior Iranian source, Iran will allow no more than 15 vessels a day to pass through the strait under the ceasefire agreement.

Meanwhile, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Saeed Khatibzadeh, claims that the strait has been mined, forcing all ships to use channels that are controlled by Iran.

There are still around 1,400 ships waiting at anchorages on both sides of the narrow passage.

Although the strait has remained effectively closed since the war began, Iran has granted limited exemptions to allies, including China, Russia, India, Iraq, and Pakistan, while some Malaysian and Thai vessels have also been permitted to transit following diplomatic negotiations in recent weeks.

Now, the Israeli campaign in Lebanon is being identified as a major sticking point in fully reopening the strait.

The United States and Israel maintain that the two-week ceasefire now in place does not apply to Lebanon, where the Israeli military carried out one of its heaviest waves of airstrikes yesterday.

Iran and Pakistan, which helped broker the ceasefire, insist that Lebanon is included in the agreement.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian described Israel’s latest strikes on Lebanon as a “blatant violation” of the ceasefire agreement, and their continuation would “render negotiations meaningless.”

In a statement on X, Pezeshkian wrote, as per machine translation:

“Israel’s renewed incursion into Lebanon is a blatant violation of the initial ceasefire agreement. This is a dangerous sign of deception and lack of commitment to potential agreements. The continuation of these actions will render negotiations meaningless. Our fingers remain on the trigger. Iran will never abandon its Lebanese sisters and brothers.”

Deputy foreign minister Khatibzadeh accused Israel of carrying out a “surprise attack” on Lebanon, calling it a “serious violation” of the ceasefire agreement.

“It was a sort of genocide, you know, by the regime of Israel in Lebanon, just immediately after the ceasefire was accepted,” Khatibzadeh told the BBC. “It is a type of practice that the Israeli regime has always done: accepting ceasefire, then surprise attack, massacring.”

He added that the United States “must choose between war and ceasefire”, saying: “They cannot have both at the same time.”

Khatibzadeh continued: “If President Trump … is interested in peace for the whole Middle East, and since Iran is committed to that, we ask everybody in the Middle East to be abided by this agreement and this ceasefire that we reached with Americans, and we expect Americans do the same with its ally, the Israeli regime.”

The speaker of the Iranian parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, reiterated that Lebanon forms “an inseparable part of the ceasefire” deal. In a post on X, he said, “There is no room for denial and backtracking”. Ghalibaf added: “Ceasefire violations carry explicit costs and STRONG responses. Extinguish the fire immediately.”

BEIRUT, Lebanon, April 9 (UPI) — Lebanese officials engaged Thursday in intensive diplomatic contacts to confirm the country’s inclusion in the Pakistan-mediated U.S.-Iran cease-fire and refusing to let Tehran negotiate on their behalf.

The initiative comes a day after Israel carried out large-scale air strikes on Beirut and across Lebanon.-

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam called on his Pakistani counterpart, Shehbaz Sharif, during a telephone call to emphasize that the cease-fire achieved between the United States and Iran on Wednesday “must include Lebanon to prevent a recurrence of the Israeli aggressions.”

Sharif condemned the recent Israeli attacks on Lebanon and affirmed that Pakistan “is working to ensure peace and stability” in the country.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun urged Western and Arab officials he had contacted to give his country “an opportunity — just as was given to the United States and Iran — to reach a cease-fire and move toward negotiations.”

Speaking during a Cabinet meeting, Aoun, who last month proposed direct talks with Israel starting with a truce, also called for exerting the necessary pressure to ensure that “Lebanon becomes part of the cease-fire agreement, allowing us to proceed with negotiations.”

Israel has rejected the proposal for direct talks and inclusion of Lebanon in the two-week cease-fire, which is said to call for a cessation of hostilities across multiple fronts, Lebanon among them, while pledging to continue strikes against Hezbollah.

Aoun refused “anyone [who] negotiates on our behalf,” a clear reference to Iran, which threatened to withdraw from the temporary cease-fire with the United States if Israel continues to attack Lebanon.

“We have the ability and the means to negotiate ourselves, and therefore we do not want anyone to negotiate for us. This is something we do not accept,” Aoun said.

In separate comments, Aoun said the only solution is to achieve a cease-fire, followed by direct negotiations with Israel.

Ali Fayyad, A Hezbollah member in Parliament, called on the Lebanese government to “insist on a cease-fire as a prerequisite before moving to any subsequent step.”

Fayyad reiterated his group’s rejection of any direct negotiations with Israel, requesting Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon, cessation of Israeli attacks and return of the displaced to their villages and towns.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a post on X that his country “will never abandon its Lebanese brothers and sisters” after Israel’s Wednesday strikes on residential areas in Beirut and other Lebanese areas killed more than 200 people and injured over 1,000.

Pezeshkian said the Israeli attacks “blatantly violate the initial cease-fire” and that “such actions signal deception and non-compliance, rendering negotiations meaningless. Our hands remain on the trigger.”

While Pakistan has confirmed that Lebanon is included in the cease-fire it mediated, Israel and the United States have claimed otherwise.

The Lebanese Cabinet decided to file an urgent complaint to the U.N. Security Council regarding the “dangerous escalation” of Israeli attacks that resulted in a large number of civilian casualties and came “in defiance of all international and regional efforts to halt the war in the region.”

It also called on the Army and security forces to immediately take action to strengthen the state’s full authority over Beirut, ensuring that weapons are restricted to legitimate forces and the laws are strictly enforced.

The measure specifically targets Hezbollah, which has refused to fully disarm after its war with Israel that began Oct. 8, 2023, in support of Gaza — a conflict that was supposed to end with the Nov. 27, 2024, cease-fire, which Israel ignored, continuing its strikes against the militant group.

It also came after Israel hit buildings, apartments and hotel rooms in Beirut where Hezbollah and Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps allegedly were hiding, risking civilian lives.

While Hezbollah announced Thursday that it resumed firing missiles and rockets on settlements in northern Israel for its violation of the truce with Iran, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the group was “desperate for a cease-fire.”

Katz was quoted by Israeli English-language websites as saying that 200 Hezbollah members were killed in Wednesday’s attacks, bringing the number of “those eliminated” during the new round of fighting since last March to 1,400.

“Hezbollah is stunned by the scale of the blow,” he said.

The Israeli Army said that among those targeted Wednesday in an air strike on a residential building in Beirut was Ali Youssef Harshi, the personal secretary and nephew of Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem.

It said that Maher Qasem Hamdan, whom it described as the commander of the Hezbollah-affiliated “Lebanese Resistance Brigades,” and seven others also died in a strike on the port city of Sidon in southern Lebanon.

Meanwhile, Israel sparked a new wave of panic by issuing evacuation orders for residents in Beirut’s southern suburbs and surrounding areas, forcing thousands, including already displaced people, to flee in haste.

Early Thursday, rescue teams continued searching in two targeted buildings, one of which collapsed, while many families tried to locate loved ones who have been unaccounted for since Wednesday.

According to medical sources at the government-run Rafik Hariri University Hospital, about 95 bodies, some mutilated, were brought to the hospital and were awaiting identification by their families.

While the health ministry reported Wednesday night 112 killed and 837 injured, the General Directorate of Civil Defense said 254 people were killed and 1,165 wounded, adding that the toll in Beirut reached 92 dead and 742 injured.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his government is ready to hold direct talks with Lebanon, a day after Israeli attacks on its northern neighbour killed hundreds of people on the deadliest day of the ongoing round of fighting.

“In light of Lebanon’s repeated requests to open direct negotiations with ⁠Israel, I instructed ⁠the cabinet yesterday to start direct negotiations with Lebanon ⁠as soon as ⁠possible,” Netanyahu’s office wrote ⁠in a statement on Thursday.

“The negotiations will focus on disarming Hezbollah ‌and establishing peaceful relations between Israel and ‌Lebanon.”

The statement comes a day after Israeli attacks across Lebanon killed more than 300 people in a series of devastating strikes that have threatened to undermine a United States-Iran ceasefire.

Israel and the US have said Lebanon was not included in the US-Iran two-week truce, which aims to allow for negotiations on ending their more than monthlong war. Iran and mediator Pakistan have said Lebanon was included in the ceasefire, and several international leaders have called for Lebanon to be included.

Shortly before Netanyahu’s surprise announcement about potential talks, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said he ⁠was working on a diplomatic track on this matter that was starting to be seen “positively” by international actors.

And Lebanon’s cabinet instructed security forces to restrict weapons in Beirut exclusively to state institutions, in a warning to the armed group Hezbollah.

“The army and security forces are requested to immediately begin reinforcing the full imposition of state authority over Beirut Governorate and to monopolise weapons in the hands of legitimate authorities alone,” Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said at the end of a cabinet meeting.

Attacks on Hezbollah

Hours before opening the way for talks with Lebanon, Netanyahu said Israel would continue striking Hezbollah “with force, precision and determination”.

Lebanon’s health ministry said at least 303 people were killed and more than 1,000 wounded on Wednesday in Israeli strikes in central Beirut and other areas of Lebanon, with Salam declaring Thursday a “national day of mourning”.

But Israel continued its bombardment overnight and into Thursday, saying it killed Ali Yusuf Harshi, an aide to Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem. There was no immediate comment from the Lebanese armed group.

Meanwhile, Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reported on Thursday that the Israeli army targeted the centre of Bint Jbeil city with heavy artillery shelling.

At the same time, Hezbollah has announced at least 20 operations against Israel and said it had targeted Israeli vehicles on Lebanese territory.

Reporting from Beirut, Al Jazeera’s Malcolm Webb said the Israeli army had issued new forced evacuation orders for the capital’s southern suburbs in advance of an attack.

“[This is an] area where thousands of people had initially fled, so this will force people to be on the move once again, looking yet again for somewhere safe to go to avoid the kind of destruction we can see here at one of the sites in central Beirut that was hit just over 24 hours ago in that wave of bombings across the city,” Webb said.

Since the ongoing Israel-Lebanon conflict began on March 2, Israel has issued evacuation orders for about 15 percent of Lebanese territory, displacing more than 1.2 million people, according to the United Nations. Israeli attacks have killed at least 1,888 people and wounded more than 6,000 others, according to Lebanese health authorities.

Ceasefire deal

As Israel continues its attacks on Lebanon, concerns are growing about the effect it could have on the originally fragile deal.

Since Wednesday, Iran has argued that attacks in Lebanon violate the ceasefire deal, with President Masoud Pezeshkian saying on Thursday that Israeli strikes on Lebanon would render negotiations meaningless, adding that Iran would not abandon the Lebanese people.

However, the US has said Lebanon is not covered by the truce, despite Pakistan, which acted as mediator, saying it was part of the deal.

Other countries, including the United Kingdom, France, Russia and Turkiye, have said the truce should extend to Lebanon.

Delegations from the US and Iran are expected to meet in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, on Saturday for talks on ending the war.

The UNIFIL announced that an investigation has concluded that three Indonesian peacekeepers were killed by a shell fired from an Israeli tank.

According to UNIFIL, analysis of the impact site and recovered shrapnel confirmed that the projectile was a 120mm shell fired from an Israeli Merkava tank, launched from the east toward the town of Taybeh.

The mission noted that it had previously provided the Israeli army with the coordinates of all its positions and facilities on 6^th March and again on 22^nd March, as part of efforts to reduce risks to its personnel.

In a related incident, UNIFIL reported that the Israeli army detained one of its peacekeepers after intercepting a logistics convoy, before releasing him less than an hour later following urgent contacts by UN command.

The mission condemned the detention as a “flagrant violation of international law,” stressing that any obstruction of peacekeeping operations breaches UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which guarantees freedom of movement for UN forces in southern Lebanon.

Separately, UNIFIL confirmed that another peacekeeper was killed on 29^th March when a shell struck a UN position near Adshit al-Qusayr, with another seriously wounded. At the time, the source of the shell was unknown, prompting the investigation.

The findings come amid ongoing Israeli aggression on Lebanon and heightened risks facing UN peacekeeping forces operating in the area.

April 9 (UPI) — Oil prices were on the rise again on Thursday amid concerns a “fragile” cease-fire between the United States, Iran and Israel could unravel over continued fighting in Lebanon and few signs the Strait of Hormuz was about to reopen to shipping.

The Brent crude and West Texas Intermediate international benchmarks were both trading around 4% higher at $98.62 and $99.94 a barrel respectively in early afternoon trade on Thursday, after prices plunged Wednesday on the announcement of a two-week cessation of hostilities.

Share prices in Asia also fell overnight with the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo giving up some of the gains made on Wednesday with European stocks following suit when exchanges opened Thursday morning.

The market reacted to warnings from both sides that they were prepared to resume military action if the other did not adhere to truce terms neither party accepts are the same, with Tehran saying Israeli strikes on Lebanon were a “grave violation” and Washington saying Iran must comply with the “real” agreement.

There was also growing concern over the reopening of the Hormuz Strait, a key term of the agreement which must be implemented to ease the disruption to global oil supply that has sent prices soaring.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh told BBC Radio on Thursday that Iran would “provide security for safe passage” through the sea lane via which around a fifth of the world’s oil and gas is exported, but only “after the United States withdraws this aggression” — an apparent reference to the Israeli strikes in Lebanon.

He stressed that while the 21-mile wide strait had been “open for millennia” prior to the war, it was not international waters and that shipping only transited on the goodwill of Iran and Oman” — the sovereign countries on either side of the channel.

Khatibzadeh dodged questioning over how safe vessels would be and whether they would be required to pay tolls, saying Tehran wanted a “peaceful” arrangement, but that it would not permit “misuse” of the Gulf by warships.

However, London-headquartered shipping brokerage SSY Global said the Iranian navy had issued a warning to ships in the Persian Gulf that any vessels attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz without permission “will be targeted and destroyed.”

Announcing the cease-fire on Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump said the deal hinged on the “complete, immediate, and safe opening” of the strait, a point pressed home on Wednesday by U.S. Vice President JD Vance, who said while there were signs the process was starting Iran was required to fully open the strait.

“The president is very, very clear the deal is a cease-fire, a negotiation. That’s what we give, and what they give is that straits are going to be reopened. If we don’t see that happening, the president is not going to abide by our terms if the Iranians are not abiding by their terms.”

The White House announced Wednesday that Vance would lead the U.S. negotiating team at talks due to get underway in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Saturday.

Khatibzadeh said Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, speaker of the Iranian parliament, would head up the Iranian side.

The talks will try to reconcile two very different visions of the way forward — a 15-point U.S. plan and a 10-point Iranian plan — with Iran’s nuclear program which the Americans want totally scrapped but Iran insists on retaining for civilian energy purposes — topping the agenda.

A 13-year-old girl on Snapchat captured the moment Israel began its assault on Beirut. In the video posted on her mother’s social media, she is seen running with her father to hide from the blast. On the first day of the US-Iran ceasefire, Israel said it bombed Lebanon 100 times in just 10 minutes, killing hundreds.

French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed the US-Iran ceasefire as “very good news,” saying it appears to be holding, but warned the situation in Lebanon remains critical and must be fully included in any regional truce. He also praised Iran’s readiness to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.