A 10-day ceasefire announced by U.S. President Donald Trump and agreed on by Lebanon and Israel went into effect as Friday began. The agreement could boost attempts to extend the ceasefire between Iran, the United States and Israel after weeks of devastating war.
Israel has not been fighting with Lebanon itself, but rather with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group inside Lebanon. Hezbollah said in a statement that “any ceasefire must be comprehensive
across all Lebanese territory and must not allow the Israeli enemy any freedom of movement.”
Nearly 2,200 people in Lebanon have been killed by Israeli air strikes.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s army chief met with Iranian officials in Tehran on Thursday in a bid to ease tensions in the Middle East and arrange a second round of negotiations between the United States and Iran after almost seven weeks of war.
The U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports continued as U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Trump administration would ramp up economic pain on Iran with new economic sanctions on countries doing business with it, calling the move the “financial equivalent” of a bombing campaign.
The White House said any further talks with Iran would likely take place in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, though no decision had been made on whether to resume negotiations. Pakistan has emerged as a key mediator after it hosted direct talks between the U.S. and Iran in Islamabad.
Here is the latest:
A 10-day ceasefire announced by U.S. President Donald Trump and agreed on by Lebanon and Israel started at midnight.
The two neighboring countries held their first direct diplomatic talks in decades on Tuesday in Washington after more than a month of war between Israel and the Iran-backed, Lebanon-based Hezbollah militant group.
Hezbollah started firing on Israel right after the start of the Iran war. It kept up attacks focused on northern Israel communities through Thursday night, with at least eight people injured, including two seriously, according to Israel’s emergency services.
Air raid sirens were sounding in a few northern Israeli communities just minutes before the ceasefire was going into effect. Israel’s military also said late Thursday it was striking Hezbollah rocket launchers.
The president made the assertion in an exchange with reporters before departing for an event in Las Vegas on Thursday.
If true, it would be a major concession from Iran, and would lock in a key demand of the U.S. to end the conflict.
“They’ve agreed to give us back the nuclear dust that’s way underground because of the attack we made with the B-2 bombers,” said Trump, using a term he’s adopted as shorthand for the roughly 970 pounds of enriched uranium buried under Iranian nuclear sites damaged by U.S. strikes on the country last year.
Iran has repeatedly insisted that it doesn’t seek a nuclear weapon and that its program is for peaceful proposes. Neither Iran nor countries acting as intermediaries in the conflict have talked about what would be a major breakthrough.
Pressed by a reporter on what is he waiting for to move forward, Trump offered that it was “very complicated.”
He added, “I don’t think we’re waiting. I think we’re moving very fast. It could happen pretty quickly.”
The White House did not respond to follow-up queries about whether Iran has agreed to give up its enriched uranium, under what terms and to whom it would be surrendered. Trump has previously made claims about Iran’s nuclear program that have turned out to be imprecise.
Ambassador Danny Danon told U.N. reporters Thursday that the 10-day ceasefire will be “challenging” because of Hezbollah, which said after the ceasefire announcement that continuing Israeli occupation grants Lebanon the right to resist.
Danon said Israel believes in direct negotiations with Lebanon, but knows this is a complex issue for the Lebanese government because of Hezbollah.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has offered to go to Washington — where the ambassadors of Israel and Lebanon met earlier this week — for negotiations, the ambassador said.
“We will come to any meeting to promote peace, but I cannot speak for the Lebanese government. We know that they are under pressure and threats from Iran,” Danon said.
Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani said the Islamic Republic welcomes and supports diplomatic efforts to bring a “sustainable end to this unlawful and unwarranted war,” including by Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, China and Russia.
“Despite our deep mistrust of the United States, stemming from its repeated betrayal of diplomacy, we nevertheless enter the negotiation in good faith and remain cautiously optimistic,” he told the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday.
“We believe that should the United States adopt a rational and constructive approach and refrain from advancing demands that are inconsistent with international law, this negotiation can lead to a meaningful outcome,” Iravani said.
He spoke at an assembly meeting in support of vetoes by Beijing and Moscow of a U.N. Security Council resolution backed by the U.S. and Gulf nations aimed at opening the Strait of Hormuz.
The Lebanese militant group called on people to exercise restraint and refrain from returning to areas in south and eastern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs that have been hit hard by Israeli strikes “until the situation becomes fully clear.”
The Lebanese army issued similar warnings, urging people not to rush back to those areas after the 10-day ceasefire kicks in at midnight Beirut time.
Previous ceasefires saw tens of thousands of people clogging roads as they attempted to drive back to check on homes and belongings in the first hours of the truce.
More than 1 million Lebanese people have been displaced during the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah.
Anwar Gargash, diplomatic advisor to the UAE’s president, said Gulf states have a different view of Iran, seeing it as the “main enemy”, citing its missile and drone attacks despite.
“We are fully aware of the position of many Arab societies in viewing Israel as the primary enemy, but the view in the Gulf states may be different... Iran is the one that attacked the Gulf states with thousands of missiles and drones, and for this reason we do not trust it, and we view it as a primary enemy,” he said during a media briefing Thursday at Dubai Press Club.
Gargash added that the UAE has questions over Iran’s nuclear program as well as its ballistic missiles and drones, and said that just as Tehran is seeking guarantees and reparations for war damage, the UAE also wants assurances that such “cowardly” attacks will not happen again.
The 10-day ceasefire that Israel and Lebanon agreed to came about following a meeting between the nations’ ambassadors and a flurry of subsequent phone calls from President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, according to a White House official.
After the talks Tuesday in Washington that included Rubio, Trump spoke Wednesday evening with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, who agreed to a ceasefire with certain terms, according to the official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Rubio then called Lebanon’s president, Joseph Aoun, who got on board. Trump then spoke with Aoun, and again with Netanyahu.
Meanwhile, the State Department worked with both governments to formulate a memorandum of understanding for the truce.
Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf made these remarks on Iranian state television after meeting Pakistan’s army chief Gen. Asim Munir in Tehran. U.S. President Donald Trump announced a 10-day truce between Lebanon and Israel in a bid to end the war between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group.
Iran, Hezbollah’s key patron and ally, has included ending the war in Lebanon as one of its conditions in its talks with Washington, mediated by Pakistan.
There was no mention about resuming in-person talks with Washington, as both sides gear up for a second round of talks.
The 10-day halt to the fighting that will begin later Thursday can be extended if there’s progress in talks to reach a lasting peace agreement and Lebanon “effectively demonstrates its ability to assert its sovereignty,” the State Department said.
President Donald Trump announced the truce following talks held in Washington this week. Israel hasn’t been fighting with Lebanon itself but rather with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group inside Lebanon.
In the statement that the U.S. says was agreed to by Lebanon and Israel, there is a provision to allow Israel to defend itself “at any time, against planned, imminent, or ongoing attacks.” Hezbollah has said it will respond to any strikes by Israel.
But otherwise, Israel “will not carry out any offensive military operations against Lebanese targets, including civilian, military, and other state targets,” the statement says.
The president once again claimed progress is being made in talks with Iran and suggested he could be involved in the signing of a peace agreement, if one is reached.
“If the deal is signed in Islamabad, I might go,” said Trump, who heaped praise on Pakistani Prime Shehbaz Sharif and Pakistani Army Gen. Asim Munir for their role as mediators in the U.S.-Iran talks.
“The field marshal has been great. The prime minister has been really great in Pakistan, so I might go. They want me.”
Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel said on Thursday his country’s prime minister will participate in a conference on Friday co-hosted by the French and British leaders on setting up a mission to ensure freedom of navigation through the strait after the Iran war ends.
But Rangel said a decision on Portugal’s contribution to such a mission won’t be taken “before we know exactly what is at stake” because the mission plan is still unclear.
He said the Portuguese “fully understand the value of freedom of navigation” because they have been “navigators for centuries.”
“So let’s go to the meeting, let’s see what are the plans,” Rangel said after talks with Cypriot counterpart Constantinos Kombos.
Trump isn’t worried that his taunting of Pope Leo XIV might offend his voters.
“I have to do what’s right — the pope has to understand that,” Trump told reporters. “I have nothing against the pope. His brother is MAGA all the way.”
The U.S. president has maintained that the Iran war is about stopping that country from developing a nuclear weapon and he criticized that country’s leadership for killing its own people as he objected to the papal emphasis on peace.
The president added that he’s “sure the pope is a great guy,” yet he suggested Pope Leo XIV was naive about geopolitics.
“The pope has to understand that this is the real world,” Trump said.
The 14-day ceasefire is set to expire April 22, but Trump said it’s possible that the deadline to make a deal could be pushed out further.
“If we’re close to a deal would I extend?” Trump said in an exchange with reporters. “Yeah, I would do that”
Israel’s Netanyahu says Israeli troops will remain in an expanded security zone in south Lebanon despite a ceasefire.
He said troops will remain in a10-kilometer deep zone, “much stronger, more extensive and more continuous than before.”
“That is where we are, and we are not leaving.”
Hezbollah, in commenting on the ceasefire, had said continuing Israeli occupation grants Lebanon the right to resist.
“I had a great talk with both of them today,” Trump said of this conversations with Aoun and Netanyahu. “They’re going to be having a ceasefire, and that’ll include Hezbollah.”
Trump in an extended exchange with reporters said also that he expected that Aoun and Netanyahu would meet in the next week or two, before saying the White House meeting between the Mideast leaders could happen in the next four or five days.
The president added that he was open to visiting Lebanon “at the right time.”
The U.S. president played down prices at the pump averaging $4.09 a gallon nationwide, saying the cost wasn’t so great relative to the risk of evening higher prices tied to keeping Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.
“Well, they’re not very high, if you look at what they were supposed to be in order to get rid of a nuclear weapon,” Trump told reporters about gas prices before a planned trip to Las Vegas.
The president repeated a past claim that he thought the war with Iran would have driven energy costs much higher.
Gas prices are up roughly 29% from a year ago, according to AAA.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he has agreed to a 10-day ceasefire in Lebanon.
In a video statement, Netanyahu said he was taking the step in an attempt “to advance” peace efforts with Lebanon.
Israel and Lebanon opened negotiations this week in Washington aimed at forging a peace agreement. The Hezbollah militant group, which has been fighting Israel for six weeks, has said it opposes the dialogue.
“We have an opportunity to make a historic peace agreement with Lebanon,” Netanyahu said.
Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni greeted the announcement of a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon as “excellent news,” achieved “thanks to the mediation of the United States.”
She added that the ceasefire must be fully respected, singling out Hezbollah “for having started this conflict,” and expressed hope that it would create conditions for talks leading “to a full and lasting peace” between Israel and Lebanon.
Italy has the second-largest contingent of U.N. peacekeepers serving in southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah said in a statement that “any ceasefire must be comprehensive across all Lebanese territory and must not allow the Israeli enemy any freedom of movement.”
Israel offered no official comment on Trump’s announcement.
Hezbollah added that “Israeli occupation on our land grants Lebanon and its people the right to resist it, and this matter will be determined based on how developments unfold,” a stance that could complicate the ceasefire.
Israel has staged a ground invasion in southern Lebanon, where its forces have been engaged in fierce battles with Hezbollah militants in the border area. It is unclear whether Israel would withdraw some or all of its forces as part of the truce.
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Two local leaders in northern Israel criticized a proposed ceasefire with Lebanon, warning it would leave communities vulnerable.
Moshe Davidovich, head of the Mateh Asher Regional Council, said agreements may be signed in Washington but “the price is paid here in blood, in destroyed homes and shattered communities.”
He warned that a ceasefire without strict enforcement against Hezbollah and a buffer zone up to the Litani River, some 30 kilometers (18.64 miles) north of the Israeli border, would amount to “waiting for the next massacre.”
Eitan Davidi, head of the Margaliot moshav, called the move “a surrender” and “a political defeat.” He told the N12 news site it was made without coordination with northern residents and contradicts the stated goal of dismantling Hezbollah’s capabilities.
Ambassador Fu Cong said the strait “should be safeguarded” for international navigation and called on Iran to take ‘proactive measures’ to open the waterway, used to ship about 20% of the world’s oil.
“The issue of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz is a spillover effect of the conflict in Iran,” he said. “Only a complete ceasefire can fundamentally create conditions for easing the situation.”
Fu told the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday that Beijing is engaged “in intensive mediation with all parties to actively promote talks for peace”’ and an end to the war in Iran.
The 193-member world body was meeting to hear China and Russia explain why they vetoed a Security Council resolution backed by the U.S. and Gulf nations aimed at opening the Strait of Hormuz.
Fu claimed the resolution would have given “a carte blanche for the continuation of aggressive actions and further escalation” rather than de-escalate the conflict and promote negotiations.
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said the ceasefire was Lebanon’s first goal in landmark talks that took place with Israel in Washington on Tuesday between the country’s ambassadors to the U.S.
“While I congratulate all Lebanese on this achievement, I offer my condolences to the families of the martyrs who fell, and I affirm my solidarity with their families, with the wounded, and with the citizens forced to flee their cities and villages,” Salam said.
Trump said it would be “the first meaningful talks between Israel and Lebanon since 1983.”
“Both sides want to see PEACE, and I believe that will happen, quickly,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Lebanon and Israel signed an agreement in 1983 saying Lebanon would formally recognize Israel and Israel would withdraw from Lebanon. The deal fell apart during Lebanon’s civil war and was formally rescinded a year later.
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei criticized economic threats by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, saying they harm “innocent people” and reflect an “inhumane mindset.”
“These are nothing short of economic terrorism and state-sponsored extortion,” he wrote on X, referring to Bessent’s Wednesday remarks about potentially carrying out the “financial equivalent” of a bombing campaign.
