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Iranian media has denied reports that US warships have crossed the strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n
The denial in the semi-official Tasnim news agency follows a report by the US news site Axios, citing a US official, that several US navy ships crossed the narrow waterway today.<\/p>\n
There are conflicting reports over what\u2019s happened. Tasnim, quoting an Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson, reported that a US destroyer attempted to enter the strait but was forced to retreat after a warning from Iran\u2019s armed forces. Axios, citing a US official, said no such warning was given.<\/p>\n
Earlier today, Donald Trump<\/a> claimed the US has started to clear mines in the strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Just days before negotiations are expected to take place in Washington between Israel and Beirut, the Israeli military said it has struck more than 200 targets in Lebanon<\/a> in the past 24 hours, claiming they belong to the Iran-backed Hezbollah group.<\/p>\n \u201cThe air force continues to strike infrastructure belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organisation and to support the operations of ground forces operating in southern Lebanon,\u201d the Israel<\/a> Defense Forces said in a statement on social media.<\/p>\n A map of Lebanon with pinpointed locations of Israeli strikes since the US-Iran ceasefire began.<\/a>Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a010.02 EDT<\/p>\n Lebanon divided over potential talks with Israel In Lebanon<\/a>, opinion was split over the government\u2019s decision to negotiate directly with Israel, raising social tensions in the country already racked by a mass displacement crisis.<\/p>\n A rally by Hezbollah supporters on Friday saw Hezbollah supporters march from the prime ministers\u2019 office to Hamra in West Beirut. Shouting matches erupted between residents of Hamra, an area not typically supportive of Hezbollah, and protesters, with the latter chanting, \u201cShia, Shia,\u201d \u2013 a reference to the majority Shia support base of the group.<\/p>\n A woman places a symbolic boot on her head as a gesture of respect for a Lebanese fighter, as she takes part with demonstrators, including Hezbollah supporters, in a protest against the direct negotiation between the Israeli and Lebanese governments, in Beirut, Lebanon. Photograph: Adnan Abidi\/Reuters<\/p>\n Hezbollah supporters staged another rally in front of the prime ministers\u2019 office against negotiations on Saturday afternoon, with protesters waving Hezbollah flags and pictures of the late Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah. The Lebanese army deployed troops around the area, and warned that it would not tolerate any attempts to destabilise the country at \u201cthis sensitive moment\u201d.<\/p>\n Internal tensions in Lebanon had been on the rise since Israeli bombing over the last month displaced more than 1.2 million people across the country. Disagreements over Lebanon\u2019s engagement with Israel<\/a> threatened to further fracture the divided country.<\/p>\n Onlookers gather at a site of Israeli airstrikes in Beirut. Photograph: Alfons Cabrera\/NurPhoto\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n Residents of Lebanon were hopeful that Iran<\/a> would make good on its promise to include Lebanon in its ceasefire with Israel and the US. Lebanese looked ahead to a meeting between Lebanon\u2019s prime minister Nawaf Salam and US secretary of state Marco Rubio in Washington next week for potential progress on a ceasefire in Lebanon.<\/p>\n Despite talk of a ceasefire, Israeli strikes and Hezbollah rocket fire continued. Israeli strikes on the southern towns of Kafr Sir, Zifta and Toul killed ten people overnight, while Hezbollah fired rockets at cities in Israel\u2019s north. Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters continued to clash inside Lebanon, battling over the strategic city of Bint Jbeil.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a009.53 EDT<\/p>\n US and Iranian officials meeting directly in Islamabad talks – reports<\/p>\n Al Jazeera, citing sources close to the mediation, has reported that the Iranian and US delegations are meeting face-to-face, with Pakistani mediators also present in the negotiating room.<\/p>\n Reuters has also reported the same, citing a Pakistani source.<\/p>\n The three-way talks are between US officials JD Vance, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Iran\u2019s Mohammad Ghalibaf and Abbas Araghchi and Pakistan\u2019s army chief Asim Munir.<\/p>\n In previous US-Iran negotiations, including the indirect nuclear talks that took place in Oman in the days before the war began on 28 February, mediators would shuttle back and forth between the two disputing parties to relay proposals and other information.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a009.43 EDT<\/p>\n Trump claims US is clearing mines in strait of Hormuz<\/p>\n Donald Trump has claimed the US has begun clearing mines in the strait of Hormuz \u201cas a favour to countries all over the world\u201d.<\/p>\n In a post on his Truth Social app, the US president said Iran\u2019s minelaying ships \u201care also lying at the bottom of the sea\u201d.<\/p>\n While claiming all of the Iranian military\u2019s air and naval capabilities have diminished and its missiles and drones \u201chave been largely obliterated\u201d, Trump added:<\/p>\n double quotation markThe only thing they have going is the threat that a ship may \u201cbunk\u201d into one of their sea mines which, by the way, all 28 of their mine dropper boats are also lying at the bottom of the sea. We\u2019re 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\u2019t have the Courage or Will to do this work themselves.<\/p>\n He repeated an earlier comment that empty tankers \u201cfrom many nations\u201d are heading to the US for oil.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a009.24 EDT<\/p>\n The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it is investigating an incident where rockets launched from Lebanon<\/a> landed in northern Israel yesterday without warning sirens being activated.<\/p>\n \u201cA preliminary investigation suggests that the launches were not detected, which is why no warning was issued in the town,\u201d the IDF said in a statement on X, adding that the \u201ccircumstances of the incident, including the failure to detect the launches, are currently being investigated by all relevant authorities\u201d.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n French president Emmanuel Macron has said he discussed the Iran<\/a> ceasefire talks with Saudi Arabia\u2019s crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, and that the two leaders had agreed to stay in close contact on the issue.<\/p>\n double quotation markI reiterated my support for the ceasefire, which must be fully respected and extended without delay to Lebanon. We discussed the need to restore fully free and safe navigation in the Strait of Hormuz as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n As talks get underway in Islamabad, we agreed to remain in close contact in order to contribute to a de-escalation, freedom of navigation, and the conclusion of an agreement to ensure lasting peace and security in the region.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Peace talks under way, US and Iranian media report<\/p>\n Both CBS and Reuters are reporting that peace talks between the US and Iran<\/a> have now begun.<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s Fars news agency is reporting the same thing.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a008.42 EDT<\/p>\n Analysis: Vance has few cards to play in peace talks JD Vance, a vocal opponent of US wars in the Middle East, has gone quiet since the beginning of the current military campaign. He now faces off with Iranian negotiators who feel emboldened by their new control of the Hormuz strait<\/a> and their resilience in the face of the largest US-Israeli onslaught in history. Vance\u2019s presence at the talks as vice-president will make it the highest-level meeting since the Iranian revolution of 1979.<\/p>\n His task is straightforward enough: to bridge the gap between a rhetorical ceasefire in serious peril and a more durable peace. But Vance will face a difficult choice in Islamabad: to either undersign considerable US concessions to Iran<\/a> in order to hold the ceasefire and negotiate the opening of the strait of Hormuz \u2013 or effectively cut off negotiations, personally backing a return to war that is unpopular with the American public.<\/p>\n The results could have a considerable impact on his expected run for the presidency in 2028, where his Maga credentials are already in question for failing to offer a more full-throated opposition to the war. Vance entered office calling for a more restrained foreign policy and an end to US forever wars in the Middle East \u2013 but the negotiations could drag him further into the largest US intervention in the region since the beginning of the Iraq war.<\/p>\n Read more here:<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Iran ‘unable to find the mines it laid in the strait of Hormuz’ Iran is unable to find the mines it laid in the strait of Hormuz and does not have the capacity to remove the explosives, preventing Iran from allowing more traffic through the waterway, the New York Times<\/a> reported, citing US officials.<\/p>\n Iran laid mines in the strait of Hormuz last month after the US and Israel<\/a> declared war against the country, dropping explosives throughout the waterway with small boats. The US was mostly unable to monitor the small boats which were mining the strait, leaving the country uncertain about the location and number of mines in the waterway.<\/p>\n Maritime traffic through the strait ground almost to a standstill due to the mines, as well as Iranian drones and missiles that threatened to hit ships. A senior Revolutionary Guards official said on 2 March the country would set ships \u201cablaze\u201d if they tried to traverse the strait.<\/p>\n A small number of ships have continued to pass through after being given the go-ahead by Iran, which allowed vessels from friendly nations that paid tolls.<\/p>\n US officials have said that Iran placed mines in the strait erratically, and may not have marked where it put all of them. Some mines also drifted or moved from their original location, US officials suggested.<\/p>\n Read the full piece here:<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n In Lebanon<\/a>, a funeral is being held for 13 security personnel who were killed by Israeli airstrikes near a government complex and a State Security office in Nabatieh.<\/p>\n A funeral in Sidon, Lebanon. Photograph: Anadolu\/Getty ImagesA funeral in Sidon, Lebanon. Photograph: Anadolu\/Getty ImagesA funeral in Sidon, Lebanon. Photograph: Anadolu\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a>Analysis: Is this Trump’s Suez crisis? Donald Trump\u2019s addiction to framing every event in the most apocalyptic terms is what allows conservative commentators such as Mark Levin to praise him as \u201ca once-in-a-century president\u201d.<\/p>\n But Trump cannot play out his entire presidency on a reckless high wire without eventually falling off \u2013 potentially taking America with him into a steep decline into the unknown.<\/p>\n Trump likes to portray Europe as being under civilisational threat<\/a> from migration, but this week he threatened that a 7,000-year-old civilisation would \u201cdie \u2026 never to be brought back\u201d<\/a> if it did not comply with his demands.<\/p>\n He swiftly discovered it was not a threat on which he could follow through, and had to be extricated from it in a rescue mission led by Pakistan<\/a> and, ignominiously for him, China. He pulled back in a social media post issued just 88 minutes before the implied destruction of Iran.<\/p>\n Not for the first time, Trump had disregarded Iran\u2019s history of resilience. As the late Iranian essayist Bastani Parizi once wrote: \u201cSometimes the fate of this kingdom hangs by a hair, but that hair does not break.\u201d<\/p>\n Faced by Iran\u2019s refusal to back down, symbolised by millions of Iranians volunteering to stand on the bridges of their homeland, a late-night White House scramble ensued to find a justification to bring his latest piece of brinkmanship to a semi-dignified end before his ghoulish deadline.<\/p>\n Read on here:<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Macron and Erdo\u011fan discuss Middle East war<\/p>\n French president Emmanuel Macron said he met with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan, and discussed the importance of ensuring Lebanon<\/a> is included in the US-Iran ceasefire.<\/p>\n In a statement on X, Macron said:<\/p>\n double quotation markWe first discussed the situation in the Middle East and Near East, calling for respect for the ceasefire and its implementation in Lebanon, respect for freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, and underscoring the need for a robust and lasting diplomatic solution.<\/p>\n He added that the two leaders also discussed the war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n![\"William](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775918771_245_William_Christou_v2.png\")
William Christou<\/p>\n![\"Andrew](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775918771_105_Andrew_Roth,_L.png\")
Andrew Roth<\/p>\nWilliam Christou<\/p>\n![\"Patrick](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775918772_443_Patrick-Wintour,-R.png\")
Patrick Wintour<\/p>\n