Netanyahu says ‘no ceasefire in Lebanon’<\/p>\n
\u201cI wish to inform you: There is no ceasefire in Lebanon,\u201d Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Israelis in a short video address <\/a>posted on X. He said Israel was \u201ccontinuing to strike Hezbollah with full force, and we will not stop until we restore your security.\u201d<\/p>\n His comments come shortly after President Trump said he had asked Netanyahu to be \u201cmore low-key\u201d in Lebanon, as the US seeks to negotiate with Iran<\/a> to bring the war to an end.<\/p>\n Netanyahu added that he had instructed his government to \u201copen direct negotiations with Lebanon as soon as possible.\u201d The talks will focus on the disarmament of Hezbollah and the establishment of peaceful relations between Israel<\/a> and Lebanon, he added.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Key events<\/p>\n Show key events only<\/p>\n Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature<\/p>\n Underlining Iran\u2019s continued control of the Strait of Hormuz<\/a>, a Botswana-flagged liquified natural gas tanker called the Nidi attempted to travel out of the Persian Gulf via a route ordered by the Revolutionary Guard but suddenly turned around and headed back early Friday, ship-tracking data has shown.<\/p>\n On Thursday, four tankers and three bulk carriers crossed through the Strait of Hormuz, bringing the total number of ships passing through since the ceasefire to at least 12, according to the data firm Kpler.<\/p>\n However, other ships not transmitting their locations may have passed through as well. The strait typically saw well over 100 ships passing through it daily in peacetime.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guard (IRGC), in a statement carried by Iran\u2019s state-run IRNA news agency, has denied launching attacks on Gulf states on Thursday, after Kuwait accused Tehran and its proxies of continuing strikes despite the ceasefire.<\/p>\n \u201cIf these reports published by the media are true, without a doubt it is the work of the Zionist enemy or America,\u201d the IRGC said.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Australia\u2019s defence minister Richard Marles has rejected former prime minister Tony Abbott\u2019s call for the country\u2019s air force to take an offensive role in the Iran<\/a> war.<\/p>\n Abbott wrote in a newspaper opinion piece Friday that Australia should have offered the United States air force support including Australian strike fighters.<\/p>\n Richard Marles, Australia defence minister. Photograph: Anadolu\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Marles, who is acting prime minister while Anthony Albanese is overseas, said Australia had sent the United Arab Emirates a surveillance jet but was \u201cnot part of this conflict against Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe will act in our national interest and we respectfully disagree with the position of Mr. Abbott,\u201d Marles told the ABC.<\/p>\n Trump has repeatedly criticised Australia for not helping the United States since the Iran war began. Australia says it has received no request for help.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a021.36 EDT<\/p>\n The US has reportedly summoned Iraq\u2019s ambassador to complain about Iran-backed militia attacks, including an \u201cambush\u201d of American diplomats<\/p>\n While acknowledging that Iraqi forces have made efforts to respond to these attacks, deputy secretary of state Christopher Landau said Baghdad had not done enough to prevent them, according to a statement.<\/p>\n He warned Iraq\u2019s envoy that support for militias by \u201celements associated with the Iraqi government\u201d is harming US-Iraq ties, adding that Washington expects immediate steps to dismantle the groups.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Kuwait accused Iran<\/a> and its proxies of launching drone attacks targeting it on Thursday, despite the two-week ceasefire in the Iran war.<\/p>\n Kuwait\u2019s foreign ministry said drone attacks \u201ctargeted some vital Kuwaiti facilities\u201d Thursday night.<\/p>\n The statement, carried by the state-run KUNA news agency, put new pressure on the ceasefire ahead of planned talks Saturday between the United States and Iran in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n The White House has warned US government staff against improperly leveraging their positions to place bets in futures markets in an email, the Wall Street Journal and Reuters is reporting, citing sources.<\/p>\n Some of Trump\u2019s major policy decisions have been preceded by well-timed bets, leading some experts to question whether information had somehow leaked ahead of time.<\/p>\n Shortly ahead the ceasefire announcement earlier this week, a new group of accounts on prediction market platform Polymarket made highly specific, well-timed trades betting there\u2019d be an announcement about a halt in fighting for 7 April. Some quickly pocketed awards, which amounted to hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits combined.<\/p>\n Exchange data and Reuters calculations also showed an unidentified trader or traders bet $500m on Brent and WTI crude futures in a one-minute period shortly before Trump called a five-day delay on 23 March 23 attacks on Iran\u2019s energy infrastructure, after which oil prices fell 15%.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile he [Trump] seeks a strong and profitable stock market for everyone, members of Congress and other government officials should be prohibited from using nonpublic information for financial benefit,\u201d White House spokesperson Davis Ingle told Reuters in a statement.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n The streets of Islamabad are on strict lockdown as Pakistan\u2019s capital prepares to play host to negotiations between Iran<\/a> and the US that have dangled the promise of an end to war that has devastated the Middle East.<\/p>\n Even as the US-Iran ceasefire looked increasingly precarious, amid Israel\u2019s continued bombardment of Lebanon and disputes over the terms of the talks, Pakistani officials have insisted that the make-or-break peace negotiations will be going ahead.<\/p>\n Here are some of the images coming into the newsroom from Islamabad.<\/p>\n Pakistani security officials at a checkpoint. Security has been intensified ahead of the visit of US and Iranian delegations to Islamabad. Photograph: Sohail Shahzad\/EPAPolice officers prepare to barricade a road near Pakistan\u2019s foreign ministry. Photograph: Anjum Naveed\/APPakistani security officials stand guard at a checkpoint. Photograph: Sohail Shahzad\/EPAA worker paints the sidewalks ahead of the visit of US and Iranian delegations in Islamabad. Photograph: Sohail Shahzad\/EPAA security vehicle moves past the president\u2019s house in Islamabad. Photograph: Waseem Khan\/ReutersShare<\/a><\/p>\n US media is reporting that secretary of state Marco Rubio will convene hastily arranged ceasefire talks between Israel<\/a> and Lebanon next week aimed at disarming Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants and establishing relations between the neighbours.<\/p>\n CBS News has reported that the three-way talks will be led by US ambassador to Lebanon, Michel Issa, and will include Lebanese ambassador Nada Hamadeh Moawad and Israeli ambassador Yechiel Leiter.<\/p>\n Benjamin Netanyahu authorised the talks on Thursday, even as he insisted that \u201cthere is no ceasefire\u201d in Lebanon and that Israel will \u201ccontinue to strike Hezbollah with force\u201d.<\/p>\n Firefighters try to put out flames at the site of an Israeli airstrike that struck an apartment building in Beirut on Wednesday. Photograph: Bilal Hussein\/AP<\/p>\n On Wednesday Israeli airstrikes on Beirut killed more than 250 people, the deadliest day in Lebanon since the war began on 28 February. Both sides continued to exchange attacks throughout Thursday.<\/p>\n Donald Trump has said he has asked the Israeli prime minister to be \u201cmore low-key\u201d in Lebanon to help ensure the success of the upcoming US-Iran negotiations in Islamabad. Israel\u2019s continuing assault on Hezbollah in Lebanon has threatened the shaky ceasefire reached earlier this week with Iran.<\/p>\n There has been disagreement over whether the ceasefire deal included a pause in fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Trump slams right wing influencers for failing to support him on Iran<\/p>\n Donald Trump has said that right wing influencers Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Candace Owens, and Alex Jones are \u201cnot \u2018MAGA,\u2019 they\u2019re losers\u201d.<\/p>\n The four had been reliable supporters of Trump for most of his presidency, but in recent weeks have spoken out over their opposition to the war in Iran<\/a>.<\/p>\n In a long post on his Truth Social platform, the president launched highly personal attacks on the four, who are among the most influential voices in the right wing media ecosystem.<\/p>\n double quotation markAs President, I could get them on my side anytime I want to, but when they call, I don\u2019t return their calls because I\u2019m too busy on World and Country Affairs and, after a few times, they go \u2018nasty\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Tucker Carlson campaigning in 2024 with Donald Trump. Photograph: Carlos Barr\u00eda\/Reuters<\/p>\n The war on Iran has widened the cracks in Trump\u2019s already shaky Maga movement, with many commentators and supporters saying that such an operation is a betrayal of Trump\u2019s promise to put America First and extradite the US from messy foreign conflicts.<\/p>\n Carlson on Monday called the president\u2019s rhetoric toward Iran, including an expletive-filled threat on Easter, \u201cvile\u201d on \u201cevery level.\u201d Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones asked on his Info Wars show: \u201cHow do we 25th Amendment his ass?\u201d Former Fox News host and popular conservative media personality Megyn Kelly said the recent ceasefire with Iran \u201csounds very much like surrender,\u201d but conceded that she supported it.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Keir Starmer has met with leaders of Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates and condemned Iranian attacks on the nations, Downing Street said in separate statements.<\/p>\n The British prime minister made the comments in a conversation with Bahrain\u2019s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and others.<\/p>\n Separately, Starmer, in his conversation with United Arab Emirates president Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan discussed the strait of Hormuz and the need to push to restore the free flow of goods to support global supply chains.<\/p>\n Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer meets with Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa at the Al Sakhir Palace in Bahrain, on Thursday. Photograph: Alastair Grant\/ReutersShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a020.42 EDT<\/p>\n Air raid alerts rang out across Israel<\/a> early Friday, including in the commercial hub of Tel Aviv and in the southern coastal city of Ashdod following rocket fire from Lebanon.<\/p>\n Continued fighting between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah is testing a fragile truce reached between the US and Iran<\/a>.<\/p>\n Israel and Hezbollah exchanged fire repeatedly on Thursday.<\/p>\n The Israeli army\u2019s Home Front Command issued alerts for several areas following Friday\u2019s rocket fire, including the Tel Aviv area and southern communities far from the Lebanon border.<\/p>\n People run to take shelter in Tel Aviv as sirens sound during incoming missile fire. Photograph: Alexi Rosenfeld\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Hezbollah said it targeted \u201cIsraeli military\u201d infrastructure in the northern city of Haifa in the late hours of Thursday.<\/p>\n There were no immediate reports of casualties, but Israeli media reported that air-defence systems had intercepted at least one incoming rocket.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Iran doing a ‘poor job’ of allowing oil through the strait of Hormuz, Trump says<\/p>\n Donald Trump has said Iran is doing a \u201cvery poor job\u201d of reopening the strait of Hormuz, in his second comment on the vital waterway in just over an hour.<\/p>\n Accusing Iran<\/a> of being \u201cdishonorable\u201d, the president goes on to say this is \u201cnot the agreement we have!\u201d<\/p>\n Iran has said it has halted shipping traffic in the strait, through which a fifth of the world\u2019s oil supply moves through in normal times, in retaliation for Israel\u2019s strikes on Lebanon.<\/p>\n Just over an hour ago Trump warned Iran \u201cbetter not be\u201d charging fees to tankers travelling through the strait, after hearing \u201creports\u201d that Tehran was doing so.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n A former Iranian foreign minister, Kamal Kharazi, has died from wounds inflicted in US-Israeli strikes on 1 April, Iranian media are reporting.<\/p>\n Kharazi, 81, had been serving as the head of the Strategic Council for International Relations, which is part of the foreign ministry.<\/p>\n The veteran diplomat, \u201cwho was injured in a terrorist attack carried out by the American-Zionist enemy a few days ago, died a martyr tonight\u201d, the Mehr and Isna agencies reported on Telegram.<\/p>\n Iranian foreign minister Kamal Kharazi addresses reporters at a 1999 press conference in Tehran. Photograph: Atta Kenare\/EPA<\/p>\n His wife was killed in the strike on their home in Tehran, media reported.<\/p>\n Kharazi was Iran\u2019s envoy at the United Nations in New York and then became foreign minister from 1997 to 2005, under reformist president Mohammad Khatami.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Trump says Iran ‘better not be’ charging tanker fees in strait of Hormuz<\/p>\n Donald Trump has warned Iran it \u201cbetter not be\u201d charging fees to tankers travelling through the strait of Hormuz, after hearing \u201creports\u201d that Tehran was doing so.<\/p>\n \u201cThey better not be and, if they are, they better stop now!\u201d Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform.<\/p>\n Iran has said it has halted shipping traffic in the key waterway in retaliation for Israel\u2019s strikes on Lebanon.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>The day so far<\/p>\n Donald Trump said he is \u201cvery optimistic\u201d a peace deal with Iran was within reach as a diplomatic delegation led by his vice-president JD Vance prepared to head to Pakistan for high-stakes talks aimed at ending the war this weekend. Iran\u2019s leaders \u201ctalk much differently when you\u2019re at a meeting than they do to the press. They\u2019re much more reasonable,\u201d the US president said, in line with his administration\u2019s narrative that there\u2019s a disconnect between what Tehran says publicly and privately. Trump went on: \u201cThey\u2019re agreeing to all the things that they have to agree to. Remember, they\u2019ve been conquered. They have no military. If they don\u2019t make a deal, it\u2019s going to be very painful.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump also confirmed that he had asked Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday to be \u201cmore low-key\u201d in Lebanon to help ensure the success of the upcoming US-Iran negotiations in Islamabad. \u201cI spoke with Bibi and he\u2019s going to low-key it. I just think we have to be sort of a little more low-key,\u201d Trump told NBC News<\/a>, adding that he believed Israel was \u201cscaling back\u201d its operations in Lebanon (there\u2019s been no evidence of that yet \u2013 see the next few points).<\/p>\n Netanyahu said he had instructed his cabinet to begin direct negotiations with Lebanon aimed at disarming Hezbollah \u2013 all the while insisting that \u201cthere is no ceasefire\u201d in Lebanon<\/a> and that Israel will \u201ccontinue to strike Hezbollah with force\u201d.<\/p>\n Israel has since launched a fresh wave of strikes against what it called \u201cHezbollah launch sites\u201d in Lebanon, after the IDF earlier ordered people to flee Beirut\u2019s densely populated southern suburbs. Later in the day, Hezbollah said it had fired a rocket salvo towards northern Israeli settlements.<\/p>\n While Israel continues to insist that the war will go on and \u201ctalks will be held under fire\u201d, Lebanon is demanding a ceasefire before direct negotiations can begin. Joseph Aoun, the Lebanese president, said <\/a>this was \u201cthe only solution\u201d<\/a>. Lebanon is also insisting that it needs the US as a mediator and guarantor of any agreement. Those talks will reportedly take place next week, hosted by the US state department<\/a> in Washington.<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s \u2060president \u2060Masoud Pezeshkian said \u2060Israeli strikes on \u2060Lebanon violate the ceasefire agreement and would render \u200cnegotiations meaningless, adding that Iran would not abandon the Lebanese people.<\/p>\n The speaker of the Iranian parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said Lebanon forms \u201can inseparable part of the ceasefire\u201d deal. In a post on X<\/a>, he said \u201cthere is no room for denial and backtracking\u201d.<\/p>\n Pakistani prime minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned Israel\u2019s \u201congoing aggression against Lebanon\u201d on Thursday, ahead of the expected US-Iran talks in Islamabad. \u201cThe prime minister said that Pakistan was engaged in sincere efforts for regional peace and it was in this spirit that the peace talks between Iran<\/a> and the US were being convened,\u201d Sharif\u2019s office said in a statement.<\/p>\n Keir Starmer also said that Israel\u2019s continued attacks on Lebanon \u201cshouldn\u2019t be happening\u201d. The British prime minister also dismissed an argument<\/a> put forward by US vice-president JD Vance on Wednesday that there had been \u201ca legitimate misunderstanding\u201d, saying the issue \u201cisn\u2019t a technical one of whether it\u2019s a breach of the agreement or not\u201d. It is \u201ca matter of principles as far as I\u2019m concerned\u201d, Starmer said.<\/p>\n A statement attributed to Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran\u2019s supreme leader, said Iran will take management of the strait of Hormuz into a new phase, but did not elaborate on what that would be. In the statement, read out on state tv, he also said Iran remains determined to \u201ctake revenge\u201d for his father, who was assassinated on the first day of the war, and all those killed in the war. \u201cWe will certainly demand compensation for each and every damage inflicted, and the blood price of the martyrs and the compensation for the wounded of this war,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi suggested that Netanyahu is resisting a ceasefire because of his corruption trial, and urged Trump not to \u201ccrater\u201d the US economy by allowing the Israeli prime minister to jeopardise ongoing diplomatic efforts to stop the war. Araghchi said on X: \u201cNetanyahu\u2019s criminal trial resumes on Sun. A region-wide ceasefire, incl in Lebanon, would hasten his jailing.\u201d<\/p>\n Lebanon held a day of mourning after a punishing wave of Israeli attacks killed more than 300 people<\/a> and injured more than 1,000 in a single day on Wednesday, prompting worldwide condemnation.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Keir Starmer and Donald Trump have said they\u2019re at the \u201cnext stage of finding a resolution\u201d for reopening the strait of Hormuz, Downing Street has said.<\/p>\n In a statement, No 10 said that the British prime minister discussed with Trump the UK\u2019s \u201cefforts to convene partners to agree a viable plan\u201d to reopen the critical shipping lane.<\/p>\n \u201cThey agreed that now there is a ceasefire in place and agreement to open the Strait, we are at the next stage of finding a resolution,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe leaders discussed the need for a practical plan to get shipping moving again as quickly as possible,\u201d it went on, adding Trump and Starmer would speak again soon.<\/p>\n