US to maintain blockade ‘for as long as it takes’, says Hegseth
Hegseth says that the US is reloading “with more power than before” and says it is giving Iran the choice of doing things “the easy way or the hard way”.
He says Iran’s energy industry is not destroyed “yet” and that threatening to shoot at commercial ships “is not control, it’s piracy”.
The Pentagon chief adds:
double quotation markFor as long as it takes, we will maintain the blockade.
He is now attacking the “legacy, Trump-hating press” for not being patriotic enough for his liking…
Pete Hegseth and Dan Caine hold a briefing on the Iran war at the Pentagon Photograph: Nathan Howard/ReutersShare
Updated at 08.46 EDT
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Hezbollah lawmaker Hussein Hajj Hassan told AFP on Thursday that the Lebanese government’s decision to hold direct negotiations with Israel was a “grave error”, urging Beirut to stop making concessions to Israel and the United States.
Israel and Lebanon agreed on Tuesday to begin direct talks following a landmark meeting between the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to the United States, weeks after Hezbollah pulled Lebanon into the Middle East war with rocket fire at Israel in support of its backer Iran.
“Direct negotiations with the enemy are a grave sin and a grave error,” Hajj Hassan said from his parliamentary office.
The Lebanese army said that Israeli strikes that destroyed the Qasmiyeh bridge over the southern Litani River have cut off the area from the rest of the country.
“In the context of the ongoing Israeli aggression against Lebanon, the Qasmiyeh-Tyre coastal bridge was targeted and destroyed, with the aim of separating the area south of the Litani from its north and isolating it,” the army said in a statement, adding that the strikes killed one person and wounded three others, among them “a soldier from the unit stationed on the bridge”.
Pope Leo XIV has said the world is being “ravaged by a handful of tyrants” who spend billions on war, in comments that will be seen as another sharp escalation in his almost week-long feud with the White House over the US-Israel war on Iran.
The first American-born pontiff did not mention Donald Trump by name, but used his speech in Cameroon on Thursday to denounce world leaders who invoke religion to justify violence against other nations.
Pope Leo laments world ruled by ‘tyrants’ after Trump attacks – videoShare
Lebanese president Joseph Aoun rejected a US request for a direct phone call with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, an official source told AFP.
“The Lebanese president refused a direct call with Netanyahu and informed [US secretary of state] Marco Rubio of this,” adding that “the American side was understanding”, the source said.
US president Donald Trump said Wednesday the “leaders” of the two countries would speak the following day.
ShareIsraeli troops being prepared for Lebanon ceasefire – report
A ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon is expected to begin at 7pm local time today, according to IDF officials.
High-ranking IDF commanders have been given orders to prepare forces currently deployed in southern Lebanon for the truce, Haaretz reports.
They have been informed that the ceasefire would begin some time between 7pm and midnight.
We have some images coming through the newswires of the bridge over the Litani river in Qasmiyeh in southern Lebanon that was hit by an Israeli airstrike. Lebanese media reported that it was the last remaining bridge linking southern Lebanon to the rest of the country. Earlier today the Israeli military ordered people south of Zahrani river – a short distance from the Litani – to leave their homes and head north.
Photograph: Louisa Gouliamaki/Reuters Photograph: Louisa Gouliamaki/Reuters Photograph: Mohammed Zaatari/AP Photograph: Mohammed Zaatari/APShare
The Israeli defence minister, Israel Katz, has warned Iran to choose “between a bridge to the future and an abyss of isolation and destruction”, saying his country could strike harder if threats persist.
Speaking at a memorial ceremony, Katz said targets not yet hit by Israel would be “even more painful”, according to Israeli media reports.
Moments after Pope Leo delivered a speech in Cameroon denouncing leaders for using religion to justify war (see post at 12:55), Pete Hegseth has again used Biblical language and scripture to describe the US military campaign in Iran. He likened the rescue mission of American crew members whose fighter jet was shot down by Iran as a “miracle” and compared the press to the Pharisees, who challenged Jesus in the Bible, because of “the relentless negative coverage” of the war.
Updated at 09.41 EDT
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of the Iranian parliament, said a ceasefire in Lebanon was “as important” as in Iran, according to a statement posted on Telegram.
In a telephone conversation with his Lebanese counterpart, Nabih Berri, the Iranian official said Tehran was “seriously seeking to force the enemies to establish a permanent ceasefire in all conflict areas in accordance with the agreement” reached with the US on 8 April, adding: “A ceasefire in Lebanon is as important to us as a ceasefire in Iran.”
Asked whether there is any update on the welfare of the new Iranian supreme leader, Hegseth says his status “remains the same”.
He adds that Mojtaba Khamenei is believed to be alive, wounded and disfigured.
Caine tells reporters that the United States would pursue any vessel attempting to provide support to Iran, adding that enforcement would occur in Iranian territorial seas as well as and international waters.
He says that 13 ships have “made the wise choice to turn around” and that, as of this morning, the US has not boarded any ships.
He adds:
double quotation markIf you do not comply with this blockade, we will use force.