Compiled from news service reports
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he has authorized direct negotiations with Lebanon to take place “as soon as possible.”
This came in response to requests from Lebanon to negotiate, focusing on disarming Hezbollah and finding peace between the nations.
Netanyahu said he welcomed a call by Lebanon’s prime minister to demilitarize Beirut.
This comes on the heels of Israel’s defense of bombing in the region, asserting that the United Nations’ diplomacy failed.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry said that, since March 2, Hezbollah has fired more than 6,500 rockets at Israeli civilians without intervention from the United Nations.
“U.N. diplomacy failed,” the foreign ministry said on X. “When Israel targets terror infrastructure, it complains. … Enough talk. Act.”
The U.S. Department of State will host a meeting to discuss ongoing ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Lebanon, a State Department Official said Thursday.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam accused Israel of killing civilians in residential neighborhoods, especially in the capital, Beirut, during attacks on Wednesday.
An estimated 1,700 people have died from Israeli strikes in Lebanon, displacing more than 1 million people.
Other updates on the war in the Middle East from Thursday include the following:
Trump Says He’s ‘Optimistic’ Iran Ceasefire Will Hold
President Donald Trump told NBC News on Thursday that he is “very optimistic” about reaching a lasting peace deal with Iran days ahead of Vice President JD Vance’s delegation meeting in Pakistan for negotiations to end the war.
Iranian officials “talk much differently when you’re at a meeting than they do to the press. They’re much more reasonable,” Trump said.
“They’re agreeing to all the things that they have to agree to,” he said. “Remember, they’ve been conquered. They have no military.”
Trump reiterated that if Iran doesn’t “make a deal, it’s going to be very painful.”
House Democrats Criticize Trump After Attempt to Force War Powers Vote
House Democrats spoke out against Trump and objected to the Iran war after a war powers resolution was thwarted during a perfunctory session.
Rep. Glenn Ivey, D-Md., said of Trump’s comments on Iran: “The threats of total annihilation were beyond the pale. It’s time for Congress to step in and take control of the wheel.”
Addressing the multi-point plan that has formed a basis for the ceasefire, Ivey questioned Trump’s talk of a joint U.S.-Iran venture to charge tolls through the Strait of Hormuz, saying the strait must go “back to free passage.”
When asked how he would reopen the Hormuz Strait without additional U.S. military commitments in the area, Ivey said, “I’m not sure at this point,” adding that Congress had been told very little amid the conflict.
“Who’s he negotiating with and how’s that going to play out?” Ivey asked of Trump.
Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., said of his party, “We will keep fighting.”
He said he thinks the attempt at a vote “foreshadows the war powers resolution vote next week.”
“You know that we would rather do it today, but we don’t have the ability to bring everybody back,” Beyer added.
The Democrat also said he believes that this conflict has made Iran “more resolute than ever to build a nuclear weapon, since they now decide that’s the only way they could ever be safe.”
Iran Declares Strait of Hormuz Open, Warns Ships to Coordinate Due to Mine Risk
Iran said the Strait of Hormuz is open to all civilian shipping but warned vessels must coordinate with its forces due to mine risks and wartime hazards, as a fragile ceasefire with the United States holds.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh told British broadcaster ITV in a Thursday interview that ships from all countries — including the United States — can pass “as usual” if they liaise with Iranian authorities, adding there is no current sign of hostile behavior that would restrict access. He said the need for coordination is tied to safety concerns, including mines laid during the conflict.
Iranian state broadcaster IRIB published a chart of “designated routes” in the Strait of Hormuz with an area marked “danger zone,” suggesting the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps may have placed sea mines in the waterway.
Citing Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization, IRIB said in a post on X, “Due to the war situation in the Persian Gulf and possible anti‑ship mines in the main traffic zone of the Strait of Hormuz, vessels must … coordinate with the IRGC Navy and use the designated routes.”
The graphic, showing vessels rerouted north near Larak Island, comes as a fragile two-week ceasefire between Iran and the United States holds but remains contested.
Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz remains at a near standstill despite a ceasefire between Iran and the United States, with only a handful of vessels transiting the waterway in the past 24 hours, according to ship-tracking data.
Analysis from Kpler, Lloyd’s List Intelligence, and Signal Ocean showed just one oil products tanker and five dry bulk carriers passing through, compared with roughly 140 vessels per day before the war began on Feb. 28.
Oil hovered near $97 a barrel on Thursday as traffic through the strait remained limited.
Rutte Emphasizes Need for Free International Shipping
When it comes to the Strait of Hormuz, “We have to bring together a coalition of countries which is able collectively to make sure that the principle of free shipping or free travel on our seas … is upheld,” NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said on Thursday.
He cited the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, which established a legal framework for how nations can use international waters and maritime routes.
Iran has proposed enacting a toll on ships passing through the critical shipping lane in negotiations to secure a permanent ceasefire in the war. Rutte said British Prime Minister Keir Starmer took the leadership role on pushing back against enacting tolls in the Strait of Hormuz.
Rutte, in an interview at a gathering of leaders at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute, said that NATO is aware of the importance of America’s role in the alliance, and other countries will take on greater responsibility for defense.
“Let me be clear, this alliance is not whistling past the graveyard, as you say in the United States,” Rutte said.
“Allies recognize, and I recognize, we are in a period of profound change in the Transatlantic Alliance, Europe is assuming a greater and fairer share of the task of providing for its conventional defense, and from that, there will be no going back, and nor should there be.”
Rutte added that allies of the United States “were a bit slow, to say the least,” in providing logistical support in the Iranian war at first.
“In fairness, they were also a bit surprised,” he added.
“To maintain the element of surprise for the initial strikes, President Trump opted not to inform allies ahead of time, and I understand that. But what I see when I look across Europe today is allies providing a massive amount of support, basing, logistics, and other measures to ensure the powerful U.S. military succeeds in denying Iran a nuclear weapon and degrading its capacity to export chaos.”
Rutte said that the United States needs NATO to stay safe.
“The main reason to create NATO is because there is a case to be built for the Europeans, for the transatlantic community as a whole, including the United States and Canada, to stay safe, and for the United States to stay safe,” he said.
“You need a secure Europe, yes, but you also need a secure Arctic. You need a secure Atlantic, because otherwise, the Russians and others might pose as a threat.”
European Leaders Condemn Israel’s Actions in Lebanon
European leaders called on Israel to end attacks on Lebanon at the start of the tenuous ceasefire between Iran, Israel and the United States.
British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said on Thursday that Israel’s bombardment of Lebanon is “deeply damaging” and risked destabilizing the ceasefire.
“We want to see Lebanon included in the ceasefire … otherwise that will destabilize the whole region,” she told Times Radio.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz weighed in, saying that “the severity with which Israel is waging war there could cause the failure of the peace process as a whole, and that must not happen.”
He and others asked Israel to end the attacks.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said that “Lebanon must be included in the ceasefire” and that the international community “must condemn” Israel’s actions as a “violation of international law.”
Lebanon Sees Deadliest Day of War in More Than 5 Weeks
A search for survivors and bodies in Beirut and elsewhere on Thursday came after Lebanon experienced its deadliest day in more than five weeks of fighting between Israel and the Hezbollah terrorist group.
In a barrage that Israel described as its largest assault on Lebanon since the U.S. and Israeli war against Iran in the Middle East began on Feb. 28, strikes killed at least 203 people and wounded more than 1,000, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
The Israeli military said it was targeting infrastructure and command centers of Iranian-backed Hezbollah, but multiple strikes impacted dense commercial and residential areas during rush hour, killing civilians.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun described the attacks as “barbaric.”
Israel and the United States have reiterated that the ceasefire in Iran does not apply to Lebanon or Hezbollah, despite the official who brokered the pause in fighting — Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif — saying Lebanon was included when the announcement was first made Tuesday night.
Savannah Hulsey Pointer, Jacki Thrapp, Emel Akan, Jacob Burg, Chris Summers, Stacy Robinson and Tom Ozimek contributed to this report.
