Nearly 24 hours after Israel’s deadliest strikes on the Lebanese capital in decades, rescuers were still working to recover mangled bodies ‌from under the rubble of destroyed buildings.

More than 250 people were killed across Lebanon on Wednesday, including in strikes on central Beirut that came without warning.

Among them were the brother and teenage nephew of 54-year-old Kheir Hamiyeh. They were both killed in a strike on Hay el-Sellum, a densely populated district of Beirut.

“We are waiting because there are so many people, there are so many martyrs… all of them children and ​women,” Hamiyeh said outside the morgue at the Rafik Hariri University Hospital.

The Israeli strike, part of a campaign Israel says is targeting the Iran-aligned Hezbollah armed group, ​had destroyed their home and wounded his young niece Khadija, who stood next to him with bandages across her face.

“Her father was ⁠killed. Her brother was killed. She has one brother left. What are we supposed to do?” Hamiyeh said.

Khadija’s mother, Zeinab, told Reuters between bouts of crying that she had to ​carry the bodies of her husband and 13-year-old son to the ground floor on her own.

Rescuer describes piecing people together

Lebanon’s civil defence service said at least 92 people were killed in ​Israel’s strikes on Beirut on Wednesday. Another 61 were killed in Beirut’s southern suburbs.

A rescuer outside the Rafik Hariri Hospital said he had spent all of Wednesday and Thursday trying to pull victims from pulverised apartment blocks across the city.

“We’re piecing people together because they’re all cut up into different body parts. I’ve never seen anything like this,” said the rescuer, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity ​because he was not authorised to speak to the press.

Relatives who were waiting at the morgue’s entrance were sobbing, calling other family members to tell them they had managed to ​identify a loved one inside. Three women were crouched on the sidewalk, holding each other upright so they would not collapse.

“The numbers are high, the situation is disastrous and painful,” hospital director Dr ‌Mohammad al-Zaatari ⁠told reporters.

He declined to say how many bodies were in the morgue but a rescue worker told Reuters there were at least 100 inside.

Zaatari said anyone with missing relatives should contact Beirut’s hospitals, which would begin DNA testing at a later stage to identify any remains that were too distorted to be recognisable.

‘The houses just blew up’

Rescuers told Reuters that they had struggled to reach some bombed buildings because streets were so narrow that ambulances and bulldozers couldn’t fit.

Nada Jaber told Reuters her nephew had been killed in a strike but that rescuers ​only managed to pull out his body ​on Thursday morning. “The houses just blew up,” ⁠she said.

Hours before the attacks, the Israeli military issued mass evacuation warnings for Beirut’s southern suburbs and southern Lebanon, but did not say exactly where it would strike. No warnings were given for central Beirut, which was also bombed.

Abdelrahman Mohammed, a 24-year-old Syrian man living ​in Beirut since the war erupted in his home country in 2011, said he lost five members of his family.

He had just dropped ​his sister off at ⁠her home when an Israeli strike hit their neighbourhood.

“I came back and didn’t find the building. I didn’t find my sister, and I didn’t find my family. Any of them,” he told Reuters.

“I don’t have any sisters anymore… I came from Syria in 2011, and now I’m going back to Syria carrying five martyrs who are my family,” Mohammed said.

Reuters spoke to several other ⁠Syrians who said ​their relatives were killed in the strikes.

“There are many Syrian martyrs, not just my family. A lot. Go ​ask. It’s full of Syrian martyrs. Lebanese and Syrian blood are mixed,” Mohammed said.

Israel, which invaded Lebanon last month to root out Hezbollah in parallel with the war on Iran, says its actions there are not covered ​by the ceasefire announced late on Tuesday by President Donald Trump. Pakistan, which helped mediate the US-Iran talks, has said the truce would include Lebanon.

The automaker has contacted suppliers in recent weeks to discuss details of the plan for the compact SUV, which would be a new vehicle and not a variant of Tesla’s current Model 3 or ​Y, the people said.

The conversations involved the manufacturing process and specifications for various components, they said.

Three of the people said the compact SUV would be produced in China, and one said Tesla also aims to expand ‌production to the United States and Europe. The car would be 4.28 metres in length, or about 14 feet, two of the sources said. That’s significantly shorter than Tesla’s top-selling Model Y SUV, which is about 15.7 feet long.

The effort follows a decision by Chief Executive Elon Musk to scrap a highly anticipated low-cost EV project in 2024 and pivot the company to focus on robotaxis and humanoid robots. A key question is whether this latest effort to develop a smaller SUV signals a strategy shift back to mass-market human-driven EVs or whether the new model would align more with Tesla’s vision for fully autonomous vehicles.

Such ​a model could potentially serve both purposes, according to one of the people familiar with the new-vehicle project and a Tesla employee with knowledge of its current product philosophy. The Tesla employee declined to confirm or deny details of any specific ​vehicle but said, in general, the automaker now aims to build models that would be driverless but offer a human-driven option.

While aiming for full autonomy across its lineup, the person said, Tesla realises ⁠many global markets won’t see meaningful adoption — nor regulatory acceptance — of driverless vehicles for years. Preserving the option to build a particular model with or without driving controls could enable more sales and help ensure Tesla can keep its car factories running near capacity, the ​person said.

As Tesla chases a driverless future, some analysts predict a third-straight year of declining sales for the traditional EVs that provide the vast majority of its revenue. So far, Tesla operates a small number of robotaxis only in Austin, Texas, many with human safety monitors ​in the passenger seat.

Tesla didn’t respond to requests for comment about plans for a new vehicle.

The four people familiar with the project said it remained in an early development stage. Reuters couldn’t determine whether Tesla has given the green light for the car’s production.

The automaker has a history of starting development on products that end up long delayed or cancelled. Tesla showed off concept vehicles for a Roadster supercar and a Semi freight truck in 2017, for instance, but still hasn’t produced the sports car or mass-produced the Semi.

Two of the sources said Tesla aims to offer the new vehicle at a substantially lower ​price than its entry-level Model 3 sedan, which starts at $34,000 in China and about $37,000 in the United States. They said Tesla planned to save costs in part by using a smaller battery, which would mean a shorter driving range compared with 306 to 327 miles ​for the Model Y.

One of the people added that the automaker would also offer a single electric motor instead of two, a performance option on current Tesla models. Tesla also wants to make the car much lighter, this person said, at about 1.5 metric tons compared with about two ‌tons for the ⁠Model Y.

Three of the people said the new model would be produced at Tesla’s Shanghai factory. While the timing remained unclear, the car’s production is unlikely to begin this year, the people said.

TESLA’S START-AND-STOP HISTORY ON AFFORDABLE EVs

For years after Tesla started in 2008 producing luxury electric cars, Musk said the company’s real mission was to produce affordable, mass-market electric vehicles that would be critical to fighting the climate crisis. But start-and-stop efforts to deliver on that goal have so far fallen short.

Beginning in 2020, Musk said Tesla aimed to sell 20 million vehicles annually by the end of the decade, nearly double that of Toyota, the current global sales leader. A project Musk touted to produce a $25,000 EV, often called the “Model 2” by Tesla fans and investors, was expected to drive explosive vehicle-sales growth.

Then in 2024, Reuters reported that Tesla ​had abandoned plans for the Model 2, although it still planned ​a driverless robotaxi on the same platform. Tesla’s biggest EV ⁠rivals in China had already started producing much cheaper EVs. Later that year, Musk said it would be “pointless” and “silly” for Tesla to make a $25,000 EV for human drivers because the company would soon offer driverless vehicles.

A former Tesla manager said an all-new cheaper traditional car would represent a significant departure from the company’s philosophy through mid-2025. Until then, the manager said, Tesla had dropped the effort to mass-produce an entry-level ​car in favor of robotaxis as the key to lowering costs per mile for riders and the car owners charging them for trips.

After scrapping the Model 2, Musk and other Tesla executives ​described different plans for new, “more affordable” EVs ⁠in vague terms. When the vehicles arrived last fall, however, they were stripped-down versions of the current Model 3, and Y offered in new “standard” trim levels at only a modest discount.

US prices of $36,990 for the Model 3 Standard and $39,990 for the Model Y struck some investors as too high to attract a new class of buyers and haven’t yet made a significant difference in Tesla’s overall sales.

IS THE DRIVERLESS CYBERCAB ON TRACK?

Publicly, Musk and Tesla have continued to emphasise plans for robotaxis and humanoid robots, which have been effective in sustaining Tesla’s eye-popping stock-market value.

Tesla’s market capitalisation ⁠is about $1.3 trillion — far ​outpacing its financial fundamentals, even when compared with high-flying tech peers. Last year, investors approved a compensation package granting Musk up to $1 trillion in Tesla stock tied to ​a series of product and financial goals.

The automaker now says it plans to start production this month of a two-door Cybercab robotaxi, first unveiled as a concept vehicle in 2024, with no pedals or steering wheel. But it remains unclear when the car will go on sale or see use in a Tesla-operated robotaxi fleet. The ​automaker hasn’t sought a federal exemption required to sell a vehicle with no steering wheel or pedals, a spokesperson for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said.

Austria has in recent years been one of Israel’s staunchest political supporters in ​the European Union.

“Israel must immediately stop its ​military operations against civilian targets and infrastructure in ⁠Lebanon,” the ministry said in response to a ​question from Reuters.

Israel on Wednesday conducted its heaviest strikes on Lebanon since the conflict with Iran-backed Hezbollah flared up again last month, even as France, Britain and the EU said a two-week truce ​between Iran and the US should also cover ​Lebanon.

Neutral Austria contributes about 160 soldiers to a 7,500-strong UN ‌peacekeeping ⁠force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). They belong to a unit performing tasks like transporting goods and personnel, repairing vehicles, supplying fuel and firefighting.

The ministry said it was extremely ​concerned about ​the conflict ⁠between Israel and Hezbollah, and “the humanitarian catastrophe, with more than one million displaced ​people.”

“The protection of the civilian population and ​of ⁠the Austrian UNIFIL contingent is our top priority,” it added.

Instead of calling for the US-Iran ceasefire to be ⁠extended ​to Lebanon, it said a ​way back must be found to a November 2024 ceasefire between ​Israel and Hezbollah.

According to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Field Marshal Munir called on the premier in Islamabad.

“The dignitaries reviewed the progress of Pakistan’s mediatory efforts to achieve sustainable peace in the region. The two leaders expressed satisfaction over the de-escalation achieved so far and stressed upon the need for maintaining peace and ceasefire by all parties,” the statement said.

“The leadership appreciated the restraint demonstrated by all sides and reiterated Pakistan’s commitment to facilitate and provide all-out support to both sides to arrive at a peacefully negotiated settlement,” it added.

The prime minister lauded the commitment of the parties involved and wished them success in their pursuit of peace.

“He also renewed his invitation to the arriving delegations and assured them of the highest consideration and support by Pakistan,” the statement concluded.

The meeting comes as delegations from the United States and Iran are expected in Islamabad over the weekend for talks, with Pakistan positioning itself as a key facilitator.

A high-level US delegation led by Vice President JD Vance is due to arrive in Islamabad tonight ahead of high‑stakes negotiations with Iran, sources said.

The meeting scheduled for Saturday would be a key diplomatic step following a Pakistan-brokered ceasefire between Washington and Tehran.

Accompanying Vance will be senior officials Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.

Additional members of the US delegation, including security experts and support staff, are also scheduled to arrive in Islamabad this evening to assist with the talks.

Iran’s negotiating team will likewise reach Islamabad tonight, led by Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

The US and Iranian delegations are set to hold talks on Friday, with the central phase of negotiations scheduled for Saturday.

Multiple rounds of discussions are expected to take place in Islamabad over the course of the talks.

Islamabad stepped up diplomatic outreach after the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran on February 28, triggering a wider conflict and a global energy shock.

Since then, Pakistani leadership, including Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, has engaged regional and international stakeholders to push for de-escalation.

On March 24, the prime minister said Pakistan stood “ready and honoured” to host “meaningful and conclusive talks” between Washington and Tehran.

A day later, the US shared a 15-point proposal with Iran through Pakistan, while Tehran responded with its own conditions.

Despite initial reports of rejection, “indirect talks” continued, with Pakistan relaying messages between the two sides.

Diplomatic activity intensified on March 29, when foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Egypt met in Islamabad for a quadrilateral discussion on Middle East de-escalation. Pakistan and China later issued a five-point initiative to restore regional stability.

Tensions spiked again on April 5 when US President Donald Trump issued a deadline for Iran to agree to a ceasefire and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, warning of further attacks.

With hours left before the deadline, PM Shehbaz urged Trump to extend it by two weeks, citing steady diplomatic progress, and also called on Iran to reopen the key shipping route for the same period.

“Subject to the Islamic Republic of Iran agreeing to the COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz, I agree to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks,” Trump later said.

Iran subsequently signalled conditional restraint, stating it would halt defensive operations if attacks stopped.

The two-week truce is based on a 10-point Iranian proposal that Washington has accepted as a general framework for negotiations, raising cautious hopes for a broader settlement.

The warning from Iran’s lead negotiator, parliament speaker Mohammed Bager Qalibaf, laid bare the continued volatility in the region following Tuesday’s ceasefire announcement by President Donald Trump.

The two sides have laid out sharply contrasting agendas for peace talks set to start on Saturday, but it was unclear whether the two-week ceasefire would hold until then.

Qalibaf said Israel had already violated several conditions of that ceasefire by ramping up its parallel war against the Iran-aligned militia Hezbollah, while the ​US had violated the agreement by insisting that Iran abandon its nuclear ambitions.

“In such a situation, a bilateral ceasefire or negotiations were unreasonable,” he said in a statement.

Israel and the United States both said the ​two-week ceasefire did not cover Lebanon, and radical Israeli regime leader Benjamin Netanyahu said the strikes would continue.

“I think the Iranians thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon, and it just ⁠didn’t,” US Vice President JD Vance, who will lead the US delegation, told reporters in Budapest.

The two sides appeared to be far apart on Iran’s nuclear programme as well — one of the factors that Trump cited as the ​basis for war.

Trump said Iran had agreed to stop enriching uranium, which can be turned into nuclear weapons, and the White House said Iran has indicated it would turn over its existing stocks.

“The United States will, working with Iran, ​dig up and remove all of the deeply buried … Nuclear ‘Dust,’” Trump said on social media.

Qalibaf, however, said it was allowed to continue enriching uranium under the terms of the ceasefire.

Though both the United States and Iran declared victory in a five-week-old war that has killed thousands, their core disputes remained unresolved.

Each side is sticking to competing demands for a deal that could shape the Middle East for generations.

Tehran’s newly demonstrated ability to cut off Gulf energy supplies through its grip on the strait, despite decades of massive US military investment in the ​region, shows how the conflict has already altered power dynamics in the Gulf.

Netanyahu said Israel had its “finger on the trigger” and was prepared to return to fighting at “any moment.”

French President Emmanuel Macron condemned “in the strongest possible terms” indiscriminate Israeli attacks on Lebanon, saying in a statement on X that Lebanon “must be fully covered” by the ceasefire.

The Strait of Hormuz remained shut to vessels sailing without a permit and shippers said they needed more clarity before resuming transit.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards navy posted a map showing alternative shipping routes in the Strait of Hormuz to help ​ships avoid naval mines, the semi-official Iranian news agency ISNA said.

In a flurry of online posts, Trump announced new tariffs of 50% on all goods from any country ​that supplies arms to Iran, though ⁠he lacks the authority to do so.

The life-saving trauma kits include ​bandages, antibiotics and anaesthetics to treat patients who sustained ​war-related injuries, the WHO stated.

“Some of the trauma management ⁠supplies were in short supply, and we may run out in ​a few days,” Dr Abdinasir Abubakar, the WHO’s representative in ​Lebanon, told Reuters.

Israel bombed more targets in Lebanon on Thursday after its biggest attacks of the war on its neighbour on Wednesday killed more than 250 ​people and more than 1,000 were injured, and threatened to ​torpedo Donald Trump’s truce from the outset.

“If we have another mass casualty, ‌like ⁠what happened yesterday, it will be a disaster,” Abubakar said.

“Probably we will lose more lives just because we don’t have enough supplies,” he added.

Shortages of supplies of trauma kits have been driven ​by a surge ​in recent ⁠casualties - the majority of whom are civilians - with roughly three weeks’ worth of supplies being depleted in ​one day, Abubakar stated.

Medicines to treat patients with ​chronic ⁠disease, such as insulin for diabetes patients, are also facing stockouts within the weeks, after supply chains were disrupted following the war ⁠in ​the Gulf and the closure of the ​Strait of Hormuz, Abubakar said.

Salam thanked the Pakistani premier for his ongoing efforts to promote lasting peace in the region.

Prime Minister Shehbaz condemned the Israeli aggression and expressed grief over the loss of lives, reaffirming that Pakistan remains sincerely engaged in efforts to restore regional peace.

Bahrain supports Pakistan’s peace efforts

In a separate development, Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa appreciated Pakistan’s role in helping secure a ceasefire between Iran and the United States, saying the move had created prospects for lasting regional peace.

PM held a telephone call with King Hamad, during which he thanked the Bahraini monarch for supporting Pakistan’s peace efforts, according to an official statement.

PM also praised what he described as the Bahraini leadership’s restraint following attacks in recent weeks and offered condolences over the loss of lives in Bahrain, wishing a swift recovery for the injured.

Both leaders agreed to continue working together to promote peace and stability in the region.

France and Pakistan’s concerns over Lebanon

In a separate call, French President Emmanuel Macron commended Shehbaz Sharif’s efforts in facilitating the ceasefire and conveyed best wishes for ongoing peace talks in Islamabad.

PM thanked Macron for backing Pakistan’s diplomatic initiatives and reiterated Islamabad’s commitment to regional stability.

The two leaders also expressed concern over ongoing hostilities in Lebanon.

Each side is sticking to competing demands for a deal to end the war that could ​shape the Middle East for generations.

WHERE DO BOTH SIDES STAND?

An Iranian delegation is due to arrive in Islamabad for talks based on a 10-point proposal, ‌which shows little overlap with a 15-point plan Washington previously put forward, suggesting there will be major gaps to bridge.

For example, Iran’s proposal includes a demand to enrich uranium, which Washington previously ruled out and Trump has insisted is non-negotiable. The 10 points also do not address Iran’s missile capabilities, which Israel and the U.S. have both said must be dramatically curtailed.

Tehran has said its formidable missile arsenal is non-negotiable, although it is unclear how much ​of those weapons remain after the war.

One Pakistani official in the region said Iran could expect to secure many of its demands, with a focus on reconstruction, reparations ​and sanctions relief, but could not expect to secure an agreement on uranium enrichment.

Previous talks have focused on Iran’s nuclear programme and missiles. Those ⁠issues have now been overshadowed by the fate of the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint through which a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas flows.

Iran’s effective closure ​of the waterway since the beginning of the war on February 28 has rattled the global economy, pushing up oil prices.

Tehran has indicated that under a permanent peace deal, it would seek to ​charge a fee for ships transiting the strait, which is just 34 km (21 miles) wide at its narrowest point between Iran and Oman.

Trump had threatened to devastate Iran if Tehran did not agree to a ceasefire deal and to reopen the strait.

There was no sign Iran had lifted its blockade of the waterway, which has caused the worst disruption to global energy supplies in history, and Tehran said there would be no ​deal as long as Israel was striking Lebanon.

Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said in a statement that Washington had agreed to accept Iran’s 10-point plan and that “the United States has, in principle, ​committed to”:

• non-aggression;
• continued Iranian control over the Strait of Hormuz;
• acceptance of enrichment;
• lifting all primary and secondary sanctions;
• termination of all resolutions passed by the U.N. Security Council and Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency;
• withdrawal of ‌U.S. combat ⁠forces from the region;
• and cessation of war on all fronts, including against the Islamic resistance in Lebanon.

According to Israeli sources, Trump’s 15-point proposal, previously sent to Iran via Pakistan, called for removing Iran’s stocks of highly enriched uranium, halting enrichment, curbing its ballistic missile programme and cutting off funding for regional allies.

As the two sides prepare to hold negotiations, Trump vowed to retain military assets in the Middle East until a peace deal with Iran is reached and warned of a major escalation in fighting if it failed to comply.

WHAT ARE THE CHANCES OF REACHING A LASTING ​SETTLEMENT?

Although Trump has declared victory, Washington did ​not achieve the aims he had announced ⁠to justify the war at its outset: to eliminate Iran’s ability to attack its neighbours, destroy its nuclear programme and create conditions that would make it easier for Iranians to topple their government.

Iran is unlikely to make major concessions on those points, and it has indicated it can ​patiently keep on fighting, with the Strait of Hormuz giving it economic leverage over an enemy with superior firepower.

WHAT IS ISRAEL’S POSITION?

Israel, ​which has been pounding ⁠Iran’s ally Hezbollah in Lebanon in a parallel conflict, sees Tehran as an existential threat.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would like regime change in Iran, even though that would probably require boots on the ground, and there are no guarantees of stability afterwards.

The question of whether the ceasefire covers Israel’s war against Hezbollah has become a sticking point that threatens the truce.

The US and Israel say ⁠Lebanon is not ​included in the agreement, while Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has said a halt in hostilities in Lebanon was an ​essential condition of Tehran’s deal with Washington.

Israel said it had agreed to a ceasefire with Iran, but said the deal did not include halting military action in Lebanon.

An Israeli official said the US coordinated the temporary ceasefire with Israel in ​advance, adding that Iran had agreed to open the Strait of Hormuz without a commitment to an end to the war, compensation, or lifting sanctions.

Pezeshkian said Iran would not abandon ​the Lebanese ​people.

His comments come after ‌Israel carried ⁠out its heaviest strikes on Lebanon ​since ​the ⁠conflict with Hezbollah ​broke out ​last ⁠month, killing more than ⁠250 ​people on ​Wednesday.

Iran began targeting Israel with ballistic missiles and drones ​after Israel and US President Donald Trump launched air strikes on Iran on ​February 28, citing the aims of preventing it from projecting force abroad, ⁠ending its nuclear programme and encouraging the overthrow of its rulers.

The emergency, which had ​closed schools and workplaces, was lifted on Wednesday evening as no incoming Iranian missiles had ​been reported since 3 am (midnight GMT) after a ceasefire was agreed. Extensive Israeli attacks on Lebanon over the presence there of Iran-backed Hezbollah have since jeopardised the truce.

“With the lifting of the state of ​emergency and the return of the judicial system to work, hearings will resume as ​usual,” a statement from the Israeli courts said, adding that they would take place between Sundays ‌and Wednesdays.

Netanyahu, ⁠the first sitting Israeli prime minister to be charged with a crime, denies charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust brought in 2019 after years of investigations. His trial, which began in 2020 and could lead to jail terms, has been repeatedly ​delayed due to his ​official commitments, with ⁠no end date in sight.

Trump has echoed Netanyahu’s calls on Israel’s President Isaac Herzog for a pardon, citing the impact of regular court ​appearances on his ability to carry out his duties.

Herzog’s office has ​said the ⁠justice ministry’s pardons department would gather opinions to submit to the president’s legal adviser, who will formulate a recommendation, as per standard practice. Pardons are not usually given mid-trial.

The charges ⁠against ​Netanyahu, along with the Hamas attacks on Israel in ​October 2023, have damaged his standing. Israel is due to hold elections in October, and Netanyahu’s coalition, the most ​right-wing in Israel’s history, is likely to lose.

“All US Ships, Aircraft, and Military Personnel, with additional Ammunition, ​Weaponry … will remain in place in, and around, ​Iran, until the REAL AGREEMENT ⁠reached is fully complied with,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.

“If ​for any reason it is not, which is highly unlikely, ​then the ‘Shootin’ Starts,’ bigger, and better, and stronger than anyone has ever seen before,” the president added.

Iran had said earlier on Wednesday ​that it would be “unreasonable” to proceed with talks to ​forge a permanent peace deal with the United States after Israel ‌pounded ⁠Lebanon with its heaviest strikes yet on Wednesday, killing hundreds of people.

The two sides appeared to be far apart on Iran’s nuclear program, with Trump saying Iran ​had agreed to ​stop enriching ⁠uranium, and Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammed Bager Qalibaf, saying it was allowed to continue ​enriching uranium under the terms of the ​ceasefire.

“It was ⁠agreed, a long time ago, and despite all of the fake rhetoric to the contrary - NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS and, ⁠the ​Strait of Hormuz WILL BE ​OPEN & SAFE,” Trump added in his late Wednesday’s Truth Social post.

Iranian negotiators were expected to set off later on Thursday for Pakistan for the first peace talks ‌of the war, due to meet a US delegation on Saturday.

But there was no sign Iran had lifted its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which has caused the worst disruption to global energy supplies in history.

Tehran said there would be no deal as long as Israel was striking Lebanon.

The shortage drove the price that European and Asian refineries pay for oil to record levels near $150 a barrel, with even higher prices for some products such as jet fuel.

Israel, which invaded Lebanon last month in parallel with the war on Iran to root out Hezbollah, says its actions there ​are not covered by the ceasefire announced late on Tuesday by Trump.

Washington has also said Lebanon is not covered by the truce, but Iran and Pakistan, which acted as mediator, say it was explicitly part of the deal.

A ​host of countries, including Britain and France, said the truce should extend to Lebanon.

Israel kills Hezbollah leader’s nephew

The Israeli military said on Thursday it had killed the nephew of Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Naim Qassem, who had served as his personal secretary, and had struck river crossings ​in Lebanon overnight.

Israel struck Beirut’s southern suburbs just before midnight and at dawn, and hit towns across the south on Thursday morning, Lebanese state media said.

For its part, Hezbollah, which had initially said it would pause attacks on Israel in line with the ceasefire, said ​it was resuming them on Thursday morning.

Families gathered on Thursday at Beirut hospitals to identify slain loved ones, and rescuers worked through the night to try to save those trapped under rubble from attacks that hit populated areas without warning to civilians.

“This is my place, this is my house, I’ve been living here like more than 51 years. So, everything destroyed. See?” said Naim Chebbo, sweeping shattered glass and debris from his home in Beirut after strikes destroyed the building next door.

Lebanon declared a day of ​national mourning and shut state offices.

At one funeral in central Beirut, mourners gathered quietly to bury a man who had been killed.

His wife had survived the bombing, which sheared off half the building and left survivors trapped on upper floors for ​hours.

Mourning for Khamenei

Iran’s deputy foreign minister Saeed Khatibzadeh told BBC Radio that Israel’s strikes on Lebanon were a “grave violation” of the ceasefire.

“It was a catastrophe, could actually end in more catastrophe, and this is the nature of this rogue behaviour that we are seeing from Israel in the ‌whole Middle East.”

Inside ⁠Iran, where the halt to six weeks of US and Iranian air strikes has been portrayed as a total victory for the clerical rulers, huge crowds turned out to commemorate 40 days of mourning for Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, killed on the war’s first day.

State TV showed crowds in Tehran, Kermanshah, Yazd and Zahedan, with mourners in black carrying Iranian flags and portraits of Khamenei and his son and successor Mojtaba.

Large commemorative billboards were displayed, and a huge Hezbollah flag hung from one building.

Israel’s creation of “buffer zones” in Gaza, Syria and now Lebanon reflects a strategic shift after the attacks of October 7, 2023, one that puts the ​country in a semi-permanent state of war, six Israeli military and defence officials told Reuters.

The approach also acknowledges a reality the officials said had become increasingly clear after two-and-a-half years of conflict: Iran’s clerical leadership, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas ‌in Gaza and groups across the region cannot be eliminated outright.

“Israel’s leaders have concluded that they are in a forever war against adversaries who have to be intimidated and even dispersed,” said Nathan Brown, of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

The US and Iran agreed on Wednesday to a pause in fighting while they negotiate a broader end to the war, which erupted on February 28.

Israel agreed to halt its attacks on Iran but says it will not stop its campaign against Iranian-backed Hezbollah.

Israel launched a ground invasion of southern Lebanon to clear a buffer zone ​up to the Litani River — a broad swathe of land that makes up about 8% of Lebanese territory.

Israel has ordered the area’s hundreds of thousands of residents to flee and is in the early stages of destroying homes in Muslim villages ​that it believes have been used by Hezbollah to store weapons or stage attacks.

A senior military official, who requested anonymity to discuss security matters, said the aim was to “clear” an area stretching 5-10 km ⁠beyond the border, putting Israeli border towns out of range of Hezbollah rocket-propelled grenade fire.

The official alleged that in some Lebanese villages close to the border, Israeli troops found evidence that nearly 90% of homes contain weapons or equipment linking them to Hezbollah.

That means the homes are viewed ​as enemy military positions that must be destroyed, according to the official who said that many southern Lebanese villages sat on hilltops, giving them a direct line of sight into Israeli towns or army positions.

The use of buffer zones represents a new security doctrine that “border communities cannot ​be protected from the border”, according to Assaf Orion, a retired Israeli brigadier general and former head of military strategy.

“Israel no longer waits for the attack to come,” he added.

“It sees an emerging threat, and it attacks it preemptively.”

Once the buffer against Hezbollah is secured, Israel will have seized or occupied territory in Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, where it remains in control of over half the territory after an October ceasefire with Hamas.

Under the ceasefire, Israel is meant to withdraw from all of Gaza as Hamas disarms, though the chances of that happening in the near future appear slim.

“We have established security belts deep ​beyond our borders,” radical Israeli regime leader Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video message released by his office on March 31.

“In Gaza — more than half of the Strip’s territory. In Syria, from the Mount Hermon summit until the Yarmuch River. In Lebanon — a vast buffer zone that thwarts ​the threat of invasion and keeps anti-tank fire at a distance away from our communities.”

The Lebanese buffer zone plan has yet to be presented to Netanyahu’s cabinet, according to a member of the cabinet and two of the officials.

The Israeli military referred queries about the buffer zones to Netanyahu’s office, which didn’t ‌immediately respond to ⁠a request for comment.

Minister vows to raze villages

Israel has long held territory beyond its borders, including the occupied West Bank and Gaza, as well as the Golan Heights in southern Syria, territories captured in a 1967 regional war.

Israel subsequently annexed the Golan Heights in 1981.

Hundreds of thousands of Israeli settlers now live in the West Bank among about 3 million Palestinians, who seek the territory as the heartland of a future state.

To many displaced Lebanese and Palestinian people, Israel’s seizure of their land and destruction of their villages signals further territorial expansion, an interpretation reinforced by rhetoric from some far-right members of Netanyahu’s cabinet.

Bezalel Smotrich, Netanyahu’s finance minister, said in March that Israel should extend its border up to the Litani River.

He has made similar comments about Gaza, saying the territory should be annexed and settled by Israelis.

However, another Israeli military official, who ​also spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss operational planning, ​said the Litani would not mark a new border.

Rather, ⁠the buffer zone would be monitored with ground troops carrying out raids as needed, without necessarily holding positions along the river.

Radical Israeli defence minister Israel Katz likened the devastation exacted on southern Lebanon to the scorched-earth policy used against Hamas in Gaza that saw entire cities depopulated.

“The village homes adjacent to the border, which serve as Hezbollah outposts for all intents and purposes, will be destroyed according to the Rafah and Khan ​Younis model in Gaza, to remove the threat from Israeli towns,” he said on March 31.

Eran Shamir-Borer, an international law expert at the Israel Democracy Institute, said the destruction of civilian property was ​largely unlawful, with exceptions that include the ⁠property being used for a military purpose.

“Sweeping destruction of houses in southern Lebanon that is not based on individual analysis would be unlawful,” he added.

Long-term peace deals

Israeli leaders’ preference for a strategy led by the use of buffer zones follows decades of failed attempts to secure long-term peace agreements with the Palestinians, Lebanon and Syria.

The Israeli public is deeply sceptical of negotiated peace agreements with the Palestinians.

A 2025 poll from the Pew Research Centre found that just 21% of Israelis believe Israel and a potential future Palestinian state could coexist peacefully.

A poll from the Tel Aviv-based Institute ⁠for National Security ​Studies found that just 26% of Israelis believed the October ceasefire in Gaza would lead to many years of calm.

Most expected a swift resumption of fighting, the ​poll showed.

Ofer Shelah, a research programme director at the institute, said that in the absence of a negotiated peace settlement with Lebanon, having a buffer zone in the north would prevent the threat of attacks or a ground incursion by Hezbollah forces.

But he said the increased personnel needed to patrol fronts across Lebanon, Gaza, Syria and the occupied ​West Bank would eventually put a major strain on the military’s forces.

“We would be better off eventually going back to the international border and maintaining a mobile active defence beyond the border, without having outposts there,” Shelah added.

The Israeli actions undermine international efforts to establish peace and stability in the region and constitute a blatant violation of international law and fundamental humanitarian principles, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

“Pakistan calls upon the international community to take urgent and concrete steps to end Israeli aggression against Lebanon,” it said.

The statement added that Pakistan reiterates its unwavering solidarity with the Government and people of Lebanon during this difficult time and supports Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as its peace and stability.

The country’s Academy of Defence Science and the Missile Administration also conducted tests of carbon-fibre bombs and a mobile short-range anti-aircraft missile system, KCNA said.

Kim Jong Sik, a general who oversaw the tests, said the electromagnetic weapon system and carbon-fibre bombs were “special ​assets” for North Korea’s military, KCNA reported.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Wednesday that Pyongyang had test-fired multiple missiles over several days.

Analysts also see ​the tests as likely to be a show of force in cutting-edge conventional weapon systems by the nuclear-armed North ⁠for its adversaries and allies.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is scheduled to make a two-day visit to North Korea starting on Thursday.

There has also ​been speculation that US President Donald Trump may try to hold a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on the sidelines of ​his visit to China in mid-May.

Without specifying the number of ballistic missiles launched - a violation of United Nations sanctions - North Korea said it had tested its mobile short-range anti-aircraft missile system as well as the combat capabilities of its tactical ballistic missile warhead.

One test proved the surface-to-surface tactical ballistic missile called Hwasongpho-11 Ka, which is tipped with ​a cluster-bomb warhead, was able to “reduce to ashes any target” covering an area of up to 7 hectares, KCNA said.

Electronic warfare

The tests also follow North ​Korea reiterating its characterisation of South Korea as a “hostile enemy,” dashing recent hopes in Seoul of easing tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

North Korea appears to be upgrading its weapon system ‌with cutting-edge ⁠technology suited for a modern war, said Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University in South Korea.

The electromagnetic weapon system could have the capacity to disable electronic circuits in the enemy’s assets, with the potential ability to cripple South Korea’s F-35A stealth fighter jet or Aegis-equipped destroyers, Lim said.

Carbon-fibre bombs, which have been developed by advanced militaries such as the US and China, are capable of crippling infrastructure like power plants by ​sprinkling conductive strands of carbon fibre ​over a target.

Lim said ⁠they could be a potent weapon in any conflict.

North Korea also said it conducted a firing drill using “low-cost raw materials,” indicating its target for the mass production of weapons, said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the ​University of North Korean Studies.

The unveiling of such weapons would complicate South Korea’s defence strategy against North ​Korean threats, said ⁠Song Seong-jong, a professor at Daejeon University and a former official at Seoul’s Defence Ministry.

Shin Jong-woo, secretary general of the Korea Defence and Security Forum, said that North Korea was learning lessons from conflicts such as those in Ukraine and the Middle East.

For the first time, he said Pyongyang was also ⁠openly stating ​it was pursuing weapons designed to attack South Korea’s industrial infrastructure.

“North Korea appears to be ​developing these weapons with that asymmetric warfare model very much in mind,” said Shin, noting how it was important to be able to mass-produce weapons and also use electronic ​warfare to disrupt power grids and industrial infrastructure.

Barrot added ⁠that he expects Iran ​to make a series of ​concessions as part of the peace talks due to start in Pakistan.

“Iran ​must give up having ​nuclear weapons and the means to obtain ‌them, ⁠must give up using its missiles and drones to threaten countries in the region and ​must give up ​supporting ⁠groups like Hezbollah, Hamas and Houthis who destabilise ​the region,” he said ​in ⁠an interview with Radio Station France Inter.

Iran must also open ⁠the ​traffic in the ​Strait of Hormuz, he said.

Courtney Williams, 40, of Wagram, North Carolina, was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges related to “her alleged transmission of classified national defence information to individuals not authorised to receive it, including ​a journalist,” the Justice Department said in a statement.

Prosecutors alleged Williams violated a provision of the US Espionage ​Act.

The case comes as free-speech advocates have raised concerns about the Trump administration’s aggressive posture ⁠toward media leaks from government employees upset with US policies and actions.

Williams worked from 2010 to 2016 for a special ​military unit at the US army base in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and held a “Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information security clearance,” the ​Justice Department said.

Prosecutors allege that between 2022 and 2025, Williams repeatedly communicated by phone and text message with a journalist who was seeking information for an article and book about the unit.

Williams and the journalist spent more than 10 hours on phone calls and exchanged more than ​180 messages, the department said.

While court filings did not identify the reporter, journalist Seth Harp wrote a book published last ​year titled The Fort Bragg Cartel: Drug Trafficking and Murder in the Special Forces and an accompanying article that named Williams as a source ‌and attributed ⁠specific statements to her.

The Justice Department alleged that some of those statements contained “classified national defence information.”

Prosecutors also said Williams made what they called unauthorised disclosures of national defence information through her social media accounts.

A representative for Williams could not immediately be reached for comment.

Harp said after the indictment that Williams was a “courageous whistleblower who exposed rampant gender discrimination and sexual harassment in ​the US army’s Delta Force.”

​He also said Williams ⁠wanted to be quoted by name in his work and cast the charges against her as “vague and weak.”

The Justice Department cited messages from Williams to the journalist from the time of ​the book’s release in which she expressed concerns “about the amount of classified information being disclosed.” ​

She also messaged ⁠another person, the department did not identify, expressing fear that she might get arrested for the disclosure, prosecutors said.

Williams signed a classified information non-disclosure agreement when she joined the special military unit in 2010 and again when she left that job, according to the ⁠complaint filed ​against her.

Prior US administrations have on rare occasions also pursued legal cases ​against sources of leaks to the media that have aimed to expose government wrongdoing, dating as far back as the “Pentagon Papers” from the Vietnam War and ​as recently as the Iraq war logs in this century.

Rutte’s comments ⁠came after a meeting with ​US President Donald Trump at the ​White House earlier in the day.

During an interview with CNN, the NATO chief ​was asked if he believed ​NATO countries had been tested and failed.

“Some of them ‌, yes, ⁠but a large majority of European countries, and that’s what we discussed today, have done what ​they promised ​before ⁠in a case like this,” he told CNN.

Rutte said ​he had a “frank and open” discussion with ​Trump, ⁠where the Republican expressed disappointment with America’s allies.

He said he pointed ⁠out to ​Trump that European ​countries assisted with logistics and other commitments.

The US and Iran agreed on Tuesday to a two-week ceasefire brokered by Pakistan, subject to Tehran pausing its blockade of oil and gas traffic through the strait, according ​to US President Donald Trump.

An Iranian official said on Wednesday that the vital waterway, through which around a fifth of the world’s oil and gas flowed before the US-Israeli war on Iran began nearly six weeks ago, could ‌be reopened by Friday in a limited fashion under Iranian control.

Tehran had also indicated on Tuesday that, under a permanent peace deal, it would seek to charge a fee for ships transiting the strait, which is just 34 km wide at its narrowest point between Iran and Oman.

With full details of the ceasefire deal still unclear, some media reports indicate that Oman has strongly pushed back, making clear that no such toll regime is acceptable under existing agreements, while others suggest that such a tolling system may already be in place.

Trump said in an interview with ABC News on Wednesday that the US ​was also thinking about setting up a joint venture to charge ship tolls for access through Hormuz.

How such a scheme would operate in practice remains far from clear.

But Iran may hold the upper hand. The conflict ​has demonstrated Tehran’s ability to strike dozens of vessels using drones, missiles and sea mines — a capability that gives it powerful leverage even without a formal blockade.

Freedom of navigation

An Iranian toll system would ⁠strike at one of the core principles of international law: freedom of navigation, under which ships may transit international waters without interference from coastal states.

The United States has historically cast itself as the global guarantor of that principle, enforcing it through ​naval patrols and diplomatic pressure.

Allowing Iran to monetise control over Hormuz would therefore amount to a profound strategic reversal for Washington and a dramatic shock for the Middle East oil and gas sector, the economic lifeline of countries such as Saudi Arabia, ​the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

It would introduce a permanent layer of political risk for both Gulf producers and their customers by giving Tehran disproportionate influence over which ships can transit and when.

Iran could, for example, ban Israeli-owned vessels outright, slow Saudi shipments to apply pressure on Riyadh, or use delays as leverage in unrelated diplomatic disputes.

The region’s leading exporters — all close US allies that absorbed heavy economic and infrastructure damage during Iranian attacks — would be deeply reluctant to see Tehran wield such power over their most critical trade artery.

For Asian buyers, the implications would be ​severe.

China, Japan, South Korea and India rely heavily on Gulf supplies, and even modest, unpredictable disruptions would ripple rapidly through refining margins, spot liquefied natural gas prices and inflation expectations.

The extent of the damage would depend partly on which vessels Iran ​permits to transit and on what terms — ships heading to Iranian-friendly nations such as China, India, Iraq and Pakistan may face fewer restrictions, though the rules of passage remain deeply unclear.

Higher costs

Financially, the toll itself could prove significant.

Reports suggest the fee could be as high as $2 ‌million per transit, ⁠roughly equal to the total cost of chartering a very large crude carrier from the Middle East to China for an entire voyage in 2025.

Beyond the toll, elevated security risks would push insurance premiums higher for tankers and LNG carriers entering the Gulf, further inflating transportation costs.

War-risk premia, already volatile during the conflict, would likely persist as a structural feature of the market.

Some vessels could attempt to hug Oman’s coastline while transiting Hormuz.

But that would severely constrain overall traffic volumes and would still leave ships within range of Iranian missiles, drones and fast-attack craft.

Alternative routes

These risks, compounded by the broader uncertainty of relations with Iran, mean Saudi Arabia and the UAE are likely to maintain alternative oil export routes used during the conflict for ​many months, if not years.

State oil giant Saudi Aramco began pumping large volumes ​of crude through its East-West pipeline to the Red ⁠Sea port of Yanbu shortly after the war broke out on February 28, activating contingency plans developed precisely for such a crisis.

The pipeline can carry 7 million barrels per day, of which around 5 million bpd are available for export, with the rest feeding domestic refineries.

Saudi Arabia shipped an average of about 3.3 million bpd from west-coast ports in March, nearly half of its ​2025 export volume, according to data from analytics firm Kpler.

Yet even these alternatives have proven vulnerable.

The East–West pipeline was hit in an Iranian attack just hours after the ceasefire was ​announced, an industry source told Reuters, ⁠with flows expected to be affected.

The UAE likewise diverted additional volumes via its pipeline to the Fujairah oil terminal outside the Gulf. Exports from Fujairah rose to 1.6 million bpd in March from an average of about 1.1 million bpd in 2025, according to Kpler.

These routes will remain indispensable, offering producers and buyers a partial hedge against Hormuz risk, but not a complete solution given their limited capacity and exposure to broader regional tensions.

Even if a full toll system never materialises, the mere prospect of Iranian oversight has already ⁠altered risk perceptions.

Iranian ​control over the strait would grant Tehran disproportionate power over the region’s economic lifeline — one Saudi Arabia and its allies would be certain to resist, ​diplomatically or otherwise.

The ceasefire may be holding for now, but for Gulf oil and gas exporters, the battle over Hormuz is just beginning.

Spain has ​emerged as one of the most vocal ⁠critics among Western nations of US ​and Israeli actions in Iran and Lebanon, ​closing its airspace to any aircraft involved in a conflict Madrid has called reckless and illegal.

“Yesterday we ​saw how Israel, flouting the ceasefire ​and in violation of international law, dropped hundreds of ‌bombs ⁠on Lebanon,” Albares told lawmakers in the lower house.

Earlier on Thursday, Albares announced that Spain would reopen its embassy in Tehran ​in hopes ​of achieving ⁠peace in the region.

“I’ve instructed our ambassador in Tehran to return, ​to take up his post again ​and ⁠reopen our embassy, and for us to join in this effort for peace from ⁠every ​possible quarter, including from ​the Iranian capital itself,” Albares told reporters.

Speaking at a White House briefing on Wednesday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt criticised NATO’s response to the recent US and Israeli war with Iran, describing it as a “test” the alliance had failed.

She said member states had declined to provide direct military support beyond defensive measures, Al Jazeera reported.

“They were tested, and they failed,” Leavitt said, quoting Trump.

She added that it was “quite sad that NATO turned its back on the American people”, who she said had long funded the alliance’s defence.

Her remarks came shortly before Trump met NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte at the White House. Leavitt said the president was preparing for a “frank and candid conversation”.

After the meeting, Rutte described the talks as “frank and open” in an interview with CNN.

While acknowledging US frustration, he said NATO allies had provided support through logistics and access to military bases.

Asked whether Trump had raised withdrawing from NATO or reducing support, Rutte said there was “a disappointment” but noted the US president had listened to his arguments.

He also reiterated his support for Trump’s leadership.

Trump has long had a strained relationship with NATO, alternating between criticism and reassurances of US commitment.

Since returning to office in 2025, he has renewed pressure on European allies to increase defence spending.

At the 2025 NATO summit, members agreed to nonbinding targets to raise defence budgets to 5 per cent of GDP by 2035, though tensions persisted, including disputes with Spain over exemptions.

Relations were further strained by Trump’s past threats to take control of Greenland, which he argued was vital to US security, drawing strong opposition from European leaders.

Following the launch of the US-Israeli war against Iran in February, Trump also criticised European allies for not contributing more actively to the campaign.

According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, the administration is now considering reducing its military footprint in Europe, including the possible closure of bases or troop withdrawals from countries such as Spain and Germany.

When asked whether the US could leave NATO, Leavitt said the option had been discussed and could be addressed following Trump’s talks with Rutte.

Rutte, who has met Trump multiple times during his second term, has previously warned that NATO “will not work” without US support.

“Congress must reassert its authority, especially at this dangerous moment,” Schumer told a press conference at his office in New York.

Trump agreed to the ceasefire ​on Tuesday, less than two hours before his deadline for Tehran to ​reopen the blockaded Strait of Hormuz or face devastating attacks on its ⁠civilian infrastructure.

Trump’s threat that “a whole civilisation will die tonight” prompted global concern and ​censure from Democrats, dozens of whom called for Trump’s removal from office.

The 1949 Geneva ​Conventions on humanitarian conduct in war prohibit attacks on sites considered essential for civilians.

Schumer called Trump’s statements “unhinged” and criticised the war for failing to weaken Iran’s government or rein in its nuclear ​programme, while global fuel prices have risen.

Iran says its nuclear programme is peaceful.

The ​Trump administration has sought to portray the war as a decisive victory, although the top US general ‌said ⁠US troops stood ready to resume fighting.

The White House says Trump’s actions are legal and within his rights as commander-in-chief to protect the US by ordering limited military operations.

Democrats in the Senate and House of Representatives have tried and repeatedly failed in recent months ​to pass war ​powers resolutions to force ⁠Trump to obtain lawmakers’ authorisation before launching military operations.

Trump’s fellow Republicans in Congress — who hold slim majorities in both the Senate ​and House — have almost unanimously backed his policies.

Although the ​US Constitution ⁠says that Congress, not the president, can declare war, that restriction does not apply for short-term operations or if the country faces an immediate threat.

Separately, the Democratic leader in the ⁠House, ​New York Representative Hakeem Jeffries, said the House should ​also vote on a resolution to curb the war on Iran.

“We need a permanent end to Donald ​Trump’s reckless war of choice,” Jeffries said on CNN.

After years of threats, UN stunts, and diplomatic pressure on the US, Israel’s objectives in the conflict have largely failed.

US intelligence assessments that Israeli predictions of regime change in Iran were unrealistic have been validated, and Netanyahu reportedly pushed US President Donald Trump against agreeing to a ceasefire until the last moment.

Israel’s opposition leaders have openly criticised him: Yair Lapid called it a “political disaster,” saying Netanyahu failed to achieve his goals, while Yair Golan described it as “one of the most severe strategic failures Israel has ever known.”

Despite the month-long conflict, Iran’s regime remains intact, with key military assets and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps strengthened.

Netanyahu’s ongoing attacks in southern Lebanon and Israel’s attempts to establish a new security zone may further strain relations with Hezbollah.

Domestically, Netanyahu enters an election year without achieving his primary promises, including neutralising what he described as an “existential” threat from Iran.

Public opinion in Israel and support from the US, historically strong, are likely to be affected, with analysts noting that repeated failures in Gaza, Lebanon, and Iran have exposed empty promises of victory.

The strikes ​raised questions about regional truce efforts, with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian saying a ceasefire in Lebanon was an essential condition of his country’s agreement with the US.

On Wednesday afternoon, at least five consecutive strikes rocked the capital ‌Beirut, sending columns of smoke into the sky as Israel’s military said it had launched the largest coordinated strike of the war.

More than 100 Hezbollah command centres and military sites were targeted in Beirut, the Bekaa Valley and southern Lebanon within ten minutes, it said.

A total of 254 people were killed and over 1,100 wounded across Lebanon, the country’s civil defence service said.

The highest toll was in Beirut, where 91 people were killed. The health ministry gave a toll of 182 dead across the country and said it was not a final figure.

Hezbollah said early on Thursday it fired rockets at the small kibbutz of Manara, ​citing what it described as Israel’s ceasefire violations.

“This response will continue until the Israeli-American aggression against our country and our people ceases,” the group said in a statement.

It was the deadliest day of the war that erupted on March 2 when Israel launched a fully fledged air and ground campaign.

Reuters reporters saw civil defence workers ⁠guiding an older woman onto a crane to evacuate her from a building in a western part of Beirut.

Half of the building had been sheared off in an Israeli strike, leaving residents on the upper floors trapped.

Earlier, Reuters reporters saw people on motorcycles ​picking up the wounded and transporting them to hospitals because there were not enough ambulances to get to them in time.

One of Beirut’s biggest medical facilities said it needed donations of all blood types.

“The scale of the killing and destruction in Lebanon today is nothing ​short of horrific,” said UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk.

“Such carnage, within hours of agreeing to a ceasefire with Iran, defies belief.”

Late on Wednesday evening, a strike hit Beirut’s southern suburbs, according to a Reuters live broadcast.

Lebanon not included in truce: Israel, US

In a televised address on Wednesday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Lebanon was not part of the ceasefire with Iran and the Israeli military was continuing to strike Hezbollah with force.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt and Vice President JD Vance also said on Wednesday that Lebanon was not included in the truce.

“I think this comes from ​a legitimate misunderstanding. I think the Iranians thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon, and it just didn’t,” Vance told reporters in Budapest.

Earlier, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, a key intermediary in the US-Iran ceasefire talks, had said the truce would include Lebanon.

In a statement, Hezbollah ​condemned Israel’s “barbaric aggression” and said the attacks underscored its right to respond.

Hezbollah had stopped attacking Israeli targets early on Wednesday, three Lebanese sources close to the group told Reuters.

“Hezbollah was informed that it is part of the ceasefire – so we abided by it, but Israel ‌, as usual, has ⁠violated it and committed massacres all across Lebanon,” senior Hezbollah lawmaker Ibrahim Al Moussawi told Reuters.

Another Hezbollah lawmaker, Hassan Fadlallah, told Reuters there would be “repercussions for the entire agreement” if Israel’s attacks continued.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warned the US and Israel that it would deliver a “regret-inducing response” if attacks on Lebanon did not stop.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned Wednesday’s strikes and said French President Emmanuel Macron had told him he was ready to make a diplomatic push for Lebanon to be included in any ceasefire.

A senior Lebanese official had earlier told Reuters that Lebanon had not taken part in correspondence leading up to the ceasefire.

A living nightmare

Most of Wednesday’s strikes were in civilian-populated areas, Israel’s military said.

Hours before the attacks, the military had issued warnings for some areas of southern Beirut and southern Lebanon. No such warning was ​given for central Beirut, which was also hit.

Following the strikes, Israeli ​military spokesperson Avichay Adraee said on X that Hezbollah had ⁠moved out of its traditional stronghold in southern Beirut’s Dahiyeh neighbourhood to religiously mixed areas elsewhere.

He said Israel’s military would pursue Hezbollah wherever it was.

The Israeli military claimed it attacked a Hezbollah commander in Beirut, without providing further details.

In a western neighbourhood of Beirut that was hit by a strike, Naim Chebbo, 51, swept up shards of glass that had been blown out of the window ​frames by the force of the blast.

“Tonight I’m not going to sleep because I’m going to be afraid that it’s happening again. I’m living a nightmare,” he told Reuters.

‘Lebanon cannot take it anymore’

Israel also struck the last remaining ⁠bridge linking southern Lebanon to the rest of the country on Wednesday, a senior Lebanese security source said.

The bridge ran over the Litani River, which runs about 30 kilometres north of the border with Israel.

An Israeli military spokesperson said the area south of the Litani was “disconnected from Lebanon.”

Israel has said it intends to occupy the area as a “buffer zone.”

It has struck hospitals and power stations there, and thousands of Lebanese civilians still living there say they have been struggling with a shortage of food and medicine.

Israel has issued evacuation orders covering around 15% of ⁠Lebanese territory, mostly ​in the south and in the suburbs south of Beirut. More than 1.2 million people have been displaced.

Many had hoped a ceasefire could allow them to return.

Outside ​a school sheltering displaced people in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon, people had piled their pillows and blankets onto cars, thinking they could return home.

Before Wednesday’s attacks, more than 1,500 had been killed in Israel’s air and ground campaign across Lebanon, including more than 130 children.

“Hopefully, a ceasefire will be reached,” said Ahmed Harm, ​a 54-year-old man displaced from Beirut’s southern suburbs. “Lebanon can’t take it anymore.”

Wishah, a correspondent for Al Jazeera Mubasher, was killed on Wednesday when a strike hit the car he was travelling in along Al Rashid Street, a main coastal road west of Gaza City.

The vehicle burst into flames following the attack, according to sources cited by Al Jazeera Media Network.

In a statement, Al Jazeera condemned the killing as a “heinous crime” and accused Israel of deliberately targeting journalists.

The network said Wishah, who joined in 2018, had been covering the war in Gaza since it began and described his death as “a deliberate and targeted crime intended to intimidate journalists and prevent them from carrying out their professional duties.”

The Gaza Government Media Office said at least 262 journalists have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 2023, alleging a pattern of “systematic targeting” of media workers.

Reporting from Gaza City, Al Jazeera’s Ibrahim Al Khalili said Wishah’s killing on a major road underscored what he described as worsening conditions despite a US-brokered ceasefire.

He said Israeli violations had continued nearly six months after the truce took effect, including attacks on journalists.

The Gaza Government Media Office said Israeli forces had committed around 2,000 violations since the ceasefire began.

It called on international media organisations, including the International Federation of Journalists and the Arab Journalists Union, to condemn the killing and press for accountability.

The office also urged the international community to take action to protect journalists and prosecute those responsible in international courts.

According to Gaza health authorities, more than 72,000 people have been killed and over 171,000 injured in Gaza since October 2023.

Since the ceasefire took effect last October, at least 733 Palestinians have been killed and more than 2,000 wounded in subsequent attacks, the health ministry said.

Trump “is dispatching his negotiating team led by the vice president of the United States, JD Vance, special envoy (Steve) Witkoff and Mr (Jared) Kushner to Islamabad for talks this weekend,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told a news conference

Islamabad is preparing for high-stakes direct talks between Iran and the United States following a two-week ceasefire brokered through Pakistan’s diplomatic efforts.

Officials said extraordinary security measures are being put in place across the federal capital, with heightened surveillance in sensitive areas and law enforcement agencies placed on high alert.

The district administration has declared April 9 and 10 as local holidays to facilitate security arrangements.

Residents have been advised to limit unnecessary movement, while essential services will remain operational.

On the Iranian side, state media reported that Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf is expected to represent Tehran.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif earlier announced the breakthrough, stating that both sides had agreed to an immediate ceasefire and were invited to Islamabad to negotiate a final agreement.

He expressed hope that the talks would pave the way for lasting peace in the region.

The ceasefire came just ahead of a deadline set by Washington for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global energy route.

Trump later said the US had achieved its military objectives and was “very close” to a long-term deal.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi welcomed Pakistan’s mediation, saying Tehran would halt defensive operations if attacks ceased.

He added that the two-week negotiation window could be extended by mutual consent.

Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said maritime transit through the Strait of Hormuz would continue in coordination with Iranian forces during this period.

The talks are expected to cover Iran’s nuclear programme and the possible lifting of decades-old US sanctions.

The White House confirmed preparations are underway in Washington.

Pakistan’s mediation has drawn international praise, as the conflict — ongoing since late February — has threatened global energy supplies and economic stability.

With senior delegations set to arrive, global attention is now focused on Islamabad, where the negotiations could shape the trajectory of regional peace and economic recovery.

Kyiv on Wednesday called on the United States to pressure Russia into ending its invasion of Ukraine, saying Washington’s ceasefire agreement with Iran showed the success of US “decisiveness”.

“We’ve been disappointed by a lot of political leadership in Europe because they don’t seem particularly interested in solving this particular conflict,” Vance said during a visit to Hungary.

He said efforts to resolve the conflict had seen “significant progress” but it has been “the hardest war to solve”.

“We’ve got pieces of paper from the Ukrainians and pieces of paper from the Russians. We’ve actually got them to state their positions and over time their positions have gotten closer and closer together,” Vance said.

“And that’s why we’ve made some progress. We haven’t obviously made the final amount of progress, but I’m pretty optimistic about this, because fundamentally the war has stopped making sense,” he added.

But he said it “takes two to tango”.

“We’re talking about haggling at this point over a few square kilometres of territory in one direction or another, is that worth losing hundreds of thousands of additional Russian and Ukrainian young men? Is that worth an additional months or even years of higher energy prices and economic devastation?” he added.

He hailed Hungarian nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has maintained close ties with Moscow despite the invasion, breaking ranks with most other EU leaders, and who has been accused of fuelling anti-Ukraine sentiment in the run-up to Sunday elections.

“The most helpful has been Viktor, because Viktor is the one who’s encouraged us to truly understand this, to understand from the perspective of both the Ukrainians and the Russians what is necessary for them to end the conflict,” he said.

Vance started his visit to Hungary on Tuesday to support Orban, who is facing an unprecedented challenge to his 16-year rule in Sunday’s parliamentary elections.

“This will continue to be discussed, I am sure, between the president and Prime Minister (Benjamin) Netanyahu, the United States and Israel and all of the parties involved,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.

The US-Iran truce does not include Lebanon, which was drawn into the war after Iran-backed group Hezbollah launched attacks on Israel.

Hormuz closure ‘unacceptable’

Leavitt said that Iran must open the Strait of Hormuz “immediately, quickly and safely” after reports that the strategic waterway was shut despite the US-Iran ceasefire.

Any closure “is completely unacceptable,” Leavitt told reporters.

“I will reiterate the president’s expectation and demand that the Strait of Hormuz is reopened immediately, quickly and safely.”

NATO ‘turned their backs’ on US over Iran

NATO has “turned their backs” on the United States, the White House said, just as the alliance’s secretary-general was set to meet with US President Donald Trump.

Leavitt said that Trump would discuss the possibility of leaving the alliance in those talks with Mark Rutte.

“It’s quite sad that NATO turned their backs on the American people over the course of the last six weeks when it’s the American people who have been funding their defence,” Leavitt said.

When asked if Trump would discuss a possible withdrawal from NATO, Leavitt said: “It’s something the president has discussed, and I think it’s something the president will be discussing in a couple of hours with Secretary-General Rutte.”

“Perhaps you’ll hear directly from the president following that meeting,” she added.

Trump’s upbeat talk ‌towards Iran in three Wednesday social media posts marks a dramatic, 24-hour turn in tone. On Tuesday, he had threatened to end the country’s whole “civilisation,” while on Wednesday, he declared “A big day for World Peace!”

Trump said on social media that many of the 15 points in the US plan proposed to Iran had been agreed to, but did not elaborate.

“We are, and will be, talking Tariff and Sanctions relief with Iran,” Trump said.

Despite his ​ebullient comments, and widespread relief on Iran’s streets and in global financial markets over the ceasefire, the main disagreements between Washington and Tehran remain unresolved and the ​two sides are sticking to competing demands for a potential peace deal.

Trump’s agreement to a two-week cool-down came less than two hours before the ⁠deadline he had set for Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping lane, or risk its bridges and power plants being destroyed.

He said on Wednesday the United ​States “will be helping the traffic buildup” in the Strait. Some analysts have predicted it will likely take more than two weeks to clear the backlog of more than 1,000 ocean-going vessels trapped within ​the Gulf.

The president also said any country supplying weapons to Iran would immediately face a 50% tariff on any goods exported to the US, although he did not specify under what authority he would impose the levies. The Supreme Court in February struck down his use of the authority invoked for last year’s sweeping global tariffs, and other tariff options available have limitations to their scope and hurdles to swift imposition.

Beijing and ​Moscow have helped Iran build military capacity to counter US and Israeli pressure, supplying missiles, air-defence systems and technology intended to bolster deterrence. But that support appeared capped during the US-Israeli attacks ​on Iran.

Both countries have denied any recent weapons supplies, although allegations against Moscow have persisted. US imports of Russian goods have shrivelled since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the wave of sanctions imposed ‌on Moscow ⁠as a result.

‘VERY PRODUCTIVE REGIME CHANGE’

Trump offered praise on Wednesday for Iran’s current leaders after U.S. and Israeli strikes killed a number of top officials, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He has been replaced as supreme leader by his son, Mojtaba Khamenei.

“The United States will work closely with Iran, which we have determined has gone through what will be a very productive Regime Change!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.

The negotiations could happen in person, but no final decision has been made, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.

US ​Vice President JD Vance, while travelling in Budapest, ​Hungary, said that he has been working ⁠to advance a deal and that Trump is “impatient” to find progress.

He said the president told his team to negotiate in “good faith” if Iran does, as well. “But that’s a big if, and ultimately, it’s up to the Iranians how they negotiate. I hope they make the right decision.”

Trump, whose ​initial reasoning for US military operations centred on preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, also declared in his posts that there ​will be “no enrichment of ⁠Uranium, and the United States will, working with Iran, dig up and remove all of the deeply buried (B-2 Bombers) Nuclear ‘Dust.’”

“Nothing has been touched from the date of attack.”

The war waged by the US and Israel has yet to deprive Iran either of its stockpile of near-weapons-grade highly enriched uranium or its ability to hit its neighbours with missiles and drones. And Iran’s clerical leadership, which faced a ⁠mass uprising ​months ago, has withstood the six-week onslaught with no sign of domestic opposition.

Regardless, the president is also seeing opportunity ​in Iran if it moves into a reconstruction phase, promising that the United States will be “hangin’ around” to try to usher in a “Golden Age of the Middle East.”

“There will be lots of positive action!” Trump posted just after ​midnight on Wednesday in Washington. “Big money will be made.”