Three people have been killed in Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon, according to Lebanese state media, and Hezbollah said its fighters were engaged in fresh clashes with the Israeli military today. The strikes occurred despite the signing of the US-Iran agreement which provides for the end of the war on all fronts in the Middle East, including Lebanon.
Donald Trump said on Thursday that the US expects “a complete ceasefire on all fronts, including Lebanon, Hezbollah, and Israel,” adding in a Truth Social post, “We encourage everyone in the Middle East Region to maintain their commitment to allowing our negotiations to beautifully unfold.”
JD Vance said that the 60-day period in which to reach a final agreement with Iran has started today. If this is true, that would set a deadline for the final agreement between Iran and the US as 17 August.
US central command (Centcom) has ended its blockade in the strait of Hormuz, it announced on social media. The US blockade of the strait had been in effect since 13 April, with control of the waterway being a key point of conflict in the war. Marine Traffic data showed that at least seven ships have crossed the strait so far today.
The US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, said at a meeting with Nato defense ministers in Brussels that the US will restart military action and reimpose a blockade against Iran if it does not fulfill its commitments under the agreement signed yesterday.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry said that the signing ceremony in Switzerland, which was due to take place on Friday, is cancelled as it is understood that the Memorandum of Understanding between the US and Iran has already been signed remotely.
The EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said she was representing the bloc’s position on the Middle East, after Israel announced it was severing diplomatic relations over allegations she had compared the country to apartheid South Africa.
Special envoy Steve Witkoff reportedly told US lawmakers that Iran plans to invite the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to inspect its nuclear sites following the deal with the US, sources told the Associated Press.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu emphasized the importance of maintaining close ties with the US on Thursday, saying Washington had stood by Israel during the Middle East war.
“The struggle is not yet over, and further challenges lie ahead. They require calm judgement, steadfast defense of Israel’s security interests, and at the same time the preservation of our vital relationship with our American friends, who stood shoulder to shoulder with us in this fight – a partnership we deeply appreciate,” Netanyahu said at a function, reported AFP.
His comments come as relations between the US and Israel have come under strain over the US-Iran agreement to halt the conflict, a deal which has faced sharp criticism from Israeli analysts.
Netanyahu has still not commented directly on the deal, though some of his coalition members dismissed it even before the text’s details were released on Wednesday.
The latest episode of the Guardian’s Today in Focus podcast centers on the 14-point agreement between the US and Iran, the content of which reveals significant concessions to Tehran. The Guardian’s diplomatic editor, Patrick Wintour, discusses the deal in detail. Check it out here:
Hezbollah said its fighters were engaged in fresh clashes with the Israeli military today, AFP reported, hours after Lebanese state media reported that Israeli strikes in the south killed three people.
The fighting came just a day after the US and Iran signed an agreement to end the Middle East war on all fronts, including in Lebanon.
Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militant group, said on Thursday it was fighting “a force of the Israeli enemy army that attempted to advance from the town of Arnoun towards the outskirts of Kfar Tibnit”, near the key town of Nabatieh.
“The clashes are still ongoing,” it added in the statement released in the late afternoon.
Earlier, Lebanon’s official National News Agency reported an “enemy drone targeted a car” in Kfar Tebnit, a village near the city of Nabatiyeh, killing two people. Another drone attack in the neighboring village of Zebdine killed one person, according to the news agency.
Minutes ago, Donald Trump posted that the US expects “a complete ceasefire on all fronts, including Lebanon, Hezbollah, and Israel.”
US expects 'complete ceasefire on all fronts, including Lebanon, Hezbollah and Israel' says Trump
Donald Trump said on Thursday that the US expects “a complete ceasefire on all fronts, including Lebanon, Hezbollah, and Israel.”
“We encourage everyone in the Middle East Region to maintain their commitment to allowing our negotiations to beautifully unfold,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, one day after he signed a memorandum of understanding to end the nearly four-month conflict with Iran.
Iran’s supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, said on Thursday he had authorized the memorandum of understanding signed by the Iranian and US presidents despite “holding a different view” after receiving assurances from president Masoud Pezeshkian and other senior officials that Iran’s rights and the interests of the “Resistance Front” would be safeguarded, Reuters reported.
In a written message to the Iranian nation, Khamenei said Pezeshkian, in his capacity as head of the Supreme National Security Council, had accepted responsibility for ensuring the agreement protected Iran’s interests and pledged not to yield if Washington made what he described as excessive demands.
Khamenei added that future face-to-face negotiations with the US would not mean accepting “the enemy’s position“.
When asked about criticismDonald Trump is facing from some Republicans over the deal, JD Vance told them to “have a little bit of faith in the president of the United States.”
“The idea that he is going to strike a deal that’s bad for the American people, it’s preposterous” Vance said, adding that the administration has to continue to explain the deal to the American people.
“I think that when people get to understand not just the agreement, but our negotiating posture as a country, they will realize this is an excellent thing for the American people,” Vance told reporters. “That’s part of our job. We’ve got to tell the story about what this means for Americans.”
US blockade in strait of Hormuz has ended, says US central command
US central command (Centcom) said in a statement on social media that they have ended their blockade in the strait of Hormuz.
“Today, US forces lifted the blockade on all maritime traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports and coastal areas, in accordance with the President’s direction,” the statement said. “American forces are not impeding the transit of vessels to or from Iranian ports on the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman. All US military blockade enforcement efforts have ceased.”
The US blockade of the strait had been in effect since 13 April, with control of the waterway being a key point of conflict in the war. Marine Traffic data showed that at least seven ships have crossed the strait so far today.
The Centcom statement added that naval ships will remain in the general area “to make sure that all aspects of the agreement are adhered to, obeyed and in full force and effect”.
EU policy chief says she was representing bloc's position on Middle East
Jennifer Rankin
The EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said she was representing the bloc’s position on the Middle East, after Israel announced it was severing diplomatic relations over allegations she had compared the country to apartheid South Africa.
Sa’ar said that she had for some time Kallas had been “acting obsessively and with blatant unfairness toward the state of Israel”, while accusing her of a “blood libel” over the alleged comments.
Kallas told reporters she had made tens if not hundreds of statements on Israel and Gaza “and you see what I have been saying” but did not deny the report. “I cannot fight shadows all the time,” she said, asking reporters to refer to her public statements.
She said she was representing the EU and “it is true we don’t always see eye to eye” with the Israeli government.
The former Estonian prime minister has faced criticism inside the EU for not denying the remarks.
EU leaders meeting in Brussels will express “grave concern” over the “deteriorating situation in Gaza and the West Bank, including the persistent and devastating humanitarian crisis in Gaza”, according to a draft summit communique due to be released on Friday. But the bloc has been unable to agree trade sanctions against Israel. Under growing pressure to take action, Kallas announced on Monday that she would ask for “a list of options for possible trade measures”, including stopping commerce from occupied territories.
EU diplomats say it remains unclear whether the bloc can find a majority to pass sanctions on Israel.
European Union's high representative of foreign affairs and security policy Kaja Kallas. Photograph: Olivier Matthys/EPA
Israel has to ‘respect this peace process’, says US vice-president JD Vance, adding that civilian deaths ‘not acceptable’
Asked about Trump’srecent criticisms of Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s attacks on Lebanon, Vance says that while Israel has the right to defend itself, “the Israelis, just like everybody else, have to respect this peace process.”
He added:
The president has grown frustrated sometimes that we seem to be right on the cusp of a major breakthrough in the agreement, and then all of a sudden, there’s a major explosion that goes off in a civilian population center in Beirut, and a lot of people who have nothing to do with Hezbollah lose their lives. That’s not acceptable.
Vance also said that he may go to Switzerland for talks with Iran this weekend, but that the plan could change.
“We think these technical negotiations are going to start sometime this weekend. That’s still the plan, but that could change,” Vance told journalists at the White House.
US vice-president JD Vance speaks during a press briefing. Photograph: Ken Cedeno/AFP/Getty Images
