Updated April 10, 2026 at 12:10 AM EDT
Israel's prime minister vowed to continue attacks against the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, despite a U.S.-Iran ceasefire, but said his government would begin direct talks with Lebanon.
The State Department confirms it will host the talks next week.
That comes as the Israeli invasion of Lebanon has posed a challenge to the fragile temporary ceasefire and the Trump administration's upcoming negotiations to end more than five weeks of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran that engulfed the region.
Also Thursday, a new message attributed to Iran's supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, declared Iran won the war and demanded compensation for damage and casualties it has caused. His message came as Iranian supporters of the regime marked the 40th day of a mourning period for its former supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in U.S.-Israel airstrikes at the start of the war.
Meanwhile, oil-producing Gulf states, as well as European nations, which are dependent on energy imports from the region, are uniting on two key issues: They're calling for an end to Israel's attacks on Lebanon and they oppose any attempts to introduce toll fees to ships crossing the Strait of Hormuz.
Here are more updates from the region:
Click the links below to jump down to a specific section.
Israel-Lebanon talks | Strait of Hormuz | Peace talks | Gulf countries' defense upgrade | Lebanon | Killed Journalists
Israel and Lebanon will begin talks next week in Washington
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday vowed to continue attacks against the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, but he said his government would begin direct talks with Lebanon's government.
"Following repeated requests from the Lebanese government to open peace negotiations with us, last night I instructed the Cabinet to begin direct negotiations with Lebanon to achieve two goals: First, the disarming of Hezbollah. Second, a historic, sustainable peace agreement between Israel and Lebanon," Netanyahu said in a video address Thursday.
The U.S. State Department confirmed it will host a meeting next week to discuss ongoing ceasefire negotiations with Israel and Lebanon.
There has been disagreement among the countries involved in the ceasefire as to whether attacks on Lebanon are a part of that agreement. Hezbollah and its backer Iran, as well as mediating country Pakistan, say the agreement does include Lebanon. But Israel and the U.S. have disputed that.
President Trump said he asked Netanyahu in a phone call Wednesday to reduce his country's attacks on Lebanon. "I spoke with Bibi and he's going to low-key it. I just think we have to be sort of a little more low-key," Trump told NBC.
Vice President Vance, who will lead a delegation to Pakistan for Saturday peace talks with Iran, said earlier that the Israelis were looking "to check themselves a little bit in Lebanon, because they want to make sure that our negotiation is successful." He added, "That's not because that is part of the ceasefire. I think that's the Israelis trying to set us up for success."
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawas Salam has pledged to restrict weapons to "legitimate forces only." Lebanese President Joseph Aoun says he wants a ceasefire first, followed by direct negotiations.
Israel and Lebanon have fought several wars. They do not have diplomatic relations and treat each other as enemy states. Direct negotiations between these two countries would be historic.
Gulf nations and Europe urge an end to Lebanon attacks as Iran keeps grip on Strait of Hormuz
Iran continued to defy Trump's demands that it immediately reopen the Strait of Hormuz, as the second day of the temporary truce came to an end. The ceasefire has so far had minimal impact on the movement of hundreds of vessels that have been stuck in the region since the start of the war in late February.
Iran's stranglehold on the vital waterway has made it difficult to track the exact number of ships that have traversed, but it's clear that passage has slowed to a trickle. Hormuzstraitmonitor.com, a site that aggregates maritime data, reported that nine vessels have sailed through in the last 24 hours. Another eight appeared to be in transit as of Friday 3 a.m. local time.
Meanwhile, Lloyds List, which tracks maritime intelligence data, reported on Thursday that more than 600 vessels are stuck in the Middle East Gulf region. The near-total stoppage has set back operations to such a degree that "even if traffic returned to pre-conflict levels tomorrow, it would still take more than 10 days to move all vessels out of the gulf," the London-based company estimated.
Iran officials closed the strait on Wednesday despite the tri-lateral agreement in the wake of a brutal air attack in Beirut by the Israeli military. The devastating deluge of bombs followed the announcement of the ceasefire between Iran, the U.S. and Israel, which Iran claims violates the terms of the deal.
Since then, Iran has been issuing warnings to idling ships telling them they risk attack if they attempt to travel through the strait without permission and, in some cases, hefty payment of $1 million or more. The threats have left operators confused and frozen, unwilling to attempt passage, due to safety fears and uncertainty about Iran's new fee system. Questions about who to pay, in what currency, and the legitimacy of a new toll process remain unclear.
Before the war broke out, Iran had no control over the strait. An average of 120 to 150 ships sailed through unimpeded every day, and it was a toll-free international waterway.
Sultan Ahmed Al Jabar, the United Arab Emirates minister of industry and advanced technology, criticized Iran's tight grip on the channel, in a LinkedIn post on Thursday. "This moment requires clarity. So let's be clear: the Strait of Hormuz is not open. Access is being restricted, conditioned and controlled," he said.
"Iran has made clear - through both its statements and actions - that passage is subject to permission, conditions and political leverage. … That is coercion," Jabar added.
He noted that the strait, which lies between Iran, Oman and the UAE, is a natural passageway — meaning it was not built or financed by any state — that is governed by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Under that framework, transit is guaranteed "as a matter of right; not a privilege to be granted, withheld or weaponized."
Trump, however, appeared to support the idea of a new toll system early Thursday morning, hours before walking back his stance. He told ABC News that he is "thinking of doing it as a joint venture" with Iran and called it "a beautiful thing."
He added: "It's a way of securing it — also securing it from lots of other people."
Later in the day, the president lashed out at Iran over the idea that Iran had already begun collecting fees. "There are reports that Iran is charging fees to tankers going through the Hormuz Strait — They better not be and, if they are, they better stop now!" Trump wrote in a social media post.
It's unclear if the president now opposes the toll system altogether or if he's unhappy that the U.S. seems to have been carved out of a potential revenue stream. The post came hours after European and Gulf-region allies explicitly stated they are against any tolls or restrictions on the shipping route.
"There is no international agreement where tolls can be introduced for transiting international straits. Any such toll will set a dangerous precedent," a spokesperson for the U.N.'s International Maritime Organization told Reuters on Thursday.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also weighed in, saying, "Full restoration of freedom of movement in the Strait of Hormuz is needed, and it must not be subject to any restrictions."
In a united front, European leaders also called for an end to Israel's continued devastation of Lebanon.
"We strongly encourage quick progress towards a substantive negotiated settlement," members of the European Commission said in a joint statement on Thursday. "This will be crucial to protect the civilian population of Iran and ensure security in the region. It can avert a severe global energy crisis."
Peace talks are set for Saturday amid confusion over the ceasefire terms
High-level talks between the U.S. and Iran are slated to start on Saturday in Islamabad, with the mediation of Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Pakistan's government acted as an intermediary between Washington and Tehran to secure the two-week ceasefire.
But confusion remains over the basis of the plan for those talks, with Iran insisting on a 10-point plan that includes its full control over the Strait of Hormuz, removal of sanctions and accepting Iran's right to enrichment.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Wednesday that Iran's 10-point proposal was "literally thrown in the garbage by President Trump." Trump initially called a plan from Iran "workable," but Leavitt said he was referring to a different set of unspecified points.
That confusion added to the debate over whether Israel's attacks on Lebanon were part of the ceasefire deal.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Wednesday his government supports Trump's decision to suspend strikes against Iran for two weeks, but that the ceasefire doesn't include Lebanon.
The Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said in a statement that it insists the U.S.-Iran ceasefire includes Lebanon. But the militant group said, "if the Israeli enemy does not adhere" to it, then "no party will commit to it, and there will be a response from the region, including Iran."
Iran condemned the continued assault on Lebanon and said it was the U.S. government's responsibility to put an end to it.
In a post on social media, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said, "The ball is in the U.S. court, and the world is watching whether it will act on its commitments," above a screenshot of the Pakistani statement including Lebanon in the truce.
Trump, meanwhile, echoed Netanyahu's understanding of the deal. Asked by a PBS reporter why Lebanon was not included, he said, "Because of Hezbollah. They were not included in the deal. That'll get taken care of too."
On Thursday, Araghchi said, "If the U S. wishes to crater its economy by letting Netanyahu kill diplomacy, that would ultimately be its choice. We think that would be dumb but are prepared for it."
Iran's foreign minister has had a slew of phone calls with counterparts from France, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, South Korea and other countries.
Gulf countries seek to upgrade their defense ties to the U.S.
As the U.S. and Iran prepare to enter negotiations on Saturday, Gulf Arab countries are seeking to enhance defense cooperation with the U.S. military, an official from the region, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to outline these demands publicly, told NPR.
Gulf countries have relied on U.S. defense systems to intercept recent Iranian missile and drone attacks.
The official said Gulf countries want a U.S.-Iran deal to include a framework to protect energy facilities in the region and a way to enforce freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz. Much of the oil, gas and fertilizer that typically passes through the strait to markets in Asia comes from the Persian Gulf.
On Thursday, the Saudi and Iranian foreign ministers held their first official phone call since the war started. A statement issued by the Saudi Foreign Ministry said the two "discussed ways to reduce tensions to restore security and stability in the region."
Lebanon mourns over 300 killed from Israeli attacks
Church bells rang across Lebanon and warplanes tore the skies Thursday morning as the country observed a national day of mourning following the deadliest day of the current Israeli invasion. More than 300 people were killed Wednesday, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry, in Israeli attacks in different parts of Lebanon that included densely populated residential areas far from Hezbollah's strongholds, such as along Beirut's seaside Corniche promenade.
The Israeli military said it conducted the largest attack so far, with 100 strikes in 10 minutes in Beirut on Wednesday, killing the nephew of a Hezbollah leader. The military issued evacuation orders for the capital's suburbs, but then attacked central Beirut. That city has swelled in recent weeks with people fleeing the Israeli invasion in the country's south, which has displaced more than a million people. More than 1,150 were injured in Wednesday's strikes, according to the country's Health Ministry. Lebanon's army said four soldiers were among those killed.
On Thursday, Israel struck a bridge in Lebanon. Hezbollah, which had held its fire on the first day of the ceasefire, fired rockets into northern Israel on Thursday.
The International Committee of the Red Cross says it is outraged by such attacks in densely populated urban areas.
Israeli military spokesperson Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani explained why Israel made a surprise attack on Beirut.
"Leading up to this operation, we've seen Hezbollah disperse over different areas, taking advantage of the warnings that we provide for civilians to also hide for themselves among the civilians, moving, trying to scatter their operations in different locations and to hide behind civilian locations," he said.
Watchdog says 3 journalists killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon and Gaza
The Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday Israeli airstrikes killed three journalists in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.
Al Jazeera said its correspondent Mohammed Wishah is the 11th journalist from the network to be killed in Gaza.
Two years ago, Israel said Wishah was a "key terrorist in Hamas" who posed a threat to its troops.
The Israeli military repeated that allegation in a statement after his killing on Tuesday, but did not say why he was targeted six months into a ceasefire in which hundreds have been killed in Gaza.
Also Tuesday, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said reporters Ghada Dayekh and Suzan Khalil were killed in a blitz of Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon that hit Hezbollah and civilian neighborhoods.
One of the journalists worked for a Hezbollah-affiliated news outlet.
According to CPJ Israel's military has killed more than 260 Palestinian journalists in Gaza in the past two and a half years. The group said Israel's attacks on the press should be independently investigated as war crimes.
Lauren Frayer in Beirut, Daniel Estrin in Tel Aviv, Israel, Aya Batrawy in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Jackie Northam in Maine, Danielle Kurtzleben and Michele Kelemen in Washington, and Vanessa Romo in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
Copyright 2026 NPR