Washington, Apr 24: US President Donald Trump has ordered the U.S. military to “shoot and kill” Iranian small boats choking the Strait of Hormuz.
In a social media post Thursday morning, he said the military is intensifying its mine clearing efforts in the critical waterway. The move intensified the U.S.-Iran standoff in the Persian Gulf and raised questions about efforts to end the war.
Later Thursday, Trump said Israel and Lebanon agreed to extend a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah by three weeks after talks at the White House. The meeting Thursday was the second high-level negotiation between the two countries since last week. The initial 10-day ceasefire, which took effect last Friday, had been due to expire Monday.
Meanwhile, the U.S. military said it seized another tanker Thursday associated with smuggling Iranian oil, the Majestic X, in the Indian Ocean, deepening confusion over efforts to end the war. The seizure comes after a day after Iran attacked three cargo ships in the Strait of Hormuz, capturing two of them. Ship-tracking data showed the Majestic X in the Indian Ocean between Sri Lanka and Indonesia.
The standoff between the U.S. and Iran has effectively choked off nearly all exports through the Strait of Hormuz, where 20% of the world’s traded oil passes in peacetime, with no end in sight.
Here is the latest:
Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors thank Trump for historic’ moment
Speaking alongside Trump in the Oval Office, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter said Israel and Lebanon “have never been next to each other more than today.”
Leiter thanked Trump and Vice President JD Vance for a day he said was decades in the making.
“We are going to keep going, working for peace. Let’s hope we will get it as soon as possible,” he said.
Lebanese Ambassador to the U.S. Nada Hamadeh Moawad thanked Trump for presiding over “this historic moment.” She added: “I think with your help, with your support, we can make Lebanon great again.”
Trump says it’s a must’ for Iran to end funding for Hezbollah
The president reiterated that the U.S. continues to demand that Iran stop it’s backing of proxy groups in the Mideast, including Hezbollah in Lebanon, as part of any deal between Washington and Tehran to end the U.S. war on Iran.
“Yeah, they’ll have to cut that,” Trump said to a reporter’s question about aiding the militant group. “That’s a must.”
US envoy compares Hezbollah to a kid throwing rocks
“The people of Lebanon, the people of Israel are neighbors and they want to get along,” said Mike Huckabee, the U.S. envoy to Israel, who was on hand for the White House talks.
“They can get along,” he said. “But it’s like neighbors who have a rough little kid living in the neighborhood who keeps throwing rocks at everybody’s window. And if the kid will quit throwing rocks, the neighbors can get along and start actually working together.”
Trump says ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon will be extended by 3 weeks
That comes after representatives from both countries met at the White House on Thursday.
The meeting “went very well,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform. “The United States is going to work with Lebanon in order to help it protect itself from Hezbollah.”
Trump said he will host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun at the White House in the “near future.”
A 10-day ceasefire was announced on April 16, pausing fighting between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group.
As Israel-Lebanon talks are set to start, rocket fire from Hezbollah
Israel’s military says its air defenses intercepted rocket fire from Lebanon.
It came as talks between Lebanese and Israeli officials were set to begin at the White House. Hezbollah said it had fired at the town of Shtula in response to Israeli attacks on the Lebanese village of Yater.
Trump says he’s not considering using a nuclear weapon against Iran
The president appeared perturbed when asked by a reporter if he’d consider deploying nuclear weapons against the Islamic Republic.
“No, I wouldn’t. We don’t need it. Why do I need it? Why would a stupid question like that be asked?” Trump fumed.
He went on, “Why would I use a nuclear weapon, when we’ve totally, in a very conventional way, decimated them without it. No, I wouldn’t use it. A nuclear weapon should never be allowed to be used by anybody.”
Trump say he won’t be rushed to end war as Iran negotiations drag on
“I don’t want to rush myself,” said Trump, who added that Iran’s leadership is in “turmoil.”
Trump in an exchange with reporters in the Oval Office also pushed back against questions that the conflict is exceeding the four-to-six week timeline that he and aides previously set for the war.
“I took the country out militarily in the first four weeks. I took it out militarily,” Trump said. “Now all we’re doing is sitting back and seeing what deal (we make). And if they don’t want to make a deal, then I’ll finish it up militarily.”
Iranian officials refute Trump’s claims of leadership rift in the country
“In Iran there are no hardliners’ or moderates’. We are all Iranians and revolutionaries,” Iran’s president, and Iran’s parliament speaker wrote in an almost identical statement on their social media.
A spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry called the U.S. president’s claim that there was a leadership rift in Iran “a form of deflection,” with other Iranian officials also claiming on social media that the country was united.
Hours earlier, Trump said that Iran is going through a hard time “figuring out who their leader is! They just don’t know!“
Since the killing of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei at the beginning of the war, it has been unclear who in Iran wields ultimate authority over its collection of civilian figures and powerful generals who appear to be in charge.
Third aircraft carrier arrives in the Middle East
The aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush has now arrived in U.S. Central Command, making the ship the third aircraft carrier to be present in the Middle East during a tenuous ceasefire in the Iran war.
The Bush is now in the Indian Ocean, according to a social media post from the military command. The USS Abraham Lincoln is located in the Arabian Sea and the USS Gerald R. Ford is in the Red Sea.
The Bush, which left its home port of Norfolk, Va. at the end of March, proceeded to sail across the Atlantic Ocean but then made the unusual choice to turn south and sail around the Horn of Africa before heading north toward the waters of the Middle East
Air defenses in action over Tehran
Iran’s capital Thursday night saw air defense systems in action as explosions were heard in the western part of the city.
State media said the move was against “hostile targets, “ without any elaboration.
Witnesses said air defense systems were also heard southwest of the city.
Some Iranian media said earlier Wednesday that a test of the systems was in process.
Clashes disrupt Israeli Supreme Court hearing
Clashes broke out at Israel’s Supreme Court during a hearing on petitions calling on the government to establish an official state commission of inquiry into the Oct. 7 attacks.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposes the investigation.
Protesters attempted to break into the courtroom, forcing the proceedings to pause, according to Israeli media reports. The hearing resumed after about 30 minutes. Separate confrontations were reported outside the court between bereaved families holding opposing views.
Renowned US-Kuwaiti journalist detained in Kuwait acquitted, press monitor says
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said Thursday that a Kuwaiti court acquitted journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin on all charges following 52 days of detention.
Shihab-Eldin, an award-winning journalist who contributed reporting to major media outlets, was arrested March 3 while visiting his family in Kuwait, CPJ said. The press monitor previously reported that Kuwaiti authorities have charged him with “spreading false information, harming national security, and misusing his mobile phone.”
“We are relieved that Ahmed Shihab-Eldin has been found innocent after 52 days in detention,” said CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg.
Trump to join Israel-Lebanon talks at White House
A U.S. official says President Donald Trump will greet Israeli and Lebanese diplomats who will meet for a second round of talks on Thursday at the White House.
The official said the meeting had been moved from the State Department, where the first round was held last week, to the White House so that Trump could attend. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal administration planning.
The talks come as a temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah that was agreed to by the Israeli and Lebanese governments is due to expire. U.S. officials say they hope an extension of the truce can be arranged.
Israel appoints envoy to Christian world
Israel’s foreign minister Gideon Saar has appointed George Deek as special envoy to the Christian world in a bid to strengthen ties with Christian communities, according to a government statement.
Deek, a veteran diplomat and former ambassador to Azerbaijan, is a member of Israel’s Arab Christian community.
Saar said Israel attaches “great importance” to its relations with Christians worldwide.
The appointment comes after a pair of incidents that strained relations with the Christian world. Last month, Israeli police prevented Catholic leaders from celebrating Palm Sunday at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, citing the war with Iran. And an Israeli soldier set off a global firestorm by smashing a statue of Jesus Christ in Lebanon. Two soldiers have been sentenced to jail for their roles in the incident.
Pope urges US and Iran to return to peace talks, condemns capital punishment
After a trip that was dominated by the very public back and forth between Pope Leo XIV and U.S. President Donald Trump over the war, Leo urged the United States and Iran to return to negotiations.
He called for a new “culture of peace” to replace the recourse to violence whenever conflicts arise.
He said the question wasn’t whether the Iran regime should change or not. “The question should be about how to promote the values we believe in without the deaths of so many innocents.”
He revealed that he carries with him the photo of a Muslim Lebanese boy who had been killed in Israel’s recent war with Hezbollah. The boy had been photographed holding a sign welcoming the pope when he visited Lebanon last year.
“As a pastor I cannot be in favor of war,” he told reporters aboard his plane. “I would like to encourage everyone to find responses that come from a culture of peace and not hatred and division.”
Trump likes a naval blockade. But Iran presents big differences from Venezuela and Cuba
President Donald Trump has turned to naval blockades to pressure the governments of Venezuela, Cuba and now Iran to meet his demands, but his preferred tactic is confronting a very different reality in the Middle East than in the Caribbean.
Unlike Cuba or Venezuela, Iran choked off a crucial trade route for energy shipments, meaning the longer the standoff persists, the more the global economy will suffer. Tehran also poses a greater military threat than those two adversaries in America’s own hemisphere and requires a sustained military presence far from U.S. shores.
Iran’s leverage over the Strait of Hormuz gives it power during a shaky ceasefire because the widening economic risks, especially higher U.S. gas prices in an election year, could force the Republican president to end the blockade on Iran’s ports and coastline, experts say.
Palestinians mourn another death in historically violent year in the occupied West Bank
25-year-old father of twins was shot by Israeli settlers in a village home to a large Palestinian-American population, sparking an outpouring of grief at his funeral Thursday.
The Ramallah-based Palestinian Ministry of Health said Awda Awawdeh died from gunshot wounds after what witnesses described as a clash with settlers attempting to steal Palestinian livestock.
“Young men from our town gathered and came to confront them. The settlers fired at them, and the young man Awda Awawdeh was hit and injured on his side with a live bullet,” said Ziad Manasrah, a local paramedic who helped transport Awawdeh from the town of Deir Dibwan to the hospital.
Awawdeh is the 11th Palestinian killed by Israeli settlers in 2026, surpassing the nine killed in 2025.
“The daily killings in the West Bank are not incidental, but an integral part of a systematic process of ethnic cleansing. The Israeli system does not halt this violence deliberately because it serves its political goal: the suppression and dispossession of Palestinians from their land,” said Yuli Novak, the executive director the Israeli rights group B’Tselem.
Lebanese cabinet discusses potential move to join the ICC
Lebanon’s Deputy Prime Minister Tarek Mitri said ministers on Thursday discussed joining the International Criminal Court, a permanent tribunal that prosecutes individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, for “a specific period.”
The move would mark a significant shift for Lebanon, which is not a member of the court. Mitri said the move would enable the ICC to “look into war crimes and humanitarian crimes which were committed on Lebanese territory.”
Lebanon has accused Israel of war crimes and and repeated breaches of international law during the latest war with Hezbollah.
Iran’s judiciary chief touts the country’s show of force in the Strait of Hormuz
Iran’s judiciary chief, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejehi, said on X that the country’s armed forces were demonstrating strength in the Strait of Hormuz, citing what he described as a Revolutionary Guard “mosquito fleet” of speedboats and underwater drones, along with action against three ships in the waterway.
He wrote that “the IRGC’s mosquito fleet, with speedboats and drones, lies in wait from the sea caves of Faror Island for the American aggressor warships, ready to saturate their air defenses and bring utter ruin upon the invaders.”
He called the display “a source of pride” and warned against U.S. naval presence.
Israeli defense minister says Israel is ready to resume war with Iran
Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, said Thursday that Israel is prepared to resume war with Iran and is awaiting a “green light” from the United States, according to a statement following a security assessment.
“We are waiting for a green light from the United States,” Katz said, adding that the military is ready for both defensive and offensive operations and “targets are marked.”
Israelis express mixed views on Lebanon talks
Residents in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv expressed mixed views on talks between Israel and Lebanon, with opinions ranging from calls for diplomacy to deep skepticism over Hezbollah’s role.
“I always believe that you can talk, but you have to be prepared for war,” said Ben Kurtzer, a Jerusalem resident.
Others were more skeptical. “Who is there to talk to?” said Yardena Sharon.
Some drew a distinction between Lebanon and Hezbollah.
“We do not want to be hostile with the state of Lebanon; we have no hostility towards them. I think there are, undoubtedly, wonderful people there, people who seek peace, just as we seek peace,” said Matan Moalem, a Jerusalem resident. “Hezbollah needs to be eliminated once and for all, to take control of the entire area that constantly threatens Israel, firing in our direction and always seeking to eliminate and kill us.”
In Tel Aviv, others emphasized diplomacy. “Force without brains is worth nothing. In the end, only agreements bring peace and security, only agreements,” said Daron Sabani.
Images of new crucifix in southern Lebanon convey message of hope, dialogue and peace,’ Meloni says
Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni on Thursday thanked Italian peacekeepers serving in southern Lebanon for donating a new crucifix to the village of Debel after the original was destroyed by an Israeli soldier in an incident that drew international criticism.
Meloni said images showing the crucifix being delivered and placed in the same spot as the one destroyed days earlier conveyed “a message of hope, dialogue and peace.”
Israel’s military said Tuesday it had replaced the crucifix and shared a photograph of the new one on social media. The replacement appeared smaller and more ornate than the original, which had been smashed by a soldier.
The Israeli military said two soldiers involved in the episode will be held for a month in military detention.
Ukraine’s president discloses details of security agreements with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and UAE
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a CNN interview that his country signed a “Drone Deal” with the three Gulf countries, aiming to help them manufacture much cheaper drones and drone interceptors.
Zelenskyy toured the Gulf countries late May, but there was no immediate word on the details of the signed agreements between Ukraine and the Gulf countries.
” A (low-cost, Iranian-designed Shahed drone) can cost from 80 to 130 thousand dollars. It will be destroyed not with a missile worth 3-4 million dollars, but with an interceptor costing 10 thousand dollars,” Zelenskyy wrote, adding that he wants to help Gulf countries defend themselves.
Speaking earlier this month, Zelenskyy said that in exchange for its drone expertise, Ukraine would get air defense weapons to protect its energy infrastructure, along with oil, diesel and, in some cases, financial help. Ukrainian officials haven’t published details of the final deal.
Stable ceasefire and assurances’ needed for transit in the Strait of Hormuz
The chief safety and security officer in BIMCO, the world’s largest international shipping association, said Thursday that shipping companies need assurances from both Iran and the U.S. to transit the vital waterway.
Mine clearance efforts are also needed as they pose a “particular concern,” Jakob Larsen said in a statement, adding that the process of mine clearance could take up to several weeks.
Hours earlier, U.S. President Donald Trump said in a social media post that the military is intensifying its mine clearing efforts in the strait.
The Strait of Hormuz remains fully closed Thursday as the U.S.-Iran standoff continues to intensify in the Persian Gulf.
