Israel and Lebanon have agreed to put a new ceasefire into effect following U.S.-mediated talks, the Trump administration said, a development that could open room for further diplomacy aimed at ending the broader confrontation between Washington, its ally Israel, and Iran. Tehran has insisted that fighting in Lebanon must end as part of any settlement with the United States, and in recent days has suggested it could move directly to support its Lebanese ally Hezbollah if Israeli attacks continue or intensify there.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun indicated on Thursday that the ceasefire would take effect within 24 hours after approval by "all concerned parties," wording that appeared to refer to Hezbollah. The Lebanese Shiite movement has not issued a public statement confirming or rejecting the agreement.
Despite the announcement, officials in Israel cast doubt on how quickly the lull might hold. Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Thursday that Israel's military would continue operations in Lebanon for the time being and would not be withdrawing from southern areas, signaling that some kinetic activity could persist even as the diplomatic framework is put forward.
The ceasefire deal follows a recent spike in regional violence. Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon killed at least six people, while U.S. and Iranian forces exchanged attacks in the Gulf on Wednesday in what officials described as one of the most intense confrontations since a prior ceasefire halted large-scale U.S.-Israeli bombing of Iran in early April.
That same day Iranian forces struck targets in Kuwait, damaging airport facilities and injuring dozens, while the U.S. military carried out strikes near the Strait of Hormuz. The strait - a key corridor for global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments, normally carrying roughly one fifth of these flows - remains largely closed more than three months after U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran launched the wider conflict.
Oil markets reacted to the ceasefire news by trimming some of the previous day's gains, as traders weighed whether a Lebanon truce could help Washington and Tehran find a diplomatic pathway out of the wider confrontation. President Donald Trump, under political pressure to bring down fuel prices, suggested there could be movement in talks with Iran as soon as the coming weekend. "If it happens, it could happen over the weekend," he told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday, without providing specifics on what might occur in that timeframe. Trump also said negotiators were trying to separate the question of reopening the strait from the fighting in Lebanon.
The strikes on Kuwait on Wednesday inflicted damage on airport infrastructure and on diplomatic missions, Kuwaiti authorities and state media reported. Kuwaiti officials said one person was killed and more than 60 injured in the attacks.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps denied responsibility for strikes on Kuwait's airport, according to Iranian state media, and attributed the destruction to U.S. interceptor missiles that they said had missed their intended targets. The U.S. military rejected that account, stating that Iranian drones deliberately targeted the airport.
Iranian state outlets also reported that Revolutionary Guards forces struck the headquarters of the U.S. Fifth Fleet in Bahrain and a U.S. airbase. U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said its bases had not been hit and that Iranian ballistic missiles had failed to strike their targets.
CENTCOM said it carried out a fresh series of "defensive strikes" in southern Iran, focusing on missile launch sites and on Iranian boats that it said were attempting to lay mines. CENTCOM also reported strikes on Qeshm Island near the strait following attempted Iranian attacks.
Diplomacy between Washington and Tehran has shown signs of progress but remains incomplete. Last week officials on both sides signalled movement toward a tentative, initial agreement that would halt the wider war and allow the reopening of the strait, though neither side had signed off on a final arrangement. The framework under discussion was described as leaving more complex issues for later rounds of negotiation.
Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, in a message read during ceremonies marking the anniversary of the death of the Islamic Republic’s founder Ruhollah Khomeini, said Iran’s enemies had been defeated on the battlefield and were now trying to foment internal dissent. "In order to confront these plans everyone must be patient, clear-minded, maintain unity, harmony, mutual trust, and not be in agreement with the enemy," the statement said. The message noted that Khamenei had not been seen in public since he succeeded his father, who was killed in an airstrike at the outset of the war.
In its stated negotiating position, Tehran has set several conditions for a broader settlement beyond an immediate halt to fighting in Lebanon. Those demands include access to billions of dollars in oil revenue, waivers on sanctions affecting crude exports, an end to a U.S. blockade on its ports, and continued leverage over the strait. On the U.S. side, President Trump has said his primary objective is preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons; Iran maintains its atomic programme is for peaceful purposes. In a podcast interview released on Wednesday, Trump said Iran had agreed not to obtain a nuclear weapon and that Khamenei was involved in the talks.
The ceasefire announcement and the accompanying diplomatic activity underscore how interconnected military operations, regional alliances, and global energy flows have become in this confrontation. While the truce offers a possible path to further diplomacy, statements from officials on the ground and continued military actions illustrate how fragile such arrangements can be during an ongoing conflict.