US-Israel-Iran War Live News Updates: Ceasefire Threatened After Israel Strikes Lebanon; Iran Closes Strait Of Hormuz

Consulate General of the I.R. Iran in Mumbai on X:
Due to the past war situation & possible anti-ship mines in the main traffic zone of the Strait of Hormuz (per attached map), all vessels are advised to coordinate with the #IRGC Navy and use alternative routes until further notice.

Inbound: From the Gulf of Oman northward via Larak Island to the #PersianGulf (per map).
Outbound: From the Persian Gulf, passing south of Larak Island toward the Gulf of Oman (per map).

The International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the World Food Programme have said that the war in the Middle East has triggered one of the largest disruptions to global energy markets and will inevitably lead to rising food prices and food insecurity.

In a joint statement, the heads of the three organisations said the burden of rising food prices will fall most heavily on the world’s most vulnerable populations.

"Sharp increases in oil, gas, and fertiliser prices, together with transport bottlenecks, will inevitably lead to rising food prices and food insecurity," said the joint statement issued after a meeting of the heads of the three institutions.

On Pakistan's role as a mediator, Israel's Ambassador to India, Reuven Azar, said, "We don't see Pakistan as a credible player. I think that the United States has decided to use the services of the facilitation of Pakistan for their own reasons. We have seen in the past how the United States has managed to take problematic states like Qatar and Turkey and use them for the benefit of achieving an agreement with Hamas... For us, it is very important to stay in sync with the United States when it comes to the substance and the essence of the outcome we want to see."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday said the two-week ceasefire in the fight against Iran was "not the end of the war" but a "stop on the way", as he vowed to achieve all war objectives, including the issue of Tehran's enriched uranium. "If we had not launched Operation Gideon's Sword and Operation Lion's Roar against Iran, it would have long ago had nuclear weapons and thousands of missiles to destroy Israel and threaten the existence of us all," Netanyahu said in a video statement to the press.

"We have set the terror regime back years. The enriched material will leave Iran – through agreement or through renewed combat. Israel and the US see eye to eye on this issue," Netanyahu said.

(Source: AP)

France President Emmanuel Macron met Iranian and US President and told them that accepting ceasefire is the best possible outcome. In a post on X, Macron wrote, "Today I met with Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian, as well as with American President Donald Trump. To both of them, I indicated that their decision to accept a ceasefire was the best possible one."

"I expressed my hope that the ceasefire will be fully respected by each of the belligerents, across all theaters of confrontation, including in Lebanon. This is a necessary condition for the ceasefire to be credible and sustainable. It must pave the way for an overall negotiation that ensures the security of all in the Middle East," Macron added.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt says,"I can announce that the President is dispatching his negotiating team, led by the Vice President of the United States, JD Vance, Special Envoy Witkoff, and Mr Kushner, to Islamabad for talks this weekend. The first round of those talks will take place on Saturday morning, local time, and we look forward to those in-person meetings..."

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt says, "Lebanon is not part of the ceasefire. That has been relayed to all parties involved in the ceasefire. As you know, Prime Minister Netanyahu put out a statement last night in support of the ceasefire, in support of the United States' efforts, and he's also assured the President they'll continue to be a helpful partner throughout the course of the next two weeks..."

(Source: The White House)

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt says," President Trump and the team determined the new modified plan was a workable basis on which to negotiate and to align it with our own 15-point proposal. The President's red lines, namely the end of uranium enrichment in Iran, have not changed. And the idea that President Trump would ever accept an Iranian wish list as a deal is completely absurd. The President will only make a deal that serves in the best interests of the United States of America, and he and his negotiating team will focus on this effort over the next two weeks, so long as the Strait of Hormuz remains open, with no limitations or delays. These extraordinarily sensitive and complex negotiations will take place behind closed doors over the course of the next two weeks..."

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt says, "Iran has agreed to open the Strait of Hormuz, and as the president said, we have received a proposal from the Iranians that has been determined to be a workable basis on which to negotiate...The Iranians originally put forward a 10-point plan that was fundamentally unserious, unacceptable, and completely discarded. It was literally thrown in the garbage by President Trump and his negotiating team..."

Former US National Security Advisor John Bolton has cautioned that the US-Israel conflict with Iran could deepen further if the temporary ceasefire, reached “under political compulsions” by President Donald Trump, does not hold through.

In an interview with PTI Videos, Bolton said Trump pushed for a ceasefire because of the political implications of rising gas prices in the US, the plunge in his popularity among the masses, and because an extended conflict with Iran could result in a severe setback for the US.
 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio met separately with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte at the State Department before the White House talks.

In a statement, the State Department said Rubio and Rutte discussed the war with Iran, along with US efforts to negotiate an end to the Russia-Ukraine war and “increasing coordination and burden shifting with NATO allies”.

The White House said US Vice President JD Vance would lead the American negotiating team in talks in Pakistan aimed at finding a permanent end to the war. Pakistan said the talks could begin in Islamabad as soon as Friday.

US President Donald Trump repeated his complaint about NATO after a closed-door meeting with the alliance's Secretary-General Mark Rutte for discussions that had been expected to be aimed at soothing Trump's anger with the military alliance over the Iran war. Trump previously had suggested the US may consider leaving the trans-Atlantic alliance after NATO member countries ignored his call to help as Iran effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping waterway, and sent gas prices soaring.

“NATO WASN'T THERE WHEN WE NEEDED THEM, AND THEY WON'T BE THERE IF WE NEED THEM AGAIN,” Trump said in his post.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the closing of the strait reported in Iranian state media was “completely unacceptable”. She repeated Trump's “expectation and demand" that the channel be reopened.

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said American and Israeli forces had achieved a “capital V military victory” and that the Iranian military no longer posed a significant threat to US forces or the region. The Iranian military said the country forced Israel and the US to accept its "proposed conditions and surrender”.

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said American and Israeli forces had achieved a “capital V military victory” and that the Iranian military no longer posed a significant threat to US forces or the region. The Iranian military said the country forced Israel and the US to accept its "proposed conditions and surrender”.

Lebanon's health ministry said Israeli strikes killed 182 people on Wednesday, the highest single-day death toll in the Israel-Hezbollah war.
 

The Iranian Parliament speaker said planned talks with the US to seek a permanent halt to hostilities were “unreasonable” because Washington broke three of Tehran's 10 conditions for an end to the fighting.

In a social media post, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf objected to Israeli attacks on Hezbollah, an alleged drone incursion into Iranian airspace after the ceasefire went into effect and the US assertion that it will not accept any Iranian enrichment capabilities in a final agreement.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi insisted that an end to the war in Lebanon was part of the ceasefire deal with the US, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump said the truce did not cover Lebanon.

"The world sees the massacres in Lebanon," Araghchi said in a post on X. "The ball is in the US court, and the world is watching whether it will act on its commitments."
 

The US-Iran ceasefire is hanging by a thread after Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz in response to Israeli attacks in Lebanon, prompting the White House to demand its reopening. Both the US and Iran claim victory, but tensions remain high with Israel intensifying attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon.