Trump says ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon will be extended by 3 weeks
Representatives from both Israel and Lebanon met at the White House on Thursday.
The meeting “went very well,” US President Donald 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.
Speaking alongside Trump in the Oval Office, Israeli Ambassador to the US 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 US Nada Hamadeh Moawad thanked Trump for presiding over “this historic moment.”
“I think with your help, with your support, we can make Lebanon great again,” she added.
It comes as the president reiterated that the US continues to demand that Iran stop its backing of proxy groups in the Mideast, including Hezbollah in Lebanon, as part of any deal between Washington and Tehran to end the US 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.”
No US-Iran peace talks in sight, but Islamabad maintains security lockdown
For nearly a week, Pakistan’s capital has been waiting for peace talks between the US and Iran to take place there, and although there is no sign the two sides will meet, large parts of the city remain sealed off by authorities.
Key roads leading into Islamabad are shut down and a strict security cordon envelops the administrative centre, the so-called ‘Red Zone.
In the adjacent ‘Blue Area’, cafes have run out of fruit, markets are deserted and with no service at bus terminals, weekend commuters are struggling to get home.
Government officials say the measures are not ending any time soon and that they are ever ready for delegates, including US President Trump, to show up at a moment’s notice.
“We have been told that the talks could be held any day,” one official said.
The current lockdown is the second in two weeks. Islamabad was first sealed off for talks between US and Iranian delegations on 11 April that ended without a deal.
The city briefly reopened, then locked down again as Pakistan waits to host a second round that has yet to materialise.
US puts $10 million bounty on Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada leader
The United States has placed a $10 million bounty on the leader of an Iranian-backed Shiite militia in Iraq.
The US State Department’s Rewards for Justice program issued a notice it sought the leader of Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada.
It said Hashim Finyan Rahim al-Saraji led the group, whose members “killed Iraqi civilians and attacked U.S. diplomatic facilities in Iraq”.
It also said Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada attacked US military bases and personnel in Iraq and Syria.
Iraq has several Shiite militias backed by Iran that are part of the country’s Popular Mobilization Forces, which was created after the fall of Mosul in 2014 to formalize volunteer units that defeated the Islamic State group.
Guyana says tanker seized by US ‘fraudulently’ flying flag
The South American nation of Guyana said on Thursday that a tanker seized by the United States in Asia for allegedly carrying sanctioned Iranian crude oil was “fraudulently flying the Guyana flag”.
Guyana’s Maritime Administration Department made the announcement in a statement to journalists.
It noted the vessel had previously been named Phonix, which the US Treasury noted when it previously sanctioned the vessel.
“This ship is NOT registered in Guyana; thus, the registration is false and fraudulent,” its statement said.
“While the name of the vessel has changed, the (International Maritime Organization) number remains recorded in the international database as PHONIX.
“There is no record of this vessel or name in Guyana’s registry.”
