Iran-US war latest: Trump announces Israel-Lebanon ceasefire extension after ruling out nuclear strike on Tehran

Mike Huckabee, the US envoy to Israel, who was on hand for the White House talks, said the “people of Lebanon, the people of Israel are neighbours and they want to get along”.

“They can get along,” he said.

“But it’s like neighbours who have a rough little kid living in the neighbourhood who keeps throwing rocks at everybody’s window.

“And if the kid will quit throwing rocks, the neighbours can get along and start actually working together.”

The US has placed a $10m bounty on the leader of an Iranian-backed Shia 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 US diplomatic facilities in Iraq”.

It also said Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada attacked US military bases and personnel in Iraq and Syria.

The South American nation of Guyana said on Thursday that a tanker seized by the US 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.”

Oil prices rose this morning over fears of renewed military escalation in the Middle East after Iran released footage of commandos boarding ​a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz.

Brent crude futures rose $1.23, or 1.17 per cent, to $106.3 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate futures were up $1.07, or 1.12 per cent, at $96.92.

Both benchmark contracts settled up more than 3 per cent yesterday ​and jumped $5 a barrel after reports that air defences were engaging targets over Tehran ​and of a power struggle between Iran’s hardliners and moderates.

Donald Trump has reiterated that the US continues to demand that Iran stop its backing of proxy groups in the Middle East, 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.”Lebanon and Israel extended their ceasefire for three weeks after a high-level meeting at the White House, Trump said last night.

Italy has dismissed Donald Trump’s suggestion of replacing Iran at the upcoming World Cup.

Paolo Zampolli, the US special envoy for global partnerships, had suggested the swap to President Donald Trump and FIFA president Gianni Infantino, according to the Financial Times.

Italian sports minister Andrea Abodi said it would not be appropriate for the “Azzurri” to replace the Iranian team.

He said, “first of all, it’s not possible. Secondly, it’s not a good idea”.

Italy’s finance minister Giancarlo Giorgetti called the suggested swap “shameful”.

Iran has not withdrawn from the World Cup, and the team is preparing to play in the US despite the war in the Middle East.

Lebanon and Israel extended their ceasefire for three weeks after a high-level meeting at the White House, Trump said last night.

Lebanese ambassador to the US Nada Moawa, who went into the ⁠meeting seeking an extension of the ceasefire, thanked Donald Trump for hosting the talks.

“I think with your help, with your support, we can make Lebanon great again,” she said.

“The Meeting went ⁠very well! The United States is going to work with Lebanon in order to help it protect itself from Hezbollah,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Hezbollah, the Iran-aligned armed group that is fighting Israel, was not present at the talks. It says it has “the right to resist” occupying forces.

The US has burned through its weapons stockpile during its war against Iran, according to a new report.

Around 1,100 long-range stealth cruise missiles, 1,000 Tomahawk cruise missiles, 1,200 Patriot interceptor missiles and 1,000 Precision Strike and ATACMS ground-based missiles have been used in the war, The New York Times reported, citing internal US Defense Department estimates and congressional officials.

Donald Trump on Thursday shifted focus amid an Oval Office full of White House officials and pharmaceutical executives — and with the US war in Iran entering its eighth week — for an extended ramble about hiring his hotel company’s preferred swimming pool builder to renovate the historic reflecting pool on the National Mall.

The US president had been listening to executives from Regeneron — the company behind the Covid-19 treatment that saved his life when he contracted the virus in October 2020 — when he segued from talk about returning semiconductor manufacturing to the US to the renovations he ordered up at the White House and around Washington.

“The other thing that we’re doing that’s taking place right now is, the Lincoln Memorial has a beautiful reflecting pond, or lake. He called it a pool, lake and pond. Everything is different, but the word reflecting is a good term”, Trump said.