Lebanon is working towards “a permanent agreement” after the ceasefire with Israel. Lebanon is working on “a permanent agreement” with Israel after the ceasefire that came into force on Friday, its president said, denying that direct discussions with its neighbor constitute a “sign of weakness”. “We find ourselves in a new phase,” declared Joseph Aoun in his first speech to the nation since the truce: “a phase of transition (…) to work towards a permanent agreement which safeguards the rights of our people, the unity of our country and the sovereignty of our nation”.
There are no “blocking points” for an agreement with Iran, assures Trump. “We are very close to getting an agreement,” Donald Trump said, reached by telephone. Asked whether there remained disagreements between the two countries, the American president replied: “no blocking points”.
Iran announces that the Strait of Hormuz is fully open during the ceasefire. The Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs has declared the very strategic Strait of Hormuz, essential for the world’s hydrocarbon trade, completely “open” as long as the truce in the Middle East lasts. “The passage of all commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz is declared fully open for the remaining period of the ceasefire,” Abbas Araghchi wrote on X. He did not specify whether he was referring to the truce between the Israeli army and Hezbollah, which came into force Thursday evening in Lebanon for a period of ten days, or to the ceasefire between the United States and Iran which theoretically ends on April 22.
Iran denies having accepted the transfer of its enriched uranium. “Iran’s enriched uranium will not be transferred anywhere. Just as Iranian soil is sacred in our eyes, this issue is of great importance to us,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaïl Baghaï was quoted as saying by state television.
The American blockade on Iranian ports will remain in force, Trump announces. The blockade put in place by the United States on Iranian ports will remain in force until an agreement is reached with Iran, announced Donald Trump, shortly after welcoming Tehran’s announcement of the total opening of the Strait of Hormuz.
The military operation in Lebanon is not over, according to Israel. The military operation in Lebanon is “not over,” says Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, less than 24 hours after the ceasefire came into force. “The maneuvers on the ground in Lebanon and the strikes against Hezbollah made it possible to achieve many objectives” but the operation is not “finished,” he said. He added that if fighting resumes, the hundreds of thousands of displaced people returning to southern Lebanon will have to evacuate again. “If fighting resumes, residents returning to the security zone will have to be evacuated to allow the mission to be completed,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said.
Israeli strikes have left nearly 2,300 dead in Lebanon. Nearly 2,300 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon between the start of the war on March 2 and the ceasefire Thursday evening, the Lebanese Ministry of Health announced Friday.
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