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CENTCOM said the Iranian-flagged Touska, heading for Bandar Abbas, ignored warnings over six hours, after which USS Spruance disabled its propulsion with several 5-inch rounds into the engine room and Marines of the 31st MEU boarded it; Trump said the sanctioned ship was in U.S. custody. Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya headquarters called it “armed piracy” and a ceasefire violation and vowed to retaliate “soon.”
Staff Sgt. Florian Montorio was killed and three other French peacekeepers wounded when a UNIFIL unit came under small-arms fire near Ghandouriyeh on Saturday morning. Macron said “everything suggests” Hezbollah was responsible and the UN secretary-general said an initial UNIFIL assessment pointed to Hezbollah; the group denied involvement. A second wounded soldier, Cpl. Anicet Girardin, died on April 22.
UKMTO said two IRGC-linked gunboats fired on a tanker without a radio challenge, and a container ship was hit by an unknown projectile 25 nautical miles northeast of Oman; crews were reported safe. Two Indian-flagged vessels, including a supertanker carrying Iraqi oil, reversed course, and India summoned Iran’s ambassador to convey “deep concern.”
Brent fell about 9% to around $90 a barrel and U.S. crude fell nearly 11% to $84.36 after Iran declared the Strait of Hormuz open, CBS News reported; Al Jazeera said Brent settled at $90.38, down 9.1%, as the S&P 500 closed above 7,100 for the first time.
A 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon took effect at midnight Beirut time (5 p.m. EDT on April 16), hours after Trump said he had agreed it in calls with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The terms published by the State Department let Israel act in self-defence against planned, imminent or ongoing attacks while halting offensive operations; Hezbollah, not a party to the deal, said Israeli occupation gave Lebanon the right to resist.
Lebanon’s National News Agency said Israeli warplanes carried out two consecutive strikes on the Qasmiyeh Bridge over the Litani River, the last remaining route between Tyre and Sidon, destroying it. The UN estimated 100,000 to 150,000 civilians remained south of the river.
Israeli Ambassador Yechiel Leiter and Lebanese Ambassador Nada Hamadeh Moawad met for two hours with Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington, the first direct diplomatic talks between the two countries since 1993; Hezbollah, which opposed the talks, was not represented. The State Department called the meeting productive and said all sides agreed to launch direct negotiations at a mutually agreed time and venue.
In early trading, U.S. crude rose 8% to $104.24 a barrel and Brent rose 7% to $102.29 after the U.S. said it would blockade Iranian ports, AP reported; Brent had closed Friday at $95.20. Lloyd’s List Intelligence said all traffic through Hormuz stopped after Trump’s announcement.
Vice President JD Vance told reporters the talks had ended without a deal because Iran would not give an “affirmative commitment” not to seek a nuclear weapon or the tools to build one quickly, and said the U.S. left a “final and best offer.” Iranian state broadcaster IRIB blamed “unreasonable demands” by the U.S.; Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi later said the sides had been “inches away” from an “Islamabad MoU.”
Talks between Iran and the U.S. began in Islamabad, and the White House said Vice President JD Vance, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met face to face with an Iranian team led by parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, with Pakistani officials present. Al Jazeera’s sources said planned proximity talks had shifted to direct negotiations.
Ghalibaf, accompanied by Foreign Minister Araghchi and security, political, military, economic and legal teams, arrived late Friday and was received by Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, Pakistan said. Iranian state TV said negotiations would begin only if the other side accepts Iran's preconditions, and Tasnim said talks were set for Saturday afternoon on that basis.
Hours after the U.S.-Iran ceasefire was announced, Israeli strikes hit several neighbourhoods in central Beirut without warning during the afternoon rush hour, as well as the southern suburbs, the south and the Bekaa; the military said 50 jets dropped 160 munitions on more than 100 Hezbollah targets in 10 minutes, its largest coordinated strike of the war. Lebanon's civil defence counted 254 dead and 1,165 wounded that evening, and the Health Ministry said on April 9 that more than 300 had been killed.
U.S. crude fell more than 9% within half an hour of Trump's ceasefire announcement and kept sliding: by early Wednesday WTI had lost almost 20% and Brent as much as 16%, both trading around $95, CBS/AFP reported, while AP put U.S. crude down 18% at about $92.60. Asian stocks surged, with Seoul up 6.9%, and Dubai jumped 8.5%.
About 90 minutes before his 8 p.m. EDT deadline, Trump said that after talks with Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and army chief Asim Munir he would suspend bombing Iran for two weeks in a "double sided CEASEFIRE," provided Iran agreed to the "COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING" of the Strait of Hormuz, and called Iran's 10-point proposal "a workable basis on which to negotiate." Iran's Supreme National Security Council said it accepted the two-week ceasefire, that talks with the U.S. would begin in Islamabad on Friday and that the truce did not mean the end of the war.
The Iran-backed militia, which abducted Kittleson from a Baghdad street on March 31, said it would release her on condition she leave Iraq immediately, and Iraqi government sources confirmed she was freed; two militia officials told AP that Iraqi authorities would free several detained members in exchange. Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed her release and thanked Iraqi authorities.
The Bahrain-drafted text failed 11-2 with two abstentions after revisions dropped authorization of "all necessary means"; the vetoed version only "strongly encourages" states to coordinate defensive efforts to secure navigation and demanded Iran stop attacking merchant ships and civilian infrastructure. Iran's UN envoy called it one-sided, and Bahrain's foreign minister said the council failed its responsibility.
A U.S. official said American forces struck, and in some cases restruck, military targets on Kharg Island, the hub for most of Iran's crude exports, in overnight attacks that again avoided oil infrastructure, after Iran's Mehr agency reported explosions. Vance said the strikes did not signal a change in strategy and the U.S. would not hit energy targets until Iran either made an acceptable proposal or failed to.
The IDF's Persian-language account told Iranians to stay off trains and away from railway lines until 9 p.m. Tehran time; a strike then hit the Yahya Abad railway bridge in Kashan, killing two, Iran's Mehr agency said, and the IDF said it destroyed sections of eight bridges in Tehran, Karaj, Tabriz, Kashan and Qom that it said were used to move weapons. Netanyahu said Israel attacked railway lines and bridges "used by the Revolutionary Guards."
Defence Minister Israel Katz said the military struck "with full force" Iran's largest petrochemical facility at Asaluyeh, which he said produces about half the country's petrochemicals, calling it a blow worth "tens of billions of dollars." Tasnim said the Jam and Damavand plants and firms supplying power, water and oxygen to the complex were hit; Iran's National Petrochemical Co. said a fire was brought under control and no injuries were reported.
The IRGC said the head of its Intelligence Organization, Maj. Gen. Majid Khademi, was killed in an early-morning attack, and the IDF said he died in an intelligence-based airstrike in Tehran, calling him a key figure in the war effort. The IRGC promised a "major retaliatory strike" under "Operation Crushing Revenge," and supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei issued a rare condolence statement.
An Iranian ballistic missile hit a multistory residential building in Haifa on Sunday; after an 18-hour rescue, Israeli authorities recovered four bodies, and the Philippines said one victim was a Filipina killed with her Israeli husband and his parents. The IDF said Iranian attacks had killed 21 Israeli civilians in the war.
U.S. forces recovered the F-15E's weapons systems officer, an Air Force colonel who had evaded capture with only a handgun, in what Trump called "one of the most daring" rescues, announcing "WE GOT HIM!"; the injured officer was flown to Kuwait. Officials said two transport planes that could not take off from a remote base in Iran were destroyed and CBS reported more than 150 aircraft took part, while Iran's joint military command said it hit U.S. aircraft in southern Isfahan and state TV reported a C-130 and two Black Hawks downed.
Explosions hit the Mahshahr and Bandar Imam petrochemical zones in Khuzestan, where the Fajr, Rejal and other plants were targeted, Iranian media said; state media reported five dead and more than 170 injured. The Israeli military said it struck a complex producing materials for explosives and ballistic missiles, and Netanyahu said Israel had moved on to petrochemical factories after destroying 70% of Iran's steelmaking.
Iranian forces downed an F-15E Strike Eagle, call sign Dude 44, over southwest Iran, U.S. officials said; both crew ejected, U.S. forces rescued the pilot later Friday, and the weapons systems officer remained missing as Iranian authorities offered a reward for downed Americans. An A-10 supporting the search was hit by Iranian fire and its pilot ejected over friendly territory and was recovered, and two Black Hawk helicopters were hit but reached safety.
West Texas Intermediate rose 11.9% on Thursday to just over $112 a barrel for May delivery and Brent gained almost 8% to above $109, CBS reported; AP put U.S. crude at $111.54.
Qatar's Defence Ministry said three cruise missiles were launched from Iran; two were intercepted and the third struck the fuel-oil tanker Aqua 1, chartered to QatarEnergy, about 17 nautical miles north of Ras Laffan. The 21 crew were evacuated unhurt, QatarEnergy reported no environmental impact, and UKMTO said one projectile remained unexploded in the engine room.
Israel's military said early Wednesday that it killed a senior Hezbollah commander and another senior figure in two strikes in the Beirut area; it named the commander as Haj Youssef Ismail Hashem, head of Hezbollah's southern front, and Hezbollah confirmed his death. Lebanon's Health Ministry said the strike in Beirut's Jnah area killed at least seven people.
Dubai's media office said a drone hit the Kuwaiti crude tanker Al-Salmi in Dubai waters overnight, starting a fire that was extinguished; all 24 crew were safe and no leak was reported. Kuwait Petroleum Corp. blamed Iran, and Lloyd's List and TankerTrackers data showed the ship carrying about 2 million barrels of Kuwaiti and Saudi crude bound for Qingdao, China.
A fire broke out on a distillates tank at the Bazan oil refinery in Haifa after a salvo of missiles and drones from Iran and Lebanon, the second time the refinery has been hit in the war. Fire officials said the blaze was contained with no casualties or hazardous-materials risk; it was unclear whether a direct hit or interception debris caused it.
Brent rose more than 3% in early Monday trading to top $116 a barrel, its highest since March 19, after the Houthis attacked Israel and Iran warned against a U.S. ground invasion; Japan's Nikkei and South Korea's KOSPI fell more than 4%. Brent was just over $70 when the war began on Feb. 28.