Semiofficial news agencies in Iran published a chart Thursday suggesting the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard put sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz during the war, a likely pressure tactic as Iran, Israel and the United States are now in an uneasy, two-week ceasefire ahead of possible negotiations in Islamabad.
Meanwhile, in unusually strong language, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres “unequivocally†condemned Israeli strikes in Lebanon that killed and injured hundreds Wednesday after the ceasefire was announced, according to a statement by his spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric.
Israel has said the ceasefire agreement does not extend to its war in Lebanon with the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group, although Iran and mediator Pakistan said it does. Sirens sounded in northern Israel early Thursday as Hezbollah claimed it was attacking with rocket fire.
Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz again Wednesday in response to Israeli attacks against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Here is the latest:
Iranian negotiating team arrives tonight in Islamabad
Iran’s negotiating team for talks with the United States will arrive Thursday night in Islamabad, the Iranian ambassador there said.
Reza Amiri Moghadam made the comment on X, without identifying who was on the Iranian team.
He wrote that the “Iranian delegation arrives tonight in Islamabad for serious talks based on 10 points proposed by Iran.â€
Those points include Iran enriching uranium, maintaining its control of the Strait of Hormuz and other issues that have been nonstarters in the past for U.S. President Donald Trump.
The White House has repeatedly described the 10 points issued by Iran as false.
Moghadam wrote that the Iranians would come to Islamabad despite “skepticism of Iranian public opinion due to repeated ceasefire violations by Israeli regime to sabotage the diplomatic initiative.â€
That refers to Israel’s strikes on Lebanon, which Israel and the U.S. have said wasn’t included in the shaky ceasefire.
Oil rises and Asian stocks retreat on fragile Iran ceasefire
Oil rose again to above $97 a barrel and Asian stocks were trading lower Thursday on skepticism over a fragile ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran.
Brent crude was up 2.9% to $97.46 per barrel. It previously fell briefly to below $92 following the temporary ceasefire announcement.
Benchmark U.S. crude was 3.7% higher Thursday at $97.94 per barrel.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 dropped 0.8% to 55,855.57, while South Korea’s Kospi lost 1.7% to 5,773.03.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.2% to 25,831.21. The Shanghai Composite index was down 0.8% to 3,961.31.
Ship-tracking data shows only 4 ships passed through the Strait of Hormuz Wednesday
Ship-tracking data from trade data and analytics platform Kpler showed only four vessels with their Automatic Identification System trackers on passed through the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, the first day of the ceasefire.
However, this total does not include so-called “dark fleet†vessels — those with their AIS trackers turned off.
Many of those “dark fleet†ships carry sanctioned Iranian crude oil out to the open market.
Trump posts message promising combat troops will remain in region
U.S. President Donald Trump issued an online statement Thursday insisting that his surge of warships and troops will remain around Iran “until such time as the REAL AGREEMENT reached is fully complied with.â€
Trump’s comments on his Truth Social platform appear to be a way to pressure Iran as uncertainty hangs over the tentative two-week ceasefire now holding in the war.
“If for any reason it is not, which is highly unlikely, then the ‘Shootin’ Starts,’ bigger, and better, and stronger than anyone has ever seen before,†Trump wrote.
He also insisted Iran would not be able to build nuclear weapons and “the Strait of Hormuz WILL BE OPEN & SAFE.†That comes as vessels are not moving through that waterway, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20% of all oil and natural gas traded once passed.
Think tank warns that Iran war ceasefire ‘hovers on the verge of collapse’
A New York-based think tank is warning that the tentative ceasefire in the Iran war “hovers on the verge of collapse.â€
The Soufan Center said the Israeli strikes on Lebanon on Wednesday risked the deal falling apart.
“Even if Lebanon was formally outside the deal, the scale of Israel’s strikes was likely to be viewed as escalatory, nonetheless,†it wrote in an analysis published Thursday.
“Israel’s strikes can be understood both as an effort to drive a wedge between Iran and its proxies and as a response to being allegedly sidelined in the original ceasefire discussions.â€
Worships starts again at Al-Aqsa Mosque, other Jerusalem sites closed by war
reopened with dawn prayer Thursday after being closed for the duration of the Iran war, according to Jerusalem’s Islamic Waqf, the Jordanian religious authority that administers the compound.
Jerusalem’s police said Wednesday that it would lift in Jerusalem’s Old City starting Thursday morning. It added that hundreds of officers and volunteers would be active in the city.
Access had been prohibited altogether, or restricted to a few dozen faithful, at Christian, Jewish and Muslim sites during the now-paused conflict, when missile attacks from Iran often sent Jerusalem residents into shelters.
The restrictions subdued , and celebrations for many in some of the holiest sites for adherents of Christianity, Islam and Judaism.
But they’re lifted just in time for Orthodox Christians, who celebrate Easter (Pascha) on Sunday, a week after Catholic and Protestant observances.
