Trump Says Israel Has Agreed to 'Low-Key It' in Lebanon

"I wish to inform you: There is no ceasefire in Lebanon," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Israelis in an address posted online Thursday. He said, however, that he has ordered preparations for direct talks with Lebanon aimed at disarming Hezbollah and normalizing relations, Reuters reports. He said that for now, Israel is "continuing to strike Hezbollah with full force, and we will not stop until we restore your security," per the Guardian. His remarks came a day after Israeli strikes in Lebanon killed more than 300 people. Lebanese officials described the strikes on heavily populated areas as a "massacre."

• The bombing continued Thursday, though President Trump told NBC News that Israel was "scaling back" operations in Lebanon. "I spoke with Bibi and he's going to low-key it," he said. "I just think we have to be sort of a little more low-key."

The move comes as the fragile US-Iran ceasefire faces an early test over whether Lebanon is covered by the deal. Washington and Israel say it isn't; Iran and mediator Pakistan insist it is. Sources tell CBS News that Trump had been told the ceasefire would apply to the entire region, but the US position shifted after a call between Trump and Netanyahu. According to CBS' sources, Lebanese and Israeli representatives will meet at the State Department next week for talks mediated by the US.

• A senior Lebanese official described efforts for a temporary truce with Israel on a "separate track but the same model" as the US-Iran ceasefire. Hezbollah lawmaker Ali Fayyad, however, rejected any direct negotiations with Israel and wants a ceasefire in Lebanon first, Reuters reports. Under a 2024 US-brokered truce, Lebanon pledged that only state forces would carry arms—a de facto requirement to disarm Hezbollah—that the Lebanese army has so far failed to enforce, according to Israel.

Iran, meanwhile is keeping a near-total chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, where ship traffic is running at less than 10% of its prewar volume. Iran's new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, in a statement read on state TV, vowed to "avenge" his slain father and move management of the strait into "a new phase," promising punishment and compensation claims against states he blames for the conflict. "We will certainly not leave unpunished the criminal aggressors who attacked our country," he said. Sources tell the Wall Street Journal that an Iranian delegation arrived in Islamabad on Thursday ahead of negotiations with a US team expected to be led by Vice President JD Vance on Saturday.

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