10-day ceasefire between Israel, Lebanon goes into effect

 US President Donald Trump continued to rail against Pope Leo XIV, telling reporters that Leo could say what he likes about world issues, but that the Pontiff needs to understand the realities of a "nasty world."

The US president said it ​was "very ‌important" for Pope ‌Leo ‌to understand that ​Iran is a ​threat ⁠to ​the ​world.

Trump's feud with the leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics ranges from topics such as the Iran war to immigration policy.

Trump has accused the pope of being "weak" and "wrong" in recent days, the US president denied that he was "fighting" with the Leo, saying he had "nothing against" him.

"The pope has to understand Iran has killed more than 42,000 people over the last few months," the president said. "They were totally unarmed protesters. The pope has to understand that. This is the real world, it's a nasty world."

Pope Leo has responded to the president's criticism by standing by his remarks, adding that he has a "moral duty" to speak out against war. He has called Trump's threat to attack Iranian civilization "unacceptable." 

"The pope can ‌say what he ‌wants, ​and I want him to say what ​he wants, but I can disagree," Trump ⁠told ​reporters.
 

Iran's Foreign Ministry welcomed the ceasefire agreed upon by Israel and Lebanon, calling it part of an earlier two-week ceasefire deal between Tehran and the United States to pause the war in the Middle East.

According to the state news agency IRNA, ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei "welcomed the announcement of the ceasefire in Lebanon and noted that the cessation of the war in Lebanon was part of the ceasefire understanding between Iran and the United States, mediated by Pakistan."

Earlier, US President Donald Trump said the truce would begin at 9 p.m. GMT (midnight Friday, local time, in Lebanon and Israel).

Gunfire erupted in Beirut's southern suburbs as a ceasefire with Israel took effect, according to AFP journalists and footage from AFPTV.

The US State Department has said the ceasefire reached between Israel and Lebanon on Thursday involves a commitment by the Lebanese government to prevent any Hezbollah attacks on Israel.

"The Government of Lebanon will take meaningful steps to prevent Hezbollah... from carrying out any attacks, operations, or hostile activities against Israeli targets," the State Department said in a statement.

"Both countries recognize the significant challenges faced by the Lebanese state from non-state armed groups, which undermine Lebanon’s sovereignty and threaten regional stability. Both countries understand that those groups’ activities must be curtailed," the statement added.

Israel's military said it was striking rocket launchers belonging to the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, shortly before a truce agreed with Lebanon came into effect. 

"The IDF is currently striking launchers from which the Hezbollah terrorist organisation launched rockets to northern Israel a short while ago," the army said in a statement.

Israeli rescue services Magen David Adom reported that one person was seriously injured in northern Israel after shelling from Lebanon, which was launched less than two hours before the start of a truce agreed with Lebanon.

More than 93 million people in Iran are living in the shadow of a war that could flare up again at any moment. Many Iranians are now fearing the difficult days that lie ahead.

After the failed peace talks between the United States and Iran in Pakistan earlier this month, Washington began blockading Iranian ports and ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

Read more on how job losses are growing in Iran after six weeks of war.

The US military has pulled off elite missions in Venezuela and Iran. At the same time, Donald Trump and the White House has not defined a clear Iran war strategy. What explains these swings in US military competency? 

US President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House that Iran had agreed to hand over its store of enriched uranium and that a peace deal between the two sides is "close."

"They've agreed to give us back the nuclear dust," Trump said, using his name for the enriched uranium stockpile that the United States says could be used to build nuclear weapons. 

"We have ‌a statement, a ‌very ​powerful statement, that they will not ​have, beyond 20 years, ⁠that ​they ​will not ​have ‌nuclear weapons," he added.

The US president also hinted that the ceasefire may not need to be extended, with high hopes of a possible deal to end the war.

"I'm ‌not ​sure it needs to be extended," ​Trump said. "Iran wants ​to make ​a deal ‌and we're dealing very ​nicely ⁠with them."

"There's a very good chance we're going to make a deal," he said, adding that ​Iran ​had agreed ‌to almost ​everything the US had sought.

Trump told reporters that ​the ‌next meeting between the ‌US and ‌Iran could take place over the ​weekend and ⁠that ​if ​an ‌Iran deal ‌is reached ‌and signed ​in Islamabad, he might ​go there in person.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the ten-day ceasefire with Lebanon offered an opportunity for a "historic peace agreement" with Beirut.

The remarks come after US President Donald Trump announced that Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun had agreed to a ten-day truce starting at 21:00 UTC on Thursday evening, noting that it would include Hezbollah.

Netanyahu said that the disarmament of militant group Hezbollah remains a precondition for peace.

"We have an opportunity to make a historic peace agreement with Lebanon," Netanyahu said in a televised speech.

He added that Israel will maintain a 10-kilometer (6.2-mile) "security zone" along the border in southern Lebanon.  

Authorities in London said they have arrested two young men and a teenage boy over an attempted arson attack on the offices of a Persian media outlet.

London Police said this "is not being treated as a terrorist incident but is being investigated by detectives from Counter Terrorism Policing London."

A spokesman for the Persian-language TV station Iran International confirmed to AFP that it was the "organization referred to in the Met statement."

The station condemned the attack, which it called part of a "sustained effort to intimidate Iran International and silence independent Persian-language journalism beyond Iran's borders."

The Met Police said the attack was connected to two other arson incidents targeting ambulances and a Jewish charity and a synagogue, saying they are being treated as separate incidents but noting a "similarity" between the attacks.

A little-known group called Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya (HAYI) has claimed responsibility for the attack, as well as for the incident at Iran International, SITE Intelligence Group reported.

Since the blockade of the vital shipping route, spice hub Kerala and ceramics manufacturing center Morbi are two of the regional sites in India affected.

Exporters in Kerala say the disruption is already visible on the ground. The Middle East, especially the UAE, is central to India's spice trade, not just as a buyer but as a redistribution center.

Read more to learn about India's dependence on the critical trade and energy corridor. 

The peace talks between the United States and Iran in Islamabad failed to deliver an agreement, with one key issue proving to be the main sticking point: Iran's nuclear program.

Iran's nuclear ambitions have been the single largest obstacle to normalized relations with the West for over two decades, and were given as central factors behind the US-Israeli bombing campaigns this year and in the summer of 2025.

Iran insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful, civilian purposes, including energy production. 

But the figures and statistics paint a different picture. Here's a closer look.

As news of a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel hits the wires world leaders have begun to react.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, on Thursday, wrote on the social media platform X: "Europe will continue to call for the respect of Lebanon's sovereignty and territorial integrity. And we will keep supporting the Lebanese people through substantial humanitarian aid." 

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, also posting on X, called the deal, "a pivotal Lebanese demand we have pursued since the beginning of the war" on Iran.

Senior Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah was less enthusiastic, saying only that the group had been informed of the pending deal by Iran's ambassador to Lebanon.

Asked by Reuters if Hezbollah would abide by the truce, Fadlallah said that would depend on whether Israel ended hostilities during that time.

US President Donald Trump, in a post on his Truth Social account, said that Israel and Lebanon have agreed to a 10-day ceasefire beginning 2100 GMT on Thursday.

"I just had excellent conversations with the highly respected President Joseph Aoun, of Lebanon, and Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, of Israel. These two leaders have agreed that in order to achieve peace between their countries, they will formally begin a 10-day ceasefire at 5 P.M. EST," Trump wrote.   

The deal was previously teased by Israeli security sources, who had told numerous US news outlets that a ceasefire was in the works.

Word of the deal comes as Lebanon faces fierce pressure from Iran-backed, Lebanon-based Hezbollah fighters at war with Israel, who have demanded the government in Beirut boycott any talks with Israel.

Lebanon has been rocked by years of fighting between Hezbollah and Israel.

The Lebanese government is not party to the conflict and has pleaded for a ceasefire and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah has not yet commented on the deal.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he had received a call from French President Emmanuel Macron in an online post late on Thursday. 

"We discussed the situation in West Asia and agreed on the need to urgently restore safety and freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz," Modi said. 

He said the two countries would continue "our close cooperation" to advance peace and stability in the region and beyond. 

Pakistan's army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir on Thursday met with Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran's state television reported.

"Field Marshal Asim Munir, Commander of the Pakistan Army, who travelled to our country yesterday, met and held talks with Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf... this Thursday morning, April 16," the report said.

There were no other details about their meeting.

After the Islamabad talks over the weekend ended without any breakthrough, Pakistan has been pushing for a second round of peace talks between Washington and Tehran.

There has been no decision whether negotiations would resume. However, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Wednesday that further talks "would very likely" take place in Islamabad.