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'I think that we are making progress. The fundamental question is do we make enough progress that we satisfy the president’s red line?' Vance tells reporters at the White House.

Day 75: All you need to know about US-Israel war on Iran

Reuters

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Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar (C-R) and Chief of Defense Forces Field Marshal Asim Munir (2nd L) walk alongside Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi (C) upon his arrival at Nur Khan Air Base in Rawalpindi, near Islamaba

IRNA reports that part of his delegation has returned to Tehran to consult and obtain the necessary instructions on issues related to ending the war, and is scheduled to rejoin Araghchi in Islamabad on Sunday night.


Day 57: All you need to know about US-Israel war on Iran

Nabatieh, Lebanon: Khodr Sahmarani stood dazed beside the rubble of his south Lebanon home, his forehead in a white bandage, staring at the wreckage where his brother, nephew and two neighbors died. &quot;I was upstairs, then I was underground. I screamed &#39;Where are you, where are you?&#39;, but there was no one,&quot; he said after surviving an Israeli airstrike on the city of Nabatiyeh just hours before the ceasefire began at midnight on Thursday night. The afternoon attack flattened what residents say was a five-story building, creating a jumble of shattered concrete in the battered city. Nabatiyeh rescuer Mohammad Sleiman told AFP they recovered one body from the strike site on Thursday night, and another three on Friday morning. Sahmarani, 57, said rescuers &quot;came and took me out of the rubble&quot;. 10-day ceasefireIsrael and Lebanon agreed to a 10-day ceasefire on Thursday in order to negotiate an end to six weeks of war between Israel and Hezbollah. The conflict saw massive Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon and also a ground invasion in the south. Lebanese authorities say the war that began on March 2 has killed nearly 2,300 people, and caused widespread devastation in southern towns and cities such as Nabatiyeh. President Joseph Aoun said on Friday that &quot;direct negotiations&quot; with Israel &quot;are crucial&quot;, and that the government aims to &quot;consolidate a ceasefire, secure the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the occupied southern territories, recover prisoners, and address outstanding border disputes&quot;. Hezbollah halted military operations after the ceasefire came into effect, but warned that it was keeping its &quot;finger on the trigger&quot; in case Israel violated the truce. Nabatiyeh&#39;s streets were almost empty on Friday, and countless buildings in the city center have been damaged or destroyed. Deadly Israeli strikesA few kilometers outside the city, a group of Hezbollah supporters cheered on the trickle of cars coming from the direction of Beirut, flashing victory signs and waving the party&#39;s yellow flag. Deadly Israeli strikes were reported up to the final few minutes before the midnight Thursday deadline agreed upon by the two governments. &quot;It was the last hours. If it was the beginning of the war, the middle of the war, one can come to terms with it, but it was the last hours,&quot; Sahmarani said, his eyes bloodshot and tearful.Fadel Hassan Zahri, a neighbor, said the people who were killed had been &quot;lifelong friends of mine&quot;. &quot;I wouldn&#39;t eat without them, I wouldn&#39;t drink without them.&quot; Sahmarani said he has nowhere else to go, and would probably crawl back into the rubble of his home at night and find a ledge or somewhere to lay his head.

Lebanese authorities say the war that began on March 2 has killed nearly 2,300 people, and caused widespread devastation in southern towns and cities such as Nabatiyeh.

Lebanese lives torn apart as Israel ceasefire loomed

BEIRUT: European and Arab states have pressured Israel to stop targeting Beirut, a Western diplomat told AFP on Friday, two days after deadly Israeli strikes on Lebanon that left more than 300 people dead. On Thursday afternoon, the Israeli military issued a warning of incoming strikes for large, densely populated areas of southern Beirut, but had not carried out the threat as of midday on Friday. The Western diplomat, who asked to remain anonymous in order to discuss sensitive matters, said on Friday &quot;There is ongoing diplomatic pressure from European states, Gulf states and Egypt on Israel to prevent renewed Israeli airstrikes on Beirut after &#39;Black Wednesday&#39;&quot;. More than 300 people, mostly civilians according to a Lebanese military source, were killed in the wave of simultaneous Israeli strikes on Wednesday on Beirut and other areas of Lebanon. The strikes were launched despite the announcement hours earlier of a truce between the United States and Iran, with Israel and the US saying it did not apply to Lebanon. Thursday&#39;s Israeli warning included areas home to major hospitals and the road to the country&#39;s only international airport. Public Works and Transport Minister Fayez Rasamni said, in a statement carried by the state-run National News Agency (NNA) on Thursday, that he had &quot;received assurances&quot; from foreign diplomats that the airport and the road leading to it would be spared. Meanwhile, Mohammad Zaatari, director of the country&#39;s largest public medical facility, Rafic Hariri Hospital, told AFP: &quot;We have received assurances, including from the International Committee of the Red Cross that the hospital would not be targeted.&quot; The World Health Organization on Thursday called on Israel to cancel its evacuation warning for the Jnah district of Beirut because around 450 patients were in the Rafic Hariri and Al-Zahraa hospitals in the district, including 40 in intensive care. In southern Lebanon, Israeli strikes hit several villages during the night and on Friday, the NNA reported. An AFP photographer saw firefighters extinguishing a fire in a building blown apart by a nighttime strike in the village of Habbouch, near Nabatiyeh.

Lebanese rescuers clear the rubble at the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a building the day before in the Lebanese Beirut on April 9, 2026. (AFP)

European and Arab states pressure Israel to halt strikes on Beirut after attacks killed over 300 in Lebanon, as Israeli warnings continue and civilians and key infrastructure remain at risk.

European, Arab pressure on Israel to stop strikes on Lebanese capital: diplomat 

Iran fires missiles at Israel as strikes intensify across the region, Trump issues fresh threats and ultimatums, and tensions rise after attacks on energy sites, military targets and infrastructure, deepening instability across the Middle East.

Day 36: All you need to know about US-Israel war on Iran

BEIRUT: Lebanese Health Minister Rakan Nassereddine said Saturday that 46 rescuers and five medical staff had been killed by Israel since the start of the war with Hezbollah on March 2. Nassereddine said in a press conference that &quot;the number of martyrs in the health sector... is 51 martyrs... including 46 paramedics and 5 health workers, including nine new paramedic martyrs today.&quot; The minister said the nine medics killed in south Lebanon on Saturday included four from Hezbollah&#39;s Islamic Health Committee who were targeted by Israeli strikes while carrying out rescue missions, and five from the Hezbollah-allied Amal movement&#39;s Risala Scouts, who were also on duty.

Lebanese Health Minister Rakan Nassereddine said Saturday that 46 rescuers and five medical staff had been killed by Israel since the start of the war with Hezbollah on March 2

Lebanon says 46 rescuers, 5 medical staff killed in Israel-Hezbollah war

BEIRUT: A Hezbollah official told AFP on Wednesday that the Lebanese movement would not intervene militarily in the event of &quot;limited&quot; US strikes on its backer, Iran, but would consider any attack against supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei a &quot;red line.&quot; The US has repeatedly threatened Iran over its contentious nuclear program, and Lebanese authorities fear Hezbollah could become involved if a potential US attack triggered a regional war. But the official told AFP on condition of anonymity: &quot;In the event of limited US strikes on Iran, Hezbollah&#39;s position will be to not intervene militarily.&quot; If the group determines, however, that the United States is trying to &quot;provoke the downfall of the Iranian regime or to target the supreme leader, Hezbollah will then intervene,&quot; they added. The official predicted that in a hypothetical scenario where the US attempted to militarily unseat the Iranian government, US-ally Israel would &quot;inevitably wage a war against Lebanon.&quot; US President Donald Trump has deployed warships and fighter jets near Iran to back up his threats of strikes should ongoing negotiations between the two sides fail to secure a deal. Lebanon&#39;s foreign minister said Tuesday that the government feared Israeli attacks on civilian infrastructure if Hezbollah&mdash;which still has an arsenal of ballistic missiles&mdash;became part of a regional conflict between the US and Iran. &quot;What the Lebanese fear is a chain reaction: an American strike against Iran, a Hezbollah retaliatory strike against Israel, followed by a massive Israeli response,&quot; said a Lebanese official who requested anonymity. Hezbollah&#39;s leader, Naim Qassem, has said that his group is in a &quot;defensive position,&quot; but it would consider itself &quot;targeted&quot; by any US attack on Iran. During the 12-day war between Israel and Iran last June, which the US later joined, Hezbollah did not intervene. Hezbollah emerged weakened from over a year of war with Israel that a November 2024 ceasefire sought to halt. Despite the agreement, Israel has continued striking targets it says are linked to Hezbollah on a near-daily basis, saying it is enforcing ceasefire provisions against the group rearming.Hezbollah and the Lebanese government have protested the attacks as ceasefire violations. The official speaking to AFP stressed that Hezbollah was refraining from responding to the strikes, but that its restraint &quot;has limits.&quot; &quot;Israeli attacks cannot continue indefinitely without a response.&quot;

Hezbollah said it would not intervene in limited US strikes on Iran but warned targeting Iran’s supreme leader would cross a red line, potentially triggering intervention and escalating regional conflict involving Israel and Lebanon

Hezbollah official says will not intervene in event of 'limited' US strikes on Iran

WASHINGTON: The United States on Monday ordered non-emergency personnel to leave its embassy in Beirut as President Donald Trump threatens strikes on Iran, which has close relations with Lebanese Hezbollah. &quot;This is a temporary measure intended to ensure the safety of our personnel while maintaining our ability to operate and assist US citizens,&quot; a senior State Department official said on customary condition of anonymity. Around 40 embassy personnel left through Beirut&#39;s international airport on Monday, a Lebanese security source told AFP. The order applies to non-emergency employees and their family members, but the embassy will remain open. &quot;We continuously assess the security environment, and based on our latest review, we determined it prudent to reduce our footprint to essential personnel,&quot; the US official said. Trump has ordered a major buildup of American forces in the region as he threatens to attack Iran, saying it must accept an onerous deal on concerns starting with its nuclear program. Iran&#39;s cleric-run government&mdash;which last month ruthlessly suppressed mass protests&mdash;says it expects talks Thursday with the United States in what could be a last-ditch attempt at diplomacy. Since the October 7, 2023, attacks by Iranian-backed Hamas, Israel has carried out strikes in Lebanon that have devastated Hezbollah, including killing its leader Hassan Nasrallah. Hezbollah had been expected in the past to form another front against Israel in a war with Iran. The militant group on Saturday vowed &quot;resistance&quot; after a new Israeli strike killed eight of its operatives.

The United States ordered non-essential embassy staff to leave Beirut amid rising tensions with Iran, citing security concerns, while maintaining operations as Washington increases regional military presence and diplomatic pressure

US orders exit of Beirut embassy personnel amid Iran tension

BEIRUT: Attacks carried out by Israel on Friday in eastern Lebanon killed eight members of Hezbollah, an official from the group told AFP on Saturday. Lebanon&#39;s health ministry said Friday that a total of 10 people were killed in strikes that hit the eastern Bekaa region. The Israeli military said it targeted &quot;several terrorists of Hezbollah&#39;s missile array in three different command centres in the Baalbek area&quot;.

Israel killed eight members of Hezbollah in a strike on Lebanon's Baalbek area on Friday

Eight Hezbollah members killed in Israel's Friday strikes: Official to AFP

TEHRAN: Iran on Monday slammed Israel over its killing of Hezbollah&#39;s military chief, a day after the commander was targeted with a strike in the Lebanese capital of Beirut. &quot;The Iranian foreign ministry strongly condemns the cowardly assassination of the great commander of the Lebanese Islamic Resistance, the martyr Haytham Ali Tabatabai,&quot; the foreign ministry said in a statement. Tabatabai is the most senior Hezbollah commander to be killed by Israel since the start of a ceasefire in November 2024 that sought to end more than a year of hostilities. &lsquo;Flagrant violation&rsquo;&nbsp;The killing &quot;constitutes a flagrant violation of the November 2024 ceasefire and a brutal breach of Lebanon&rsquo;s national sovereignty&quot;, the Iranian foreign ministry said. Hezbollah earlier confirmed the killing of &quot;the great commander&quot; Tabatabai. Largely unknown to the Lebanese public, Tabatabai was among the new commanders chosen to lead the group after the war. Israel has repeatedly bombed Lebanon since the truce, mostly claiming to be targeting Hezbollah members and infrastructure.

‘The Iranian foreign ministry strongly condemns the cowardly assassination of the great commander of the Lebanese Islamic Resistance, the martyr Haytham Ali Tabatabai,’ the Iranian foreign ministry said in a statement.

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