Israel-Lebanon ceasefire extended by 3 weeks as tensions rise in Strait of Hormuz

The extension was announced at the White House on Thursday, where ambassadors from both countries met for high-level negotiations. Hezbollah was not involved in the talks. But the ceasefire appeared fragile from the start. Hezbollah's latest rocket fire into northern Israel came after an Israeli airstrike killed Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil Wednesday while she was reporting in southern Lebanon. Khalil's death makes her the eighth journalist killed by Israel in Lebanon in the past two months, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. The conflict in Lebanon has killed nearly 2,300 people, according to the Lebanese government, and displaced roughly 1.2 million. The Lebanon ceasefire is also tied to broader U.S. efforts to extend a separate ceasefire with Iran. Iran has insisted that the fighting in Lebanon remain paused in order to continue peace talks with the United States. Earlier this week, Trump said he was extending indefinitely a ceasefire with Iran, hours before it was set to expire. Iran dismissed the extension as "meaningless" and said the continued U.S. naval blockade on Iranian ports is a violation of the deal. Iran negotiators say they will not return to the negotiating table until the blockade is lifted. Tensions have also escalated in recent days in the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for global oil shipments. The U.S. military on Thursday said it seized a tanker transporting oil from Iran in the Indian Ocean, a day after Iran took control of two commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz. President Trump said on social media he ordered the Navy to "shoot and kill any boat" laying mines in the strategic waterway. He added that the U.S. would triple the level of minesweeping in the strait. "I don't want to rush. I want to take my time," Trump told reporters, adding that he was prepared to wait for "the best deal" to end the war. Trump also dismissed the idea that he would use a nuclear weapon against Iran. "Why would I use a nuclear weapon where we've totally, in a very conventional way, decimated them without it?" Trump said. " A nuclear weapon should never be allowed to be used by anybody." Trump's comments came as he ordered the U.S. Navy to "shoot and kill any boat" trying to lay mines in the Strait of Hormuz, according to a post on social media. A Washington Post report published this week, which NPR has not independently verified, cited a Pentagon assessment shared with Congress that said it could take up to six months to fully clear the strait of mines. Trump has disputed the assessment, saying U.S. minesweepers are already clearing the waterway. The threat alone has had a tremendous effect on global shipping. Some vessels with links to Iran made attempts to move through the strait, but others are staying away after Iran attacked three ships with gunfire earlier this week and seized two more. Around 20,000 seafarers have also been stuck aboard their ships since the start of the war. "There are a substantial number of tanker shipowners that [are keeping] their vessels away from the Middle East," Basil Karatzas, who heads the maritime consulting company Karatzas Marine Advisors, told NPR. The disruption goes beyond oil. Helium, fertilizer and aluminum, which are all critical elements for industry and farming, have been held up in the Gulf, causing global shortages and driving up costs. Press freedom groups are calling for an international investigation into the death of Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil, who was killed earlier this week in an Israeli airstrike while reporting in southern Lebanon. Lebanese officials said Khalil and another journalist took shelter in a house after a nearby vehicle was targeted, but the building was then struck as well. Medics said they were able to rescue a wounded journalist, but came under fire and were forced to retreat before they could save Khalil. She later died under the rubble. The Israeli military said it was responding to an "imminent threat" and was reviewing the incident. "Israel's blatant disregard for such norms — and the international community's failure to hold them accountable — is abhorrent." Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam accused Israel of targeting journalists. "Israel's targeting of media workers in the south while they carry out their professional duties is no longer isolated incidents, but has become an established approach that we condemn and reject, as do all international laws and conventions," Salam wrote in a post on social media. At least eight journalists have been killed by Israel in Lebanon since the start of the conflict, according to CPJ. Pope Leo XIV called on the United States and Iran to return to the negotiating table Friday, calling for renewed talks to end the war. He said he was carrying a photograph of a young Muslim Lebanese boy killed in Israel's recent attacks against Hezbollah in Lebanon. The same child had been photographed holding a sign welcoming the pope during his visit to Lebanon last year. "When conflicts arise," Leo said, "the question is how to promote the values we believe in without the deaths of so many innocents." The Kurdistan Freedom Party, known as PAK, said several drones hit one of its bases in Erbil province, Iraq, late Thursday, wounding three fighters. Iran and Iran-backed Iraqi militias have continued to attack Iranian Kurdish opposition bases throughout a ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran that began April 8. Kurdish government officials say those attacks have killed at least five people since then. blockade of Iranian ports violates the truce. PAK, which was trained along with Iraqi Kurdish fighters by U.S. forces to fight the militant group ISIS, called on Trump to protect Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region, where the U.S. has bases. Drone attacks were also reported in Kuwait, where the country's defense ministry said "two sites at its northern land border centers" were targeted by "two fiber-optic wire-guided explosive drones" from Iraq. In a social media post, authorities said the drones caused material damage, but no casualties. Kat Lonsdorf in Beirut, Lebanon, Jane Arraf in Amman, Jordan, Ruth Sherlock and Rebecca Rosman in London, and Jackie Northam contributed reporting to this story. Sponsor Message Become an NPR sponsor