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

Special Series Middle East conflict Conflict in the Middle East has been escalating. These stories provide context for current developments and the history that led up to them. By NPR Staff From left: U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter, Vice President Vance, President Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Lebanese Ambassador to the U.S. Nada Hamadeh Moawad and U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa listen to questions from the media at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Thursday. Hezbollah was not involved in the talks. He added that the U.S. Here are the latest updates on Day 56 of the conflict in the Middle East: Strait of Hormuz | Journalist killed | Pope Leo | Drone attacks A boy walks near a man with a fishing net as ships are anchored near the shoreline in Bandar Abbas, an Iranian port city and the capital of Hormozgan province, along the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz. "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. Navy to "shoot and kill any boat" trying to lay mines in the Strait of Hormuz, according to a post on social media. minesweepers are already clearing the waterway. 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. Relatives and friends of Amal Khalil, a veteran correspondent for the daily newspaper Al-Akhbar who was killed in a reported Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon, mourn at her home in the village of Bisariyeh, on Thursday. Mahmoud Zayyat/AFP via Getty Images hide caption The Committee to Protect Journalists said Israel's failure to allow medical crews to reach Khalil in time "may constitute a war crime." "Journalists are civilians and protected under international law," CPJ's Jodie Ginsberg said in a statement. "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. Pope Leo XIV speaks to journalists aboard the papal flight from Malabo to Rome, on Thursday, at the end of his 11-day pastoral visit to Africa. Andrew Medichini/AFP via Getty Images hide caption Speaking to reporters aboard the papal plane after a trip to Africa, Leo urged leaders to adopt what he called "a culture of peace." He called the negotiations between Iran and the United States "complex," but urged all sides to remain committed to dialogue. 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. 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. A police officer stands holding a flag in Valiasr Square beneath a mural of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran, Iran, on Thursday. Majid Saeedi/Getty Images hide caption President Trump extended the ceasefire with Iran indefinitely earlier this week, but Iranian officials have maintained that the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports violates the truce. 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. Sponsor Message Become an NPR sponsor