Netanyahu seeks talks with Lebanon as ceasefire comes under strain

As the aftermath of Lebanon’s deadliest day of the war continued to unfold, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today he wants direct negotiations with Beirut, raising the stakes just one day after bombardments killed more than 300 people and cast fresh doubt over Donald Trump’s US-Iran ceasefire.

Mr Trump declared a ceasefire in the six-week Iran conflict late on Tuesday, only hours before a deadline after which he had warned he would wipe out Iran’s entire civilisation.

In Pakistan, officials were making preparations for the opening round of US-Iran talks, while security forces sealed off parts of the capital, Islamabad.

Yet there was no indication Iran was preparing to ease its near-complete blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a choke point whose closure has triggered the most severe disruption ever seen in global energy supplies. Israel’s continuing strikes on Lebanon remained one of the central obstacles.

A statement attributed to Mr Khamenei was broadcast on state television. He has not appeared publicly since succeeding his father, Ali Khamenei, who was killed on the war’s opening day.

Mr Khamenei said Iran would pursue retaliation for attacks against the country and warned it would “take management of the Straits of Hormuz into a new phase”. He also pledged revenge for the deaths of his father and Iran’s “martyrs”.

Watch: US did not agree that ceasefire would cover Lebanon – Vance

Little sign of shipping resuming

During the first 24 hours of the ceasefire, only one oil products tanker and five dry bulk carriers passed through the strait, far below the roughly 140 ships a day that used the route before the war. The passage normally carries about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments.

Mr Netanyahu, whose government last month rejected what would have been a landmark Lebanese proposal for direct talks, said in a statement that he had ordered preparations for peace negotiations to begin as soon as possible. He said the agenda would include disarming the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.

“In light of Lebanon’s repeated requests to open direct negotiations with Israel, I instructed the cabinet yesterday to start direct negotiations with Lebanon as soon as possible,” he said. “The negotiations will focus on disarming Hezbollah and establishing peaceful relations between Israel and Lebanon.”

About an hour before Mr Netanyahu’s announcement, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said he was pursuing a diplomatic path on the issue that was beginning to receive a “positive” response from international actors.

A senior Lebanese official told Reuters that Beirut had spent the past day pressing for a temporary ceasefire that could open the door to wider talks with Israel, calling it a “separate track but the same model” as the US-Iran truce.

Israel was making plans to reduce the scale of its attacks in Lebanon, a senior Israeli official said today. A second Israeli official said talks with Lebanon were expected to open in Washington next week.

Under a US-brokered ceasefire agreement reached in November 2024, which ended more than a year of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon agreed that only state security forces should carry weapons, meaning Hezbollah was to be fully disarmed.

But an effort by the Lebanese army the following year to strip the group of its weapons did not succeed, Israel said.

Hezbollah lawmaker Ali Fayyad said in a statement today that the group opposed direct negotiations with Israel and that the Lebanese government should first insist on a ceasefire before taking any additional steps. It was Hezbollah’s first public response after Mr Netanyahu said Israel would move straight into talks.

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli strike near the southern Lebanese village of Choukine

Israel says ceasefire does not extend to Lebanon

Washington and Israel, which launched an invasion of Lebanon last month alongside the war on Iran in an effort to uproot Hezbollah, say Lebanon is not included in Mr Trump’s ceasefire.

Iran and Pakistan, which served as mediator, say the arrangement explicitly included Lebanon. Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, who is expected to lead the Iranian side opposite US Vice President JD Vance, said Lebanon and the rest of Iran’s “axis” of regional allies could not be separated from any ceasefire deal.

A Pakistani source said Islamabad was also working to secure ceasefires for Lebanon and Yemen, where Israel has likewise struck Iran-aligned forces.

Lebanon declares day of mourning

Earlier today, Lebanese state media said Israel continued bombing Beirut’s southern suburbs and other areas across the country.

It also widened evacuation orders on Beirut’s outskirts to include areas close to Beirut airport and several shelters housing displaced people.

Hezbollah said it had carried out at least 20 military operations today, including attacks on Israeli vehicles inside Lebanese territory and rocket fire into northern Israel.

Lebanese officials declared a day of mourning after Wednesday’s strikes on densely populated neighbourhoods, which they called a “massacre”.

Outside Beirut’s Rafik Hariri University Hospital, ambulances arrived steadily throughout today carrying mangled bodies recovered from the sites of Israeli strikes the day before.

“We’re picking up body parts for the most part. It’s very rare that we find entire bodies intact,” said a rescue worker on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the press.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry said the death toll since March 2 had climbed to 1,888, with more than 6,000 others wounded.

Hundreds of thousands of people gather for the massive memorial march

Iran and US both claim success

Both Mr Trump and Iran have said they emerged from the conflict victorious.

But Washington has fallen short of the goals Mr Trump set out at the start of the war: ending Iran’s ability to strike its neighbours, dismantling its nuclear programme and paving the way for Iranians to overthrow their government.

Iran still has missiles and drones capable of hitting neighbouring countries, along with a stockpile of more than 400 kg of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels. Its leadership weathered the assault by a superpower without any visible organised opposition at home, while also showing it could still influence traffic through the strait.

During a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Wednesday, Mr Trump voiced frustration at what he saw as insufficient backing from allies during the war and made clear he wanted firm commitments within days to help secure the waterway, according to two European diplomats.

Read more: Bloody day in Lebanon puts fragile ceasefire at risk