US President Donald Trump told NBC News on Thursday he was "very optimistic" about a peace deal with Iran after their ceasefire, and that Israel was "scaling back" strikes in Lebanon. Trump told the US broadcaster in a telephone interview that Iran's leaders were "much more reasonable" in private but added that "if they don't make a deal, it's going
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday he ordered his cabinet to open direct talks with Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah and establish "peace relations" between the two countries. "In light of Lebanon's repeated requests to open direct negotiations with Israel, I instructed the cabinet yesterday to begin direct negotiations with Lebanon
A ceasefire deal to pause the war in Iran appeared to hang by a thread Wednesday after the Islamic Republic closed the Strait of Hormuz again in response to Israeli attacks in Lebanon. The White House demanded that the channel be reopened and sought to keep peace talks on track. The U.S. and Iran both claimed victory after reaching the agreement, and
The United Nations secretary-general has warned that deadly Israeli strikes on Lebanon posed a "grave risk" to the fragile US-Iran truce . "The ongoing military activity in Lebanon poses a grave risk to the ceasefire and the efforts toward a lasting and comprehensive peace in the region. The Secretary-General reiterates his call to all parties to immediately
The scale of the killing in Israeli strikes on Lebanon on Wednesday is "horrific", the UN rights chief said, urging the international community to help end the unfolding "nightmare". "The scale of the killing and destruction in Lebanon today is nothing short of horrific," Volker Turk said in a statement. "Such carnage, within hours of agreeing to a
Lebanon's government said Wednesday Israeli strikes killed dozens and wounded hundreds across the country, with the capital Beirut hit by the most violent bombardment since the start of the war with militant group Hezbollah. AFPTV's live broadcast showed plumes of smoke rising over Beirut and the suburbs, while AFP journalists saw panic in the streets
President Donald Trump said he would suspend his threatened attack against Iran less than two hours before the deadline the president set for Tehran Tuesday, which followed weeks of deadline delays and escalating threats, including Trump's earlier post that "a whole civilization will die tonight." On Truth Social, Trump posted that he would withhold
President Donald Trump over the course of a day went from threatening Iran with "annihilation" to proclaiming that the battered Islamic Republic's leadership had presented a "workable" plan that led him to agree to a 14-day ceasefire that he expects to pave the way to end the nearly six-week-old war. The dramatic shift in tenor came as intermediaries,
The United States and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire in an 11th-hour bid to avert all-out destruction threatened by US President Donald Trump. Here's what we know about the truce between the two countries, which are set to begin negotiations but remain poles apart in their positions on ending the war: Trump told AFP the ceasefire deal was a "total
U.S. President Donald Trump pulled back on his threats to launch devastating strikes on Iran late Tuesday, as the U.S. and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire that includes the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. Trump swerved to deescalate the war less than two hours before the deadline he set for Tehran to capitulate to a deal or face attacks on its