President Donald Trump announced "major combat operations" against Iran on Feb. 28, with massive joint U.S.-Israeli strikes targeting military and government sites.
Trump set a deadline for Iran to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face broad strikes on its critical infrastructure. Hours before the deadline expired, Trump said he had agreed to suspend planned bombing for two weeks if Iran agreed to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi then said that "safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz will be possible via coordination with Iran's Armed Forces and with due consideration of technical limitations."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he supported the ceasefire with Iran, but that Lebanon -- where intense Israeli strikes continued -- was not covered by the agreement, despite Iranian protests.
Flags were lowered to half-mast at the Presidential Palace in Beirut and across the country, as Lebanon marked a day of national mourning following Wednesday's Israeli bombardment in Beirut and other parts of the country.
A meeting of President Joseph Aoun's cabinet began with a minute's silence to mark the killings, the president's office said in a post to X.
A Lebanese civil defense worker (R) stands with a resident at the site of a building destroyed in an Israeli airstrike a day earlier in central Beirut, Lebanon, on, April 9, 2026.
Hassan Ammar/AP
Lebanon's Ministry of Health said at least 203 people were killed in the attacks, with more than 1,000 people injured. Many funerals are expected to take place in Lebanon on Thursday.
In statements posted to Telegram on Thursday, Hezbollah claimed to have fired rockets toward northern Israel, targeted an Israeli military vessel with an anti-ship missile and launched several attacks on Israeli forces operating in southern Lebanon.
-ABC News' Ghazi Balkiz and Joe Simonetti
Apr 09, 2026, 4:40 AM EDT
IDF says it killed Hezbollah chief's nephew in Beirut
The Israel Defense Forces said in a post to X on Thursday that it killed the nephew and personal secretary of Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem in strikes on Beirut on Wednesday.
Ali Yusuf Kharshi, the IDF said, was a close associate and adviser to Qassem and "played a central role in managing his office and providing his security."
Israeli strikes killed at least 182 people in Lebanon on Wednesday, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.
A picture taken on April 9, 2026 shows the aftermath of the previous day's Israeli airstrikes that targeted southern Beirut's al-Mazraa neighborhood.
-/AFP via Getty Images
Apr 09, 2026, 3:34 AM EDT
Trump vows 'bigger, and better' Iran attacks if deal not reached
President Donald Trump said in a post to social media late on Wednesday that all U.S. military assets in the Middle East will remain in place until an agreement is reached to end the war in Iran.
"All U.S. Ships, Aircraft, and Military Personnel, with additional Ammunition, Weaponry, and anything else that is appropriate and necessary for the lethal prosecution and destruction of an already substantially degraded Enemy, will remain in place in, and around, Iran, until such time as the REAL AGREEMENT reached is fully complied with," Trump wrote.
U.S. sailors signal to an F/A-18F Super Hornet aircraft on the flight deck of the USS Gerald R. Ford, for a mission supporting Operation Epic Fury at an undisclosed location on March 19, 2026.
Us Navy/via Reuters
The president also vowed "bigger, and better, and stronger than anyone has ever seen before" military action against Iran if a full end to the war is not agreed to during the two-week ceasefire.
Trump said again that Iran will not have access to nuclear weapons and that the Strait of Hormuz will be fully opened.
"If for any reason it is not, which is highly unlikely, then the 'Shootin' Starts,'" he wrote. "It was agreed, a long time ago, and despite all of the fake rhetoric to the contrary -- NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS and, the Strait of Hormuz WILL BE OPEN & SAFE."
"In the meantime our great Military is Loading Up and Resting, looking forward, actually, to its next Conquest. AMERICA IS BACK!" the president wrote.
Trump also pushed back on reporting over Iran's 10-point peace proposal, which Tehran said will form the basis of negotiations in Pakistan this weekend.
Trump alleged that reporting of Iran's plan was "totally FAKE," a "hoax," and "meant to discredit the people involved in the peace process."
Among Iran's 10 points -- which have been published by Iranian state media and cited by Iran's Supreme National Security Council, plus Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf -- are the lifting of all sanctions on Iran, continued Iranian control of the Strait of Hormuz and U.S. military withdrawal from the Middle East.
-ABC News' Alex Ederson
Apr 09, 2026, 2:58 AM EDT
IDF says it 'expanded' ground operations in south Lebanon
The Israel Defense Forces said Thursday that paratroopers from its 98th Division "have expanded their targeted ground operations into additional areas of southern Lebanon" over the past week.
"The brigade's troops have established operational control of the area and continue to strike Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure sites in order to reinforce the forward defensive area and remove threats to the residents of northern Israel," the IDF said in a post to X.
The IDF claimed to have "eliminated dozens of Hezbollah terrorists and located a range of weapons."
A photograph taken from the southern Lebanese city of Tyre shows smoke induced by Israeli military activities as it rises from the area of Naqoura on April 6, 2026.
