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

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.

Here are the latest updates on Day 56 of the conflict in the Middle East:

Strait of Hormuz | Journalist killed | Pope Leo | Drone attacks

Trump says he's in no hurry to end war as Hormuz crisis deepens

BANDAR ABBAS, IRAN - APRIL 22: A boy walks near a man with a fishing net as ships are anchored near the shoreline on April 22, 2026 in Bandar Abbas, Iran. Bandar Abbas is a port city and the capital of Hormozgan Province, along the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz. Earlier today, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps said it had attacked and seized two ships near the Strait of Hormuz as it tried to assert control over the critical waterway. The incidents came the day after U.S. President Donald Trump announced an extension of a ceasefire between his country and Iran, and after Iran refused to attend the latest proposed round of peace talks in Islamabad. Getty Images/Getty Images Europe

Getty Images/Getty Images Europe

President Trump on Thursday said he was in no hurry to reach a deal to end the U.S.-Israeli led war with Iran, even as tensions grew in the 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. " 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.

Rights groups call for investigation into Lebanese journalist's death

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 April 23, 2026. An Israeli airstrike killed the Lebanese journalist and wounded another on April 22, while they were working near the border with Israel, according to their employer and rescuers. MAHMOUD ZAYYAT/AFP via Getty Images

MAHMOUD ZAYYAT/AFP via Getty Images

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 urges U.S. and Iran to return to talks

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 April 23, 2026, at the end of his 11-day pastoral visit to Africa. ANDREW MEDICHINI/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

ANDREW MEDICHINI/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

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.

"When conflicts arise," Leo said, "the question is how to promote the values we believe in without the deaths of so many innocents."

Drones target Iranian Kurdish opposition bases in Iraq, officials say

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.

TEHRAN, IRAN - APRIL 23: A police officer stands holding a flag in Valiasr Square beneath a mural of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on April 23, 2026 in Tehran, Iran. Earlier this week, U.S. President Donald Trump announced an extension of the current ceasefire between his country and Iran, despite Iran declining to attend the latest proposed round of peace talks in Islamabad. The focus of the war has shifted largely to the Strait of Hormuz, where both sides are trying to assert control over the critical maritime route. Majid Saeedi/Getty Images Europe

Majid Saeedi/Getty Images Europe

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.

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.