U.S.-Iran negotiations remained stalled Thursday after Iran seized two commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, and there were no signs talks would resume soon.
President Trump announced on social media that he was extending a ceasefire indefinitely just hours before it was due to expire and said there was no time pressure to set a new date for negotiations. Iran called the extension meaningless and said it would not return to talks unless the United States lifted what Tehran described as a naval blockade of Iranian ports. U.S. Central Command said it has directed 31 civilian ships to alter course since the blockade was imposed earlier this month.
The disruptions pushed oil prices back above $100 a barrel as shipping through the strait — a choke point for roughly one-fifth of the world’s crude oil and natural gas — grew more hazardous. Hours after Trump’s announcement, Iran attacked three commercial vessels in the narrow waterway and seized two, tightening control over one of the world’s most important shipping lanes.
Amid the Iran standoff, Lebanon is preparing to press for an extension of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire with Israel during a second round of talks in Washington. The meetings follow the first high-level contact between Beirut and Jerusalem in decades as Lebanon seeks to halt fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah and to secure withdrawal of Israeli forces from parts of southern Lebanon. Israel has said it wants a buffer zone to prevent Hezbollah from launching strikes into northern Israel.
The Israeli government has urged Lebanon to do more to compel Hezbollah to disarm. A Hezbollah spokesperson told reporters the group retains its right to resist if Israel refuses to withdraw from Lebanese territory.
Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon on Wednesday killed at least five people, including Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil. Lebanese officials said Khalil and a colleague sheltered in a house after a nearby vehicle was hit, but the building was then struck; medics rescued a wounded colleague who later had to retreat under fire before they could reach Khalil, who died under the rubble. The Israeli military said it was responding to an imminent threat and was reviewing the incident. Lebanon’s prime minister accused Israel of targeting journalists. The Committee to Protect Journalists says at least eight journalists have been killed in Lebanon by Israeli strikes since the start of the conflict.
The regional turmoil coincided with a shakeup at the Pentagon: Navy Secretary John Phelan was dismissed Wednesday. The Defense Department said Phelan was departing effective immediately and that Undersecretary Hung Cao would serve as acting Navy secretary. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jack Reed criticized the move as further evidence of instability and dysfunction at the Defense Department under the Trump administration and Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Phelan, a billionaire investor with no naval experience, was the Navy’s top civilian official overseeing budget, personnel and shipbuilding policy, though he did not manage day-to-day Middle East operations. His exit adds to a list of more than 30 Pentagon officials who have left or been removed since Hegseth took his post.