- Netanyahu hails Lebanon truce -

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the ten-day ceasefire with Lebanon offered an opportunity for a "historic peace agreement" with Beirut, but insisted that the disarmament of militant group Hezbollah remained a precondition.

US President Donald Trump earlier said that Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun had agreed to a ten-day truce starting at 2100 GMT on Thursday evening.

- Iran to hand over enriched uranium? -

Trump said Iran has agreed to hand over its store of enriched uranium and that the two sides were "close" to a peace deal ending six weeks of conflict.

"They've agreed to give us back the nuclear dust," Trump told reporters at the White House, using his name for the enriched uranium stockpile that the United States says could be used to build nuclear weapons.

- Hezbollah in ceasefire -

Trump said the 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon would include Iran-backed Hezbollah.

"Today they're going to be having a ceasefire, and that'll include Hezbollah," Trump told reporters at the White House.

- Israeli strike kills 7 -

An Israeli strike on the southern Lebanese town of Ghazieh has killed at least seven people and wounded 33, the health ministry said, hours before the ceasefire between the two countries is scheduled to take effect.

Lebanese state media reported a "massacre against civilians" in the town, noting that rubble removal operations are ongoing, while the health ministry said its toll is "preliminary and not final".

- Lebanese PM welcomes ceasefire -

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said he "welcomes" Trump's announcement of the 10-day ceasefire with Israel.

A Hezbollah MP told AFP the Iran-backed militant group would respect the ceasefire if Israel stops its attacks on its fighters.

Lebanon's army has urged people not to return to the country's southern villages and towns before the truce takes effect at midnight local time.

- Trump invites Israel, Lebanon to White House -

Trump said he will invite the leaders of Israel and Lebanon to the White House after the two countries agreed a ceasefire.

"I will be inviting the Prime Minister of Israel, Bibi Netanyahu, and the President of Lebanon, Joseph Aoun, to the White House," Trump said on his Truth Social network.

- Pakistan meets Iran, Qatar-

Pakistan's powerful army chief met Iran's parliament speaker in Tehran, while Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met the Qatari ruler in Doha.

Pakistan hosted and mediated the first round of US-Iran talks to end the war and is pushing for a second.

- Pope praised by archbishop -

Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally, the new leader of the world's Anglicans, hailed Pope Leo XIV's "courageous call" for peace following a war of words with Trump.

"I stand with my brother in Christ, His Holiness Pope XIV, in his courageous call for a kingdom of peace. As innocent people are killed and displaced, families torn apart, and futures destroyed, the human cost of war is incalculable," Mullally said.

- Israel warning -

Israel's defence minister warned Iran against rejecting a US proposal focused on renouncing "nuclear armament" and vowed to stage "even more painful" strikes on new targets if it did so.

"Iran is standing at a historic crossroads: one path is renouncing the ways of terror and nuclear armament... in line with the US proposal, the other leads to an abyss," Israel Katz said.

"If the Iranian regime chooses the second path, it will quickly discover there are even more painful targets than those we have already struck," he said.

- Exports through Hormuz collapse -

Iran was the top exporter of commodities through the Strait of Hormuz in March, as shipments from other countries fell off a cliff with Tehran's blockade of the vital waterway, data by analytics firm Kpler showed.

- US warning on blockade -

The United States will blockade Iranian ports for "as long as it takes," US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said, threatening renewed strikes if Tehran does not make a deal.

"If Iran chooses poorly, then they will have a blockade and bombs dropping on infrastructure, power and energy," Hegseth said.

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