- US Central Command turns back 31 vessels -

US Central Command (CENTCOM) said late Wednesday that it had also "directed 31 vessels to turn around or return to port" as part of its own "blockade against Iran".

It said on X "the majority of vessels have complied with US directions" adding that "most vessels turned around have been oil tankers".

- Oil jumps before easing -

Oil prices jumped four percent before easing Thursday after Iran vowed not to reopen the Strait of Hormuz so long as a US blockade remained in place.

At around 0025 GMT, the benchmark US oil contract West Texas Intermediate (WTI) climbed 4.06 percent to $96.73 per barrel. International oil benchmark Brent North Sea crude rose 3.62 percent to $105.63. Both eased back in the following minutes.

Asian stocks mostly fell however, with Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney, Singapore and Wellington all down.

- Israel strikes journalists in Lebanon -

Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon, where a ceasefire is in place, killed veteran Al-Akhbar newspaper correspondent Amal Khalil and wounded freelance journalist Zeinab Faraj Wednesday.

A Lebanese Red Cross official told AFP Faraj was rescued but Khalil died under rubble.

Lebanon's Information Minister Paul Morcos called the targeting of journalists "a grave crime and a blatant violation of international humanitarian law".

- Israeli minister says no 'serious disagreements' -

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Wednesday that Israel does not have any "serious disagreements" with Lebanon, calling Hezbollah "the obstacle to peace and normalisation".

A Hezbollah lawmaker, however, had told AFP that the group might accept indirect talks mediated by the United States.

Despite a truce, Israel is continuing strikes in Lebanon, and Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed at least 2,454 people since the start of the war, according to Lebanese authorities.

- Israel hits Gaza, killing five -

Three children were among the five Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes targeting a group of civilians near Al-Qassam mosque in Beit Lahia, in the north, Gaza's civil defense agency said Wednesday.

At least 786 Palestinians have been killed since the October 10 ceasefire with Israel, according to Gaza's health ministry, which is under Hamas authority and whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.

- Second French soldier dies -

French President Emmanuel Macron said that a second French soldier died from wounds suffered in a weekend ambush on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon blamed on Hezbollah, which has denied responsibility.

- No deadline for peace plan -

US President Donald Trump has not set a deadline by which Iran must submit a peace proposal, the White House said on Wednesday.

"The president has not set a firm deadline to receive an Iranian proposal, unlike some of the reporting I've seen today. Ultimately, the timeline will be dictated by the commander in chief," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told journalists.

Trump also does not consider Iran's seizure of two container ships to be a ceasefire violation because the vessels are not American or Israeli, the White House said.

- Reopening Hormuz 'not possible' -

Iran's parliament speaker said the country would not reopen the Strait of Hormuz as long as the US naval blockade remained in place, calling it a "blatant violation" of the two countries' ceasefire.

"A complete ceasefire only has meaning if it is not violated through a naval blockade...Reopening the Strait of Hormuz is not possible amid a blatant violation of the ceasefire," speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on X.

- Trump says Iran halted executions -

Trump said Iran had halted alleged plans to execute eight women arrested over anti-government protests, after he urged Tehran to release them to help peace negotiations.

Iran's judiciary called the claim "false news", saying the women had never faced the death penalty.

burs-ane/tw

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