Live Updates: Trump slams Iran over ‘dishonorable’ behavior with Strait of Hormuz

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said he was disappointed with Israel’s Foreign Ministry for criticizing a social media post that appeared to show a 2024 video of Israeli soldiers throwing a body from a rooftop in the occupied West Bank.

In a separate X post on Saturday, Lee wrote: “One would think that, even just once, it would be worth reflecting on criticism from people around the world who are suffering due to these ceaseless actions that violate human rights and international law.”

The Israeli Foreign Ministry accused Lee on X of misrepresenting a 2024 incident.

Lee did not specifically comment on Israel’s ongoing conflict with Iran but said in a series of X posts Friday that “lessons marked on the painful wounds of the past must not be repeated as recurring tragedies.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Iran has been nominated for a seat on the United Nations Committee for Program and Coordination, which is slated to meet to shape policy on human rights, women’s rights, and terrorism prevention—all causes it has been repeatedly accused of violating.

The nomination came during a meeting of the U.N. Economic and Social Council.

Iran has been repeatedly accused of numerous human rights violations and imposing draconian rules on how women live their daily lives.

In addition, Tehran has resisted calls to stop its nuclear enrichment program and is considered one of the world’s biggest sponsors of terrorism.

With Iran increasingly isolated among its Gulf neighbors, recent reports say Tehran has been deepening its ties in the South Caucasus with the Republic of Georgia.

The former Soviet republic, which was until recently seen as an aspiring European Union and potential NATO member candidate, has slowly moved closer to Tehran.

“Iran has built a vast influence infrastructure in Georgia, which includes entities sanctioned by the U.S. government for links to extremism and viewed in Washington as fronts for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC),” Giorgi Kandelaki, former member of the Georgian Parliament, told Fox News Digital.

Kandelaki, co-author of a recent report with the Hudson Institute titled Georgia’s Iranian Turn: Tehran’s Rapid Expansion of Influence in a Once-Committed U.S. Ally, said that Tbilisi’s turn toward Iran is bad for Georgians but also bad for U.S. interests in the region. 

“Georgia has an overwhelmingly pro-U.S. public opinion committed to Western values with it also being viewed as a traditional U.S. ally in Washington. This reality presents a terrible precedent and reversing this trajectory is in the interest of both the U.S. but also Georgian society,” he added.

While Georgia has remained diplomatically neutral, the Hudson report details the budding ties between the two countries and how Iran uses Georgia as a network for intelligence infrastructure, penetrating Georgia’s religious, educational and cultural institutions to impact society.

This is an excerpt from an article by Chris Massaro.

President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace says it has no funding constraints and that all requests have been met “immediately and in full” to date.

Earlier in the day, Reuters reported that the board had received only a tiny fraction of the $17 billion pledged for Gaza’s rebuilding effort.

“We are focused on enabling the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG) to restore governance, allow aid to scale, and address the acute injustice faced by tens of thousands of civil servants who are currently serving without pay,” a board statement said. “All civil servants deserve to be treated lawfully, fairly, and with dignity, in full respect of their rights.”

In a statement refuting the Reuters report, the board said it was a “lean, execution-focused organization that calls capital as needed.”

A sanction tanker carrying Iranian oil was anchored Friday near an Indian port.

The U.S. sanctioned vessel, identified as Jaya, has been linked to so-called “identity-switching,” a practice used by tankers to evade sanctions, Iran International reported, citing industry reports.

The ship was set to deliver the first Iranian crude oil to India since 2019.

Lebanese and Israeli officials will meet next week in Washington to discuss a ceasefire, the office of Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said in a social media post.

The meeting was set during a phone call between Lebanon’s Ambassador to the U.S. Nada Hamadeh Mouawad, Israel’s Ambassador to the United States Yehiel Leiter, and U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michael Issa, Aoun’s office said.

“During the call, they agreed to hold the first meeting next Tuesday at the US State Department to discuss the announcement of a ceasefire and the date for the start of negotiations between Lebanon and Israel with American sponsorship,” Aoun’s office said.

The Iranian delegation has arrived in Pakistan for talks with Trump administration officials, the Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Friday.

The group, led by Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, has landed in Islamabad. He was accompanied by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Akbar Ahmadian, and Central Bank Governor Abdolnaser Hemmati, as well as some members of parliament, Iran’s Fars News Agency reported.

Pakistani officials “expressed the hope that parties would engage constructively, and reiterated Pakistan’s desire to continue facilitating the parties toward reaching a lasting and durable solution to the conflict,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

The key to achieving peace with Iran includes preventing it from acquiring a nuclear weapon, placing restrictions on its missile and drone programs, and creating an international framework for the Strait of Hormuz, a nonprofit group committed to combating Iranian threats said.

A 10-page report compiled by United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), titled “The Islamabad Framework: The Essential Components of a Diplomatic Resolution with Iran,” lists several key provisions Iran must agree to in an effort to end the war in the Middle East.

Among the measures are preventing Tehran from continuing its uranium enrichment program, as well as “anytime, anywhere” inspections of its undisclosed nuclear facilities.

“The emerging ‘Trump Doctrine’ mandates that either the Iranian regime verifiably dismantles its nuclear program, imposes limits on its missile and drone program, and ends its support for terrorism, or America and Israel will do so,” the report states.

The report also calls for the scaling back of Tehran’s missile and drone programs and an end to its support for terrorism abroad.

Iran is often cited as the world’s number one state sponsor of terrorism beyond its borders. UANI also called for Iran to release all its hostages, including American citizens, before the implementation of sanctions relief.

“If Tehran backslides and takes any further hostages, sanctions should be automatically reinstated,” the report states.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday said that the U.S.-Iran talks in Islamabad are a make-or-break event to achieve a permanent ceasefire in the weeks-long Middle East conflict.

Sharif thanked those attending the talks and said his government would do everything necessary to ensure a peace deal is brokered, Iran International reported.

He further urged Pakistani citizens to pray for the meeting to succeed.

Pope Leo XIV once again condemned the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran on Friday, saying that “God does not bless any conflict.”

Leo issued his remarks during a gathering of top bishops of the Chaldean Catholic Church in Iraq, whose clerics are in Rome to elect a new patriarch, The Associated Press reported.

“God does not bless any conflict,” his X account states. “Anyone who is a disciple of Christ, the Prince of Peace, is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs. Military action will not create space for freedom or times of #Peace, which comes only from the patient promotion of coexistence and dialogue among peoples.”

Israel has expelled Spain from the United States Civil-Military Coordination Center (CMCC), its foreign ministry said Friday.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Spain—a major critic of Israel’s war against Hamas—of defaming “our heroes, the soldiers of the IDF, the soldiers of the most moral army in the world.”

“Therefore, I have instructed today to remove Spain’s representatives from the coordination center in Kiryat Gat, after Spain has chosen repeatedly to stand against Israel,” Netanyahu said. “Those who attack the State of Israel instead of terrorist regimes will not be our partners regarding the future of the region.”

“I am not willing to tolerate this hypocrisy and hostility,” he added. “I do not intend to allow any country to wage a diplomatic war against us without paying an immediate price.”

President Donald Trump on Friday said U.S. warships are being reloaded with “the best ammunition” to attack Iran should peace talks in Pakistan fail.

“We’re going to find out in about 24 hours. We’re going to know soon,” Trump said in a phone interview with the New York Post.

Vice President JD Vance was en route to Islamabad, where he will be joined by special envoy Steve Witkoff for high-stakes talks. They will attempt to negotiate a final peace after a two-week cease-fire was reached on Tuesday.

“We have a reset going. We’re loading up the ships with the best ammunition, the best weapons ever made—even better than what we did previously, and we blew them apart,” Trump said.

Amjad Taha, a political strategist from the United Arab Emirates, said his country “does not and will never accept the Islamic regime in Iran imposing conditions on access” to the Strait of Hormuz. 

“For the Trump administration to understand: The Strait of Hormuz is not open,” Taha wrote in a post on X, adding, “The UAE is not Britain or the EU.” 

“It does not accept any terrorist actor restricting freedom of navigation. As for Pakistan, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia negotiating to keep the regime afloat, understand this: no state has a legitimate right to decide who may pass and under what terms,” he added. “That is international law, not a bargaining chip. Shame on United Kingdom, NATO, European Union, and anyone who tolerates this regime’s terrorism and piracy.” 

An Israeli intelligence official told Fox News on Friday that Iran is demanding fees from ships to travel through the Strait of Hormuz – a measure President Donald Trump has warned Tehran not to implement. 

President Donald Trump took a swipe Friday at Iran’s military, saying the regime in Tehran is “better at handling the Fake News Media, and ‘Public Relations,’ than they are at fighting!”

Trump made the remark on Truth Social after the told the New York Post in an interview that “You’re dealing against people that we don’t know whether or not they tell the truth.”

“To our face, they’re getting rid of all nuclear weapons, everything’s gone. And then they go out to the press and say, ‘No, we’d like to enrich.’ So we’ll find out,” Trump said about this weekend’s negotiations with Iran, set to take place in Pakistan on Saturday.

President Donald Trump said Friday that “The Iranians don’t seem to realize they have no cards, other than a short term extortion of the World by using International Waterways.” 

“The only reason they are alive today is to negotiate!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. 

Vice President JD Vance, U.S. special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are heading to Pakistan this weekend for talks with Iran on Saturday. 

The White House told Fox News on Friday that President Donald Trump “is optimistic” that a deal can be reached with Iran during this weekend’s upcoming negotiations in Pakistan. 

“President Trump tasked Vice President Vance, Special Envoy Witkoff, and Mr. [Jared] Kushner with traveling to Islamabad to negotiate with Iran. Officials from the National Security Council, Department of State, and Department of War will also play a supportive role,” White House principal deputy press secretary Anna Kelly told Fox News.

“As the President said from the beginning, the Vice President, Secretary of State, Special Envoy, and Mr. Kushner have always been collaborating on these discussions, and the President is optimistic that a deal can be reached that can lead to lasting peace in the Middle East,” she added. 

“President Trump has a proven track record of achieving good deals on behalf of the United States and the American people, and he will only accept one that puts America first,” Kelly also said. 

Fox News’ Patrick Ward contributed to this report.

Iranian parliament speaker and negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Friday that talks with the U.S. won’t begin until a ceasefire is observed in Lebanon and Tehran’s assets are unfrozen. 

“Two of the measures mutually agreed upon between the parties have yet to be implemented: a ceasefire in Lebanon and the release of Iran’s blocked assets prior to the commencement of negotiations,” Ghalibaf wrote on X after Vice President JD Vance left for Pakistan, where the talks are expected to be held Saturday. 

“These two matters must be fulfilled before negotiations begin,” Ghalibaf added. 

Israel has been launching strikes at the terrorist group Hezbollah in Lebanon, despite the ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran. 

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that “Israel supports President Trump’s decision to suspend strikes against Iran for two weeks subject to Iran immediately opening the straits and stopping all attacks on the US, Israel and countries in the region.” 

“The two-weeks ceasefire does not include Lebanon,” it added. 

President Donald Trump told the New York Post on Friday ahead of U.S.-Iran talks in Pakistan that American ships are being loaded up with the “best weapons ever made” and “we will be using them very effectively” if no deal is reached. 

“We have a reset going. We’re loading up the ships with the best ammunition, the best weapons ever made — even better than what we did previously and we blew them apart,” he said to the newspaper. 

“But we’re loading up the ships. We’re loading up the ships with the best weapons ever made, even at a higher level than we use to do a complete decimation,” Trump added. 

“And if we don’t have a deal, we will be using them, and we will be using them very effectively,” he declared. 

Regarding the talks, Trump said to the New York Post that Iran is saying “To our face, they’re getting rid of all nuclear weapons, everything’s gone. And then they go out to the press and say, ‘No, we’d like to enrich.’ So we’ll find out.” 

The Israel Defense Forces released a video Friday showing what it described as Hezbollah terrorists launching rockets towards Israel from a school compound in southern Lebanon. 

“Hezbollah terrorists launched rockets from a school compound in the Tir Zibneh area in southern Lebanon and concealed a launcher within it. Hezbollah has once again demonstrated its use of civilian infrastructure for military purposes, in violation of international law,” the IDF said on X. 

“In accordance with international law, the premises was struck by the IDF to remove the threat it posed to Israel,” it added. 

Israeli forces said they launched the largest coordinated strike across Lebanon this week since Operation Roaring Lion began. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the ceasefire agreement between the U.S. and Iran does not apply to Lebanon, meaning Israeli forces would continue to strike Hezbollah terrorists there. 

U.S. Central Command released a photo Friday showing a U.S. Marine Corps F-35B Lightning II jet taking off from the deck of the USS Tripoli, one of the American ships that has been operating in the Middle East in support of Operation Epic Fury. 

The photo’s release comes days after President Donald Trump said “The United States of America will be helping with the traffic buildup in the Strait of Hormuz” and “We’ll be loading up with supplies of all kinds, and just ‘hangin’ around’ in order to make sure that everything goes well.” 

“The F-35B can take off from shorter runways and land vertically, allowing it to operate from Tripoli’s flight deck, which is less than 850 feet in length,” CENTCOM said. “Tripoli is currently sailing in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility.” 

Alireza Jafarzadeh, the deputy director of the U.S. office of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, told “Fox & Friends First” on Friday that the Iranian regime, which is “built on terrorism,” will likely be trying to “buy time” in upcoming negotiations with the U.S. this weekend. 

Vice President JD Vance is heading to Pakistan for the talks. 

“Keep in mind, despite the smoke and screens, this regime is much weaker now than they have ever been. Not just simply because they received a significant military and political blow during the war, but also their main concern is their own population inside Iran,” Jafarzadeh said, adding, “That is why the regime started executing political prisoners just since 10 days ago.” 

“Nothing has changed when it comes to the nature of this regime. This is a regime that is built on terrorism, is built on developing nuclear weapons and missile programs and running all of these proxies and those policies haven’t changed. Therefore, the goal of the Iranian regime from coming to the negotiating table is not to accept peace, but rather they want to buy time, they want to get off the hook and see what they can get out of it,” he added. 

“The main focus should be on how to help empower the people in Iran,” Jafarzadeh said. 

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Friday that reopening the Strait of Hormuz is key to strengthening a “fragile” ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran. 

Speaking Friday as he left Qatar after a three-day visit to the Gulf, Starmer said leaders in the region were adamant that “there can’t be tolling or restrictions” on commercial shipping through the waterway, according to The Associated Press. 

An Israeli intelligence official told Fox News on Friday that Iran is demanding fees from ships to travel through the Strait of Hormuz. 

Starmer also said he told President Donald Trump in a call on Thursday that ending the conflict “has to involve” Iran’s Gulf neighbors, who “have very strong views on the Strait of Hormuz.”  

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Vice President JD Vance said Friday as he departed for Pakistan that President Donald Trump has given him “clear guidelines” for this weekend’s negotiations with Iran. 

“We’re looking forward to the negotiation. I think it’s going to be positive. We’ll foresee, as the President of the United States said, if the Iranians are willing to negotiate in good faith, we’re certainly willing to extend the open hand,” Vance told reporters Friday at Joint Base Andrews. 

“If they’re going to try to play us, then they’re going to find the negotiating team is not that receptive,” the vice president also warned. “So we’re going to try to have a positive negotiation. The President gave us some pretty clear guidelines, and we’re going to see.” 

The Israel Defense Forces said it “struck and eliminated” two terrorists who were planning “imminent” attacks against troops operating in the Gaza Strip.

The strikes were carried out Thursday.

“In the southern Gaza Strip, the IDF eliminated Mahmoud Barim, a terrorist in the Kata’ib al-Mujahideen organization, who monitored IDF troop activity and possessed a large quantity of weapons,” the IDF said.

“In the northern Gaza Strip, the IDF eliminated Ahmed Mohammed Saleh, a Hamas Nukhba terrorist, who had carried out and advanced numerous terror attacks against IDF troops. During the strike, additional Hamas terrorists were struck,” the IDF added.

The IDF said the terrorists “posed an immediate threat to IDF troops and were eliminated in precise strikes.”

“Prior to the strikes, steps were taken to mitigate harm to civilians, including the use of precise munitions and aerial surveillance,” the IDF said.

The IDF said Israeli troops in the Southern Command “remain deployed in accordance with the ceasefire agreement and will continue to operate to remove any immediate threat.”

An Israeli intelligence official told Fox News on Friday that Iran is demanding fees from ships to travel through the Strait of Hormuz. 

“The Strait is effectively under full Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps control,” the official told Fox News chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst. “They decide who gets to go through, but more importantly, who doesn’t.”

The official also said new information is being shared in the intelligence community indicating that the Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is using the ceasefire window to carry out operations that tighten its grip on the strait. 

The development runs in defiance of a warning that President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social on Thursday night. 

“There are reports that Iran is charging fees to tankers going through the Hormuz Strait — They better not be and, if they are, they better stop now!” Trump said. 

The Israel Defense Forces released a video Friday showing the destruction of Hezbollah missile launching infrastructure as part of its campaign to weaken the Iran-backed terrorist group in Lebanon.

“As part of efforts to degrade and undermine the firing capabilities of Hezbollah, the IDF has struck and dismantled more than 200 rocket launchers, including approximately 1,300 launch tubes,” the IDF said. 

“In addition, more than 250 Hezbollah artillery operatives have been struck and eliminated, including 15 commanders responsible for artillery systems in various sectors,” it also said.  

Israel’s military vowed it will “continue operating with determination against the Hezbollah terrorist organization and will not allow harm to the citizens of the State of Israel, particularly residents of the north.” 

Oil traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains effectively halted despite a U.S.-backed ceasefire that hinged on reopening the critical waterway, raising fresh questions about whether Iran is following through on a central condition of the truce.

A backlog of roughly 3,200 vessels — among them 800 tankers and cargo ships — has built up west of the strait, with ships idling as operators wait for clarity on whether it is safe to pass.

No oil tankers have risked the journey in recent days, according to Matt Smith, an analyst at Kpler, a data and intelligence company. 

“We’re not seeing any, any, any oil products passing through there,” Smith said. “So, for all intents and purposes, the strait remains closed. And this is the leverage that Iran has.”

Three vessels passed through the Strait on Thursday, according to Smith, two of them Iranian-flagged and one a dry bulk carrier.

A hacker group that has taken credit for Iranian cyberattacks against the U.S. said it will pause attacks due to the ceasefire with the Trump administration.

The group, Handala, which the FBI believes is a front for Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security, has taken credit for a cyberattack on the Michigan medical tech company Stryker and leaked old emails from FBI Director Kash Patel’s hacked Gmail account.

Handala suggested that top leaders in the Iranian government directed them to stop boasting about hacks targeting the U.S., an instruction that appeared to be in response to the ceasefire.

“According to the orders from the highest leadership of the Resistance Axis, we have currently postponed overt confrontation with the United States, but the world already knows our capability to penetrate and strike at the very core of American infrastructure,” the group said on Telegram.

But Handala said it would keep targeting other enemies, including Israel.

“The cyber war did not begin with the military conflict, and it will not end with any military ceasefire,” the post reads. “Handala, at full force, continues its cyber operations against the infrastructure of the Zionist regime.”

The FBI has dubbed the group’s work as “psychological operations.”

Earlier this week, the FBI and other U.S. agencies said they were “urgently warning” U.S. organizations about “ongoing cyber exploitation of internet-connected operational technology devices.”

President Donald Trump warned Iran on Thursday amid reports that Tehran is charging tankers a toll to gain access to the Strait of Hormuz.

“There are reports that Iran is charging fees to tankers going through the Hormuz Strait — They better not be and, if they are, they better stop now! President DONALD J. TRUMP,” he wrote on Truth Social.

Iran has demanded the right to collect tolls from ships transiting the strait as a condition of the current pause in hostilities. 

The Financial Times reported Wednesday that Tehran plans to require ships passing through the waterway to pay the cryptocurrency equivalent of $1 per barrel of oil on board during the two-week ceasefire.

Meanwhile, Trump has demanded that Iran reopen the strait immediately or brace for renewed military action against its infrastructure.

“Iran is doing a very poor job, dishonorable some would say, of allowing Oil to go through the Strait of Hormuz,” he said in a separate Truth Social post Tuesday evening. “That is not the agreement we have!”