US military to stay deployed in Middle East to secure major peace deal, Trump says Live Updates from Fox News Digital

The State Department will host talks next week in Washington between Israel and Lebanon to end hostilities between the two neighboring countries.

The talks will be led on the U.S. side by Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa, and on the Israeli side by Israel’s Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter, a person familiar with the planning told The Associated Press.

While it was initially unclear who would represent Lebanon, reports suggest the delegation will be headed by Ambassador to Washington Nada Hamadeh Moawad.

Israeli forces and Hezbollah, a terror group based in Lebanon, have been trading strikes since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel.

Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a ceasefire with Ukraine on Thursday for the Orthodox Easter weekend.

In a statement released by the Kremlin, the decree ordered Russian forces to observe a ceasefire starting at 4 p.m. Saturday through the end of Sunday.

The General Staff has “been instructed to cease combat operations in all directions for this period,” the Kremlin said. “We assume that the Ukrainian side will follow the example of the Russian Federation.”

Meanwhile, Russia has been accused of providing critical intelligence to Iran, enabling it to target US and Israeli positions.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told his Iranian counterpart that upcoming talks in Pakistan between Iran and the United States should be used to achieve peace.

Erdogan spoke with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian during a phone call on Thursday to discuss the ongoing ceasefire, his office said.

“Stressing that the negotiations set to start in the days ahead should be put to the best possible use for lasting peace and stability, President Erdogan said that those seeking to undermine the process should be prevented, and that Türkiye, together with friendly countries, stands ready to provide every kind of contribution in the new period as well,” the Turkish leader’s office stated in a post on X.

Erdogan also reiterated his condolences for the loss of Iranian lives during the conflict.

NATO’s chief signaled Thursday that European allies may move to help secure the Strait of Hormuz following talks with President Donald Trump — even as the White House declared the alliance had already “failed” and was not being asked to assist.

Secretary-General Mark Rutte, speaking at The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute in Washington a day after meeting Trump at the White House, pointed to a potential coalition effort among allied nations to keep the critical waterway open.

“If NATO can help, obviously, then there is no reason not to be helpful,” Rutte said.

But a White House official pushed back sharply on the notion that the alliance would play any role.

“As President Trump said yesterday, NATO was tested, and they failed,” the official said. “He has zero expectations for NATO at this point and did not ask them for anything, even though it’s a fact that they benefit from the Strait of Hormuz far more than the United States.”

The split messaging underscores a growing rift between Washington and its European allies over how — or whether — NATO should be involved in the escalating Iran conflict.

This is an excerpt from an article by Morgan Phillips.

President Donald Trump said he told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to scale back Israel’s strikes against Lebanon in an effort to preserve the fragile ceasefire with Iran.

Trump spoke with Netanyahu via phone, NBC News reported.

“I spoke with Bibi and he’s going to low-key it. I just think we have to be sort of a little more low-key,” he said.

The United Nations’ shipping agency warned Thursday that imposing a toll on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz would “set a dangerous precedent.” 

The remark comes after President Donald Trump suggested Wednesday that there may be a U.S.-Iranian toll system coming for ships that travel through the key waterway. Trump told ABC News, “We’re thinking of doing it as a joint venture,” and, “It’s a way of securing it — also securing it from lots of other people.”

“There is no international agreement where tolls can be introduced for transiting international straits. Any such toll will set a dangerous precedent,” a ‌spokesperson ⁠for the U.N.’s International Maritime Organization told Reuters on Thursday. 

The Strait of Hormuz, which lies between Iran, Oman and the United Arab Emirates, is one of the world’s most critical energy choke points, carrying roughly 20 million barrels of oil a day along with about one-fifth of global liquefied natural gas.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis also warned on Wednesday that a reported Iranian plan to charge ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz would be “completely unacceptable.” 

“I don’t think that the international community would be ready to accept Iran setting up a toll booth for every ship that crosses the strait,” Mitsotakis, representing the world’s leading shipping power, told CNN. 

“This agreement cannot, I repeat, cannot include a sort of a fee that ships will have to pay every time they cross the strait,” he continued. “This was not the case before the war started, and it cannot be the case after the war finishes.” 

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News’ Greg Norman.

Two oil tankers crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday after Iran agreed to a ceasefire with the United States.

Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin reported that the U.S.-Iran ceasefire remains fragile, with Iran demanding tolls and President Donald Trump issuing heavy warnings.

Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman said Wednesday that President Donald Trump’s recent military actions in Iran have “made the world safer,” offering a stark contrast to criticism from other Democratic lawmakers.

“Usually, the Iranians only respond [to] power . . .” Fetterman told “Hannity.”

“Now it might force them to continue more kinds of military strikes, but remind everyone, their nuclear ambitions have been severely damaged at this point. The Israelis have killed many, many of the scientists and [destroyed] a lot of those [nuclear] facilities as well, too.”

Fetterman argued that while there are still concerns about remaining enriched uranium, actions taken against Iran have significantly weakened the regime’s capabilities and improved global security.

“Every single thing Iran has done is an entire war crime. Now, we are the force of good in the world,” he said.

Fetterman also pushed back on Democrats’ calls for a new war powers vote, arguing it would undermine the ongoing mission.

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News’ Taylor Penley.

House Republicans shot down an attempt by Democratic lawmakers Thursday to curb President Donald Trump’s war powers amid a two-week ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran. 

A group of House Democrats, led by Rep. Glenn Ivey, D-Md., sought to pass a war powers resolution by unanimous consent during a pro forma session Thursday morning. Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., who presided during the pro forma, gaveled out of session before recognizing the Maryland Democrat on the floor.

The war powers measure, supported by House Democratic leadership, would have ended the Iran conflict and blocked Trump from taking further military action absent congressional approval.

“Congress needs to consider this. The time has come. The time has come,” Ivey said after Smith adjourned the session.

The floor battle comes as House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., has demanded that House GOP leadership immediately reconvene the chamber and vote to check Trump’s war powers in Iran.

The House is currently in a two-week recess and is not expected to formally reconvene until the week of April 13.

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News’ Adam Pack.

Israel has begun direct negotiations with Lebanon concerning the disarmament of Hezbollah, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Thursday.

Netanyahu released a statement saying he instructed his cabinet to begin the talks on Wednesday. Israel has continued with strikes against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon despite a U.S. ceasefire with Iran.

“In light of Lebanon’s repeated requests to open direct negotiations with Israel, I instructed the Cabinet yesterday to begin direct negotiations with Lebanon as soon as possible,” Netanyahu said.

“The negotiations will focus on the disarmament of Hezbollah and the regulation of peaceful relations between Israel and Lebanon,” he continued.

“Israel appreciates the call made today by the Prime Minister of Lebanon to demilitarize Beirut,” he added.

Fox News’ Trey Yingst reported that rockets flew over the boarder into Israel from Lebanon just minutes after Netanyahu’s announcement.

“The direct negotiations will create a shared goal for Israel and the Lebanese government to disarm Iran’s largest proxy in the region,” Yingst wrote in a post on X.

Fox News’ Yael Rotem-Kuriel contributed to this report.

NATO General Secretary Mark Rutte criticized European countries for being “a bit slow” in supporting the U.S. in the war against Iran Thursday.

Rutte made the statement during an address to the Ronald Reagan Institute, admitting that European nations had also been “surprised” by Operation Epic Fury.

“When it came time to provide logistical and other support the United States needed in Iran, some allies were a bit slow, to say the least,” Rutte said.

“In fairness, they were also a bit surprised,” he added, referencing President Donald Trump’s decision to not inform allies of the attacks ahead of time in order to maintain security.

Rutte went on to say that at this stage of the conflict, America’s European allies are doing all they can to help “nearly without exception.”

“They have heard and are responding to President Trump’s requests,” he said.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., continued calling for President Donald Trump’s ouster on Tuesday even after the president announced a two-week ceasefire with Iran.

“This statement changes nothing,” she asserted in a post on X, referring to the president’s Tuesday evening ceasefire announcement. “Whether by his Cabinet or Congress, the President must be removed from office.”

Prior to the ceasefire announcement, Trump, who had been threatening to unleash a devastating attack against Iranian power plants and bridges, sent the following warning in a Tuesday morning Truth Social post: “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will. However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS?”

Ocasio-Cortez, a member of the progressive cadre of lawmakers known as “The Squad,” responded by declaring in a post on X, “This is a threat of genocide and merits removal from office. The President’s mental faculties are collapsing and cannot be trusted. To every individual in the President’s chain of command: You have a duty to refuse illegal orders. That includes carrying out this threat.”

But then on Tuesday night, Trump announced a two-week ceasefire.

Fox News’ Alex Nitzberg contributed to this report.

The lack of a two-week pause in the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah appears to be a dealbreaker for Iran’s regime as the ceasefire takes effect.

While the Trump administration maintains the deal does not include the Tehran-backed terrorist movement Hezbollah, Iran is threatening to use that exclusion as a pressure point against the U.S., potentially collapsing the entire ceasefire.

On Wednesday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi wrote on X that “The Iran–U.S. Ceasefire terms are clear and explicit: the U.S. must choose—ceasefire or continued war via Israel. It cannot have both. The world sees the massacres in Lebanon. The ball is in the U.S. court, and the world is watching whether it will act on its commitments.”

His comments were later echoed by Iran’s parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, citing Israeli attacks in Lebanon. Earlier in the day, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz ​Sharif, a key intermediary in ceasefire talks between the U.S. and Iran over Operation Epic Fury, said the ​two-week ceasefire would include Lebanon.

Hezbollah reneged on a U.S. negotiated November 2024 ceasefire by entering the war against Israel on March 2025 to aid Iran. Many experts say long-term regional security depends on Lebanon’s government and army disarming the terror group.

Edy Cohen, an Israeli security expert on Hezbollah, who was born in Lebanon, told Fox News Digital that “Hezbollah will never disarm itself. From its perspective, it protects two million Shiites. The only way to defeat Hezbollah is to first define it as a terrorist organization. Not to allow its political wing to exist and also to order the Lebanese army to gather in the areas under its control area by area.”

He added that “Dismantling Hezbollah must be carried out in stages. The Lebanese government must first take possession of the heavy weapons. Not to allow it to concentrate except in Dahiya [a Beirut suburb that is a Hezbollah and Shiite stronghold]. Leave it in one place and control all the roads leading to it. Little by little, it can be dismantled. Israel cannot and should not disarm Hezbollah. It can only assist with bombing from above.”

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News’ Benjamin Weinthal.

Photos obtained by Fox News Digital offer a rare glimpse into the high-end lifestyle of the niece and grandniece of the late Iranian terror mastermind Qasem Soleimani.

Hamideh Soleimani Afshar, 47, identified as Soleimani’s niece, and her daughter, Sarinasadat Hosseiny, 25, were taken into custody last week by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), after the State Department revoked their green cards, according to an announcement over the weekend from the State Department. 

Afshar, according to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, has been an outspoken supporter of the Iranian regime, celebrated attacks on Americans and referred to the United States as the “Great Satan.” Afshar and Hosseiny are just a few relatives of Iranian regime clerics and IRGC commanders embedding themselves in the Western societies their relatives regularly denounce and fight against.

“These women are posting in bikinis, on yachts, they are wearing v-neck dresses down to their bellybuttons, they are wannabee Instagram influencers. All on the blood money – money that was embezzled, stolen from the Iranian people. And there’s thousands of them, not just two, there’s thousands in the U.S. and in Canada and in London,” Sheila Nazarian, who fled Iran as a child, told Fox News’ Dana Perino. 

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News’ Alec Schemmel.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., urged U.S. service members to “refuse illegal orders” Tuesday after President Donald Trump threatened to wipe out Iran’s “civilization.”

“The President’s mental faculties are collapsing and cannot be trusted,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote in response to Trump’s Truth Social post. “To every individual in the President’s chain of command: You have a duty to refuse illegal orders. That includes carrying out this threat.”

Trump appeared to issue a warning about bombing some of Iran’s civilian infrastructure in an effort to persuade the country to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, among other demands. The president set a deadline of 8 p.m. Eastern time.

Ocasio-Cortez’s denunciation comes as a growing number of Democratic lawmakers on the party’s leftward flank have called for Trump to be impeached, though that effort will likely face an uphill battle in the Republican-controlled House. Some Democrats have also urged the cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment in an attempt to remove Trump from power — a highly unrealistic outcome.

Ocasio-Cortez, a leading progressive lawmaker, joined Democrats Tuesday in supporting Trump’s removal from power.

House Democratic leadership notably stopped short of calling for Trump’s ouster in a statement issued Tuesday.

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News’ Adam Pack.

CENTCOM commander Adm. Brad Cooper delivered an update on Operation Epic Fury on Thursday roughly six weeks after the campaign began.

“We set out to dismantle the Iranian regime’s ability to project power beyond its own boarders, and we’ve clearly accomplished this task,” Cooper said.

“Iran has suffered a generational military defeat. The United States and Israel systematically destroyed Iran’s ability to conduct large scale military operations for years to come,” he added.

Cooper noted that U.S. forces have paused operations amid the ongoing ceasefire, but he said CENTCOM will remain present, vigilant and “ready if called.”

The International Criminal Court’s Chief Prosecutor, who brought charges against Israel’s prime minister and former defense minister on war crimes and crimes against humanity, is facing disciplinary proceedings against him over allegations of sexual misconduct.

After more than a year-long process of investigating the claims that Karim Khan engaged in sexual misconduct with a subordinate staffer, the Bureau of the Assembly of States Parties (ASP) has voted in favor of pursuing disciplinary proceedings against Khan, Reuters reported.

According to The New York Times, the alleged victim revealed the sexual contact with Khan to her husband and several colleagues in April 2024. After colleagues confronted Khan in May, the judges’ report cites a witness who noted that Khan “jumped at the ‘lifeline’ of an alternative narrative when another colleague present said he ‘suspected whether Mossad played a role behind the scenes.’”

Just weeks later, Khan filed arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. The Trump administration sanctioned Khan in February 2025 as a response to the war crimes warrants against the Israeli officials.

Eugene Kontorovich, a professor at George Mason University, told Fox News Digital that the fact that Khan “specifically blamed the Mossad for his problems shows he is fundamentally compromised and the investigation that he launched… in any normal legal system would be dismissed with extreme prejudice.”

He said it was a sign of “how broken” the ICC is “that such a politicized investigation would be allowed to proceed.”

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News’ Beth Bailey.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian says planned talks between the U.S. and Iran on Saturday will be “meaningless” if Israel continues its attacks on Lebanon Thursday.

Pezeshkian issued the warning in a statement on X, saying Israel’s strikes are a “flagrant violation” of the truce agreed to earlier this week.

“The repeated aggression by the Zionist entity against Lebanon is a flagrant violation of the initial ceasefire agreement and a dangerous indicator of deceit and lack of commitment to potential accords,” Pezeshkian wrote.

“The continuation of these aggressions will render negotiations meaningless; our hands will remain on the trigger, and Iran will never abandon its Lebanese brothers and sisters,” he added.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that President Donald Trump’s threat to destroy Iranian civilization was not a bluff during Wednesday’s press briefing.

A two-week ceasefire agreement was reached between the Iranian government and the United States and its allies on Tuesday, just before the 8 p.m. deadline Trump previously set in a Truth Social post.

“It was a very, very strong threat from the president of the United States that led to the Iranian regime to cave to their knees and ask for a ceasefire and agree to re-opening the Strait of Hormuz,” Leavitt said. “So it was a very strong threat that led to results. As the Secretary of War stated at the Pentagon this morning, it was not an empty threat by any means.”

Leavitt said that the Department of War had a targeted list ready to go if Iran did not meet Trump’s deadline to open the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump first threatened Iran on Easter Sunday in a Truth Social post. He claimed that the Iranians would be “living in Hell,” if the Strait of Hormuz was not opened.

On Tuesday, Trump posted that “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.”

“I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will,” Trump wrote.

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News’ Elain Mallon.

The chief of Iran’s nuclear agency says that protecting Tehran’s right to enrich uranium is a “necessary” part of any peace agreement with the U.S.

Mohammad Eslami, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, made the statement while speaking to reporters in Tehran on Thursday.

“It is a part of the necessary (things) that nobody speaks about,” Eslami said, referring to the US demands that enrichment end.

President Donald Trump has said that removing enriched uranium from Iran and preventing the country from enriching in the future is a top demand from the U.S. for any lasting peace agreement.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The son of a former top-level Iranian official, who acted as the spokesperson for hostage takers occupying Tehran’s U.S. Embassy in 1979, is yet another relative of Iran’s hard-lined Islamist regime caught living a comfortable and affluent Western lifestyle in Los Angeles. 

Petitioners have been calling for Eissa Hashemi, 43, to be investigated and deported, arguing it is unfair for the relatives of these Iranian leaders to enjoy the freedom and privileges afforded to people in the West, and more particularly in the United States, while their government in Iran continues to oppress and restrict its people from exercising rights seen as basic within America.

In addition to Hashemi, the niece and grandniece of the late Iranian terror mastermind Qasem Soleimani, have also been living comfortably in Los Angeles until recently, when they were taken into custody by federal immigration officials and had their green cards taken away by the State Department. Sheila Nazarian, who fled Iran as a child, slammed the late-terror leader’s relatives for posting photos on social media of themselves in bikinis, on yachts, next to helicopters, and wearing other clothing that otherwise could get them killed in Iran.

Fox News Digital obtained photos of Hashemi at what the New York Post described as a “fancy” gym in Los Angeles, during which he reportedly brushed off a reporter’s questions. Hashemi is the son of Masoumeh Ebtekar, dubbed by the American media as “Screaming Mary” amid her role acting as the spokesperson for the hostage takers who captured more than 50 American hostages at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979 where they were held captive for over a year.

Ebtekar also served in a formal role as Vice President of Women and Family Affairs in Iran between 2017 and 2021. PBS’s Frontline dubbed her “one of the highest-ranking women in the Muslim world” during an interview with the Muslim leader in 2002. 

Meanwhile, Ebtekar’s son appears to be living in the Los Angeles area while holding down a job as an adjunct psychology professor at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology. 

According to the U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe, his now-deleted LinkedIn page previously indicated in 2015 that he was a doctoral student at the Los Angeles branch of the Chicago School of Professional Psychology. 

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News’ Alec Schimmel.

The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) announced the personal secretary and nephew of a Hezbollah chief was killed in a strike on terror infrastructure sites in Beirut on Wednesday.

Ali Yusuf Harshi, the personal secretary and nephew of Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem, was killed in the strike, according to the IDF. He was described as having played a “central role in managing and securing” his uncle’s office.

The IDF reported that it struck various sites belonging to Hezbollah in Lebanon, including two key crossings north to south of the Litani River used for transferring weapons, rockets and launchers, and approximately 10 weapons storage facilities, launchers and command centers.

Fox News’ Elizabeth Pritchett contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump said late Wednesday that U.S. forces would remain near Iran until a lasting peace agreement is finalized.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the U.S. military would be on standby until a “REAL AGREEMENT” with Iran is secured.

“All U.S. Ships, Aircraft, and Military Personnel, with additional Ammunition, Weaponry, and anything else that is appropriate and necessary for the lethal prosecution and destruction of an already substantially degraded Enemy, will remain in place in, and around, Iran, until such time as the REAL AGREEMENT reached is fully complied with,” Trump wrote.

“If for any reason it is not, which is highly unlikely, then the ‘Shootin’ Starts,’ bigger, and better, and stronger than anyone has ever seen before,” he added.

The post comes after Trump announced a two-week ceasefire with Iran on Tuesday.

Trump said any peace deal must include an Iran without nuclear weapons and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

“It was agreed, a long time ago, and despite all of the fake rhetoric to the contrary – NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS and, the Strait of Hormuz WILL BE OPEN & SAFE,” Trump wrote.

“In the meantime our great Military is Loading Up and Resting, looking forward, actually, to its next Conquest. AMERICA IS BACK!”

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News’ Michael Sinkewicz.