The Latest: Kuwait blames Iran for drone strikes as Trump casts doubt on ceasefire
U.S. President Donald Trump appeared to cast doubt on the effectiveness of the two-week ceasefire over Iran's continued chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, while Kuwait accused Iran and its proxies of launching drone attacks despite the ceasefire.
Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard denied launching attacks Thursday night on Persian Gulf states.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered a potential boost to ceasefire efforts in the region when he said he had approved direct talks with Lebanon. The Lebanese government has not responded as of Friday morning.
The announcement came after Israel’s pounding of Beirut Wednesday killed more than 300 people. The negotiations are expected next week in Washington, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Questions remained over what will happen to Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium at the heart of tensions, how and when normal traffic will resume through the Strait of Hormuz, and what happens to Iran’s ability to launch future missile attacks and support armed proxies in the region.
Talks between the United States and Iran on a resolution to the conflict are expected to start Saturday in Islamabad, with the White House saying Vice President JD Vance would lead the U.S. delegation.
Here is the latest:
In the Ain al-Mraisseh neighborhood along Beirut’s coastal corniche, where an Israeli strike on Wednesday wiped out the bottom floors of a multi-story building, causing a partial collapse, stunned residents tried to salvage whatever furniture and personal mementos they could find in the rubble.
Although now homeless, some men at the scene expressed gratitude that they lost only their apartments, not their loved ones. The strikes killed more than 300 people and wounded over 1,800, authorities said.
“There is no substitute for family,” said Wissam Tabila, 35. “Everything else can be replaced. The house and other things can be replaced, but parents, children, or a wife, this is the most important.”
The World Health Organization said Israel forces had previously issued an evacuation order for Beirut’s Jnah area, which includes the Rafik Hariri — the main public hospital in the city — and Al Zahraa Hospital.
WHO’s top representative in Lebanon said Friday that Israel provided “assurance” after late night talks with U.N. officials that Israeli forces would not attack the hospitals as they continue military action against Hezbollah.
Dr. Abdinasir Abubakar, speaking to reporters in Geneva, said U.N. officials “got some assurance back saying that these two hospitals will not be attacked.”
Separately, Abubakar said Israeli forces warned that “ambulances will be attacked.” An Israeli army spokesman wrote on X that Hezbollah is “deliberately using ambulances for terror purposes.” Abubakar said WHO was not able to independently confirm those claims.
A top medical official in Iran has put the death toll in the war with Israel and the United States at over 3,000 people.
The state-run IRAN daily newspaper quoted Abbas Masjedi, head of the Legal Medicine Organization, as saying “more than 3,000 people were killed in enemy attacks.” Masjedi did not elaborate on the breakdown in civilian versus military casualties. Iran’s government has not provided any definitive death toll from the weekslong war.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung shared on his X account what appeared to be a 2024 video showing Israeli soldiers throwing a body from a rooftop in the occupied West Bank, and wrote: “humanitarian law must be observed under any circumstances.”
Lee in his posts Friday did not make a direct comment on the ongoing conflict in the Middle East or Israel’s current war operations, but said “lessons marked on the painful wounds of the past must not be repeated as recurring tragedies.”
Lee said the video, which he reposted from another account, was from a “shocking” incident in September 2024 that was also investigated by Israeli authorities. Lee’s office did not immediately provide an explanation why he posted those messages. Lee’s government earlier on Friday said it was sending senior diplomat Chung Byung-ha as a special envoy to Iran to discuss the safety of its citizens and Iran’s chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz.
Singapore’s Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said the island state will not restrict fuel exports from its refineries due to Iran war disruptions. Singapore was Australia’s largest supplier of refined petroleum products.
“We do not plan to restrict exports. We didn’t have to do so even in the darkest days of COVID and we will not do so during this energy crisis,” Wong said at a news conference with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese. “It’s hypothetical. It won’t happen,” Wong added.
Albanese said Wong had given the same assurance in their bilateral meeting. “The prime minister’s just as confident in private as he is in public,” Albanese said.
Ukrainian military personnel shot down Iranian-designed Shahed drones in multiple Middle Eastern countries during the Iran war, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, describing the operations as part of a broader effort to help partners counter the same weapons used by Russia in Ukraine.
Zelenskyy made his first public acknowledgment of the operations Wednesday in remarks to reporters that were embargoed until Friday.
Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces took part in active operations abroad using domestically produced, battle-tested interceptor drones.
Asian stocks were mostly up Friday while oil prices also rose on the fragile Iran war ceasefire and ahead of Iran-U.S. negotiations in Pakistan over the weekend.
South Korea’s Kospi was up 1.5% to 5,862.58. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 climbed 1.9% to 56,952.60.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.8% to 25,954.15, while the Shanghai Composite index was also 0.8% higher at 3,996.34.
Brent crude, the international standard, was 1% higher at $96.92 per barrel. Benchmark U.S. crude was up 0.8% to $98.62 a barrel.
For oil prices, “$65-70 a barrel is not coming back,” Ajay Rajadhyaksha of Barclays wrote in a recent research note, referring to the pre-Iran war oil price levels. The bank predicts that Brent crude could remain at around $85 per barrel on average for this year.
“A ceasefire is not a refund,” he wrote. “Ceasefires end wars; they don’t undo them.”
Pakistan’s capital fell unusually quiet Friday as authorities locked down Islamabad ahead of high-stakes talks between the United States and Iran aimed at securing a lasting ceasefire after weeks of war.
Roads lay nearly empty, checkpoints were set up at major arteries, and a two-day public holiday kept residents indoors.
Behind the calm, diplomatic activity intensified.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance is set to leave for Pakistan Friday, while an Iranian delegation was also expected there.
Security was tightened, with additional troops and police deployed across Islamabad.
Talks are set to begin Saturday, drawing global attention and placing Islamabad at the center of efforts to bring an end to the war.
Multiple times overnight into Friday morning, people around Iran’s capital, Tehran, and other parts of the country said they heard what sounded like air defense fire and explosions.
However, Iran’s government did not acknowledge any attack during that period.
After past exchanges of fire with Israel, similar incidents happened as troops remained on edge.
Japan said it will release an additional 20 days’ worth of oil reserves in May, in a second round address supply uncertainty over the war in the Middle East.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said the planned release of the government reserves will start in early May, after an earlier release last month.
Japan started releasing about 50 days’ worth of oil reserves in March, including from those held by the state, the private sector and oil-producing Gulf nations.
As of April 6, Japan had 230 days’ worth oil reserves, including 143 days’ worth in government stockpiles, according to the Natural Resources and Energy Agency.
Takaichi said her government is working to secure oil imports via routes that do not include the Strait of Hormuz, while Japan seeks to diversify suppliers.
Pakistan said Friday it would issue visas on arrival for those traveling to Islamabad for the Iran-U.S. talks, signaling the interest in the world’s media in the event.
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