*Iran Opens, Shuts Strait Of Hormuz Over Continued Attacks
*Threatens Withdrawal If Strikes Continue
*Trump, Nethanyahu Insist Lebanon Not Part Of Deal
*Gulf States Report Iranian Attacks Wednesday
*Pakistan Urges Restraint
FOLLOWING the Pakistan-brokered two-week ceasefire deal between it and the United States (US) in the ongoing Middle East war, also involving Israel, Iran reopen the waterway and temporarily allowed two ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, as part of a deal, before shutting it again over Israel’s continued attacks on Lebanon.
According to Marine Traffic on its X handle on Wednesday, April 8: “The Greek-owned bulk carrier, NJ Earth, crossed the Strait at 08:44 UTC, while the Liberia-flagged Daytona Beach transited earlier at 06:59 UTC, shortly after departing Bandar Abbas at 05:28 UTC.”
Iran’s state media reported the first ship had passed through Strait of Hormuz since the ceasefire with Iran’s permission.
By Wednesday afternoon, the US and Israel appeared to be abiding by their promise to pause their air campaign on Iran.
Recall that the US and Iran agreed overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday to a two-week ceasefire, during which passage through the Strait of Hormuz “will be possible via coordination with Iran’s Armed Forces,” Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, said on X.
Reuters said several media outlets in Iran reported that the ceasefire has been breached by the Israeli attacks on Lebanon on Wednesday, with Tasnim news agency, citing an unnamed source, saying Iran will withdraw from the ceasefire agreement if the attack on Lebanon continues, adding that the country’s armed forces were identifying targets to respond to Wednesday’s attacks by Israel against Lebanon.
The medium stated that stopping the war on all fronts, including Lebanon, was part of the two-week ceasefire agreement, even as the country’s Press TV, citing a source, added that Iran will punish Israel for attacks against Hezbollah in “violation of ceasefire.”
The Fars news agency said oil tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz have been stopped after what it called Israel’s “ceasefire breach.”
However, there is a dispute over whether Lebanon is part of the deal, as both the US and Iran appear to have contradicting positions on what this ceasefire entails.
Both countries have held two rounds of talks in the past year, and both times saw military tensions escalate in the middle of negotiations.
Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, insisting overnight that the ceasefire suspending the six-week-old war did not apply to Lebanon, and the Israeli military adding that operations against Hezbollah would continue.
Lebanon is not part of the ceasefire agreement the US has with Iran, Axios reported on Wednesday, citing White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt.
Despite the ceasefire agreement, multiple Gulf countries reported attacks from Iran on Wednesday.
Qatar’s Defence ministry said it was targeted by seven missiles and drones launched from Iran on Wednesday, but that it had intercepted them all.
Kuwait’s Interior Ministry reported “severe material damage” at several vital facilities of the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, as well as the Energy and Water Resources Ministry after an Iranian drone attack.
The ministry said fires broke out in some of the attacked sites, including oil facilities and three power stations and water desalination plants.
Meanwhile, Pakistan, which brokered the deal, has called for restraint from all sides after ceasefire violation reports
In a post on X, its Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, said violations have been reported at a “few places across the conflict zone,” urging all parties to exercise restraint and respect the ceasefire for two weeks.
Iran Navy told several vessels in Gulf that Hormuz still shut, sources said, threatening ships attempting to pass through without Tehran’s permission with destruction.
“Any vessel trying to travel into the sea … will be targeted and destroyed…” the message said.
A senior Iranian official involved in the discussions earlier told Reuters Tehran could open the strait on Thursday or Friday ahead of further peace talks scheduled to hold in Islamabad, on the conditional framework for the ceasefire being agreed, and be “limited,” with ships still requiring Iran’s permission to pass.
The deal suspends a six-week-old war that has killed thousands, spread across the Middle East and caused unprecedented disruption to the world’s energy supplies.
The pause had brought relief to many of the region’s streets and in world financial markets after US President, Donald Trump, announced the agreement late on Tuesday, April 7.
But even as Israel paused its attacks on Iran, it escalated its parallel war in Lebanon, launching what it described as its biggest strikes yet, which Lebanon’s Health minister said had caused hundreds of casualties.
Though the US and Iran both declared victory, their main disputes remained unresolved, each sticking to competing demands for a potential peace deal.
Sharif said he had invited Iranian and U.S. delegations to meet in Islamabad on Friday for what would be the first official peace talks of the war, and that Iran’s president had confirmed Tehran would attend.
But there was no official confirmation from Washington of plans to attend in-person talks. The White House said no meeting would be considered official until formally announced.
Lebanese Prime Minister, Nawaf Salam, said attacks on densely populated residential areas ignored regional and international peace efforts, just as the Israeli military said it had hit over 100 Hezbollah command centres and military sites in Beirut, the eastern Bekaa Valley region and southern Lebanon.
Most of the targets were located in civilian populated areas, the military said, even as witnesses in Beirut and southern Lebanon said they had not received any advance warnings of the strikes, which the military has issued to civilians in the past before carrying out attacks.
Israeli military spokesperson. Lt-Col. Nadav Shoshani, later told reporters it was not always possible to issue warnings when carrying out targeted assassinations.
“There are certain elements and incidents where the element of surprise is necessary and is used. We operate under international law with every single target and do everything we can to avoid harm to civilians,” Shoshani told reporters following the strikes.
Hours before the strike, the military had issued warnings for some areas of southern Beirut and southern Lebanon, but no such warning was given for central Beirut, which was also targeted.
The Israeli military said 50 fighter jets took part in the strikes and that within one minute, 100 command centres and military sites were hit with 160 munitions.
Lebanon was drawn into the conflict when Iranian-backed Hezbollah began to launch rockets at Israel on March 2 in support of Tehran.
Israel has launched strikes on Lebanon and invaded the south in what has become the most violent spillover of the war.
Sharif, who has been mediating negotiations, said early on Wednesday that the ceasefire was effective immediately.
Trump said he had agreed to “suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks” if Tehran agrees to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping route for oil and other exports from the Gulf.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said he agreed to the provisional ceasefire because “we have already met and exceeded all military objectives.”
This comes after he earlier warned the US could take Iran out “in one night” and that a “whole civilisation will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” threats that drew condemnation from the United Nations (UN) Secretary General, António Guterres, and the Catholic Pontiff, Pope Leo XIV.
Later on Wednesday, Trump said the US will be working closely with Iran and “talking tariff and sanctions relief.”
On his Truth Social platform, he added in a separate post that “a country supplying military weapons to Iran will be immediately tariffed, on any and all goods sold to the United States of America, 50%, effective immediately. There will be no exclusions or exemptions.”
Defence Secretary, Pete Hegseth, said the US military would be making sure Iran complies with the ceasefire and comes to the table for a deal, and troops will “stay put, stay ready, stay vigilant” and be “ready to re-start at a moment’s notice.”
The country has also issued a 10-point plan, which includes, among other things, the complete cessation of war in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen; “full commitment” to lifting sanctions on Iran; release of Iranian funds and frozen assets held by the US; and a “full payment of compensation for reconstruction costs” to Iran.
It also says “Iran fully commits to not seeking possession of any nuclear weapons.”
Tehran’s Supreme National Security Council, said in a statement: “Iran’s victory in the field would also be consolidated in political negotiations.”
According to Sharif, the ceasefire will also take effect in Lebanon, where Israel has been fighting the Iranian-backed armed group Hezbollah.
Israel has backed the deal, but says it “does not include Lebanon,” renewing strikes on Wednesday in the Tyre and Nabatieh areas in the south of the country.
A few hours after the ceasefire was confirmed, Netanyahu said: “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 statement added that the “ceasefire does not include Lebanon,” where Israel has ground troops.
It is unclear how involved Netanyahu was in Trump’s decision-making.
