Israel Strikes Hezbollah as Lebanon Impasse Threatens Cease-Fire Israel said it would continue striking the Iran-backed militia. Iran said it would not attend peace talks with the United States in Pakistan if the truce was not extended to Lebanon.

 

Iran War Live Updates: Israel Strikes Hezbollah as Lebanon Impasse Threatens Cease-Fire

Israel said it would continue striking the Iran-backed militia. Iran said it would not attend peace talks with the United States in Pakistan if the truce was not extended to Lebanon.

 

Updated

April 10, 2026, 3:55 a.m. ET29 minutes ago

Francesca Regalado Michael Crowley Anton Troianovski and Pranav Baskar

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/04/10/world/iran-war-trump-israel-lebanon

 

Here’s the latest.

The Israeli military said early Friday that it was striking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, the latest attacks in a campaign that is straining diplomacy three days into a shaky cease-fire between the United States and Iran.

 

The Israeli strikes against the Iran-backed militia have exposed divergences between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Trump, who appears eager to strike a deal with Iran to end the war. The Iranian foreign ministry spokesman, Esmail Baghaei, said delegates from the country would not attend peace talks in Pakistan scheduled to begin on Saturday if the cease-fire was not extended to Lebanon.

 

On Thursday, Mr. Trump said he had asked Mr. Netanyahu to scale back Israel’s operations in Lebanon. The Israeli leader later said his country would start talks with the Lebanese government to disarm Hezbollah. But, hours later, he vowed to continue strikes on the group.

 

“There is no cease-fire in Lebanon,” Mr. Netanyahu said.

 

Israeli airstrikes have killed hundreds of people in Lebanon since the cease-fire took effect, according to the Lebanese authorities. European leaders have urged Israel to stop the attacks, warning that they threaten to derail efforts to end the war. They have also demanded that Lebanon be included in the cease-fire.

 

But any talks between Israel and Lebanon would face enormous hurdles, in part because the Lebanese government has no direct control over Hezbollah, which has resisted disarming. Mr. Netanyahu said on Thursday that Israeli operations will not stop until Hezbollah is disarmed. A senior Hezbollah official dismissed the possibility of talks between Israel and Lebanon, saying that the Lebanese government did not speak for the group.

 

The uncertainty over Lebanon cast a shadow over preparations for U.S.-Iran talks that are scheduled to begin in Islamabad on Saturday. Vice President JD Vance is expected to arrive in the Pakistani capital on Friday to lead the U.S. delegation.

 

A key priority for Mr. Vance will be ensuring the full reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping passage for oil and gas that Iran has in effect blockaded since the war started. While the cease-fire announcement led to a drop in global oil prices, tankers have not restarted journeys through the strait over fears of attacks.

 

Saeed Khatibzadeh, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, said on Thursday that the strait was open to everyone but that ships must coordinate with the Iranian military because of “technical restrictions,” including mines.

 

Mr. Trump expressed displeasure with the situation in the strait in a social media post late Thursday.

 

“Iran is doing a very poor job, dishonorable some would say, of allowing Oil to go through the Strait of Hormuz,” he wrote. “That is not the agreement we have!”

 

Here’s what else we’re covering:

 

Global economic outlook: The International Monetary Fund will downgrade its global growth outlook because of the war, its managing director, Kristalina Georgieva, said on Thursday. Even under the most optimistic outcome, she said, where the temporary truce holds, there will be economic fallout because of “infrastructure damage, supply disruptions, losses of confidence, and other scarring effects.”

 

Death tolls: The Human Rights Activists News Agency said at least 1,701 civilians, including 254 children, had been killed in Iran as of Wednesday. Lebanon’s health ministry on Monday said that more than 1,500 people had been killed in the latest fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. In attacks blamed on Iran, at least 32 people have been killed in Gulf nations. In Israel, at least 20 people had been killed as of Monday. The American death toll stands at 13 service members.