Strait of Hormuz 'open' following start of Lebanon ceasefire

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US President Donald Trump denied Friday that any money would be involved in a deal with Iran over its nuclear program, after an Axios report that Washington was considering a $20 billion cash-for-uranium exchange.

"The U.S.A. will get all Nuclear 'Dust,' created by our great B2 Bombers - No money will exchange hands in any way, shape, or form," Trump said on his Truth Social network.

Israel has not yet finished dealing with Hezbollah, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday, vowing to press on with the Lebanese militant group's "dismantling" just hours after a 10-day ceasefire came into effect.

"Today's Hezbollah is a shadow of its former self compared to the heyday of (Hassan) Nasrallah," he said of the group's leader who was killed by Israel in 2024.

"But we haven't yet finished the job. There are things we plan to do to address the remaining rocket threat and the drone threat," said Netanyahu.

Israel's other objective, the "dismantling of Hezbollah" wouldn't be "achieved overnight," he said, warning it would require "a sustained effort, patience and perseverance, along with skilful diplomatic manoeuvring."

Netanyahu said Israel's operation had "removed" two threats from Lebanon.

"A near threat involving the infiltration of thousands of terrorists and anti-tank fire onto our communities and a distant threat... of 150,000 missiles and rockets to destroy Israel's cities," he said.

The threat posed by mines in parts of the Strait of Hormuz is not fully understood and avoidance of the area by ships should be considered, a US navy advisory said on Friday.

"Status of TSS mine threat is not fully understood. Consider avoidance of that area," said the advisory sent by the US navy’s US NCAGS agency to mariners and seen by Reuters.

The TSS refers to the so-called Traffic Separation Scheme, which was adopted by the ​UN's shipping agency in ⁠1968 with agreement of countries in the region, and created a ship routing system that split sailing corridors through Iranian and Omani waters in the strait.

It was not immediately clear whether the advisory was sent before or after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said the Strait of Hormuz was open following the agreement of a ceasefire in Lebanon.

France and the UK will lead a multinational mission to ensure freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz as "soon as conditions allow", UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Friday after co-chairing a meeting on the issue with French President Emmanuel Macron.

"This will be strictly peaceful and defensive as a mission to reassure commercial shipping and support mine clearance," said Starmer, adding that "over a dozen countries have already offered to contribute assets".

An Israeli drone strike has killed oner person in south Lebanon, according to Al Jazeera citing Lebanon's Civil Defence, which said that a drone targeted a motorcycle in Beit Yahoun.

Oil prices plunged Friday after Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the vital Strait of Hormuz was "completely open" for commercial tankers and cargo ships during the US-Iran ceasefire.

International benchmark Brent North Sea crude plunged 10 percent to $89.11 a barrel, after earlier falling five percent on US-Iran peace deal hopes.

The main US contract, West Texas Intermediate, shed 11 percent to $84.11 a barrel.

Over 38,000 women and girls were killed in Israel's war on Gaza by the end of 2025, the UN estimated Friday, amounting to over half of the 71,000 deaths recorded by the territory's health ministry.

"Between October 2023 and December 2025, more than 38,000 women and girls were killed in Gaza - the result of Israeli air bombardment and land military operations. This includes over 22,000 women and 16,000 girls, amounting to an average of at least 47 women and girls killed every day," the UN Women agency's spokeswoman Sofia Calltorp told a press briefing in Geneva.

US President Donald Trump said on Friday that the United States has banned Israel from further bombing in Lebanon, using an atypically harsher tone than usual with the longtime US ally Israel.

"Israel will not be bombing Lebanon any longer. They are PROHIBITED from doing so by the U.S.A. Enough is enough!!!" Trump said in a social media post.

Trump also said any deal the United States reaches with Iran "is in no way subject to Lebanon" but the US will "deal with" the militant Hezbollah situation in an appropriate manner.

The US president also said the US will get nuclear material from Iran. "No money will exchange hands in any way, shape, or form."

A US military blockade of Iran involving more than 10,000 personnel remains in effect, a US official told Reuters on Friday, shortly after Iran announced its decision to not interfere with commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity.

Three Iranian oil tankers carrying a total of five million barrels of crude have become the first such loaded vessels to leave the Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz since a US blockade came into force, the tracking firm Kpler told AFP on Friday.

The Deep Sea, Sonia I and Diona, all under US sanctions, passed the strategic strait on Wednesday after leaving Iran's Kharg Island, having loaded on 2, 8 and 9 April respectively, according to the maritime data company.

Washington has imposed a blockade on Iranian ports since Monday, intended to prevent Tehran from exporting its oil.

No Iranian tanker had left the Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz with a cargo of crude oil since the Starla on 10 April.

Maritime data tracking sites do not provide recent AIS transponder data on the three tankers, as their devices are switched off.

Iranian FM Seyed Abbas Araghchi has said that all ships can now pass through the Strait of Hormuz following a ceasefire in Lebanon.

On his X account, Araghchi said: "In line with the ceasefire in Lebanon, the passage of commercial vessels thorugh Strait of Hormuz is declared completely open for the remaining period of ceasefire, on the coordinated route as already announced by Ports and Maritime Organisation of the Islamic Rep. of Iran."

Israel's defence minister said on Friday that the campaign against the militant group Hezbollah was not yet complete, just hours after a 10-day ceasefire came into force in Lebanon.

He also warned that if the fighting resumed, displaced residents returning to the country's war-torn south would have to evacuate again.

"The ground manoeuver into Lebanon and the strikes on Hezbollah have achieved many gains, but they are still not complete," Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a broadcast statement.

There remained areas of the south that had not yet been cleared of Hezbollah militants, which would have to happen one way or another, he added.

"The area between the security zone and the Litani (River) line, which is currently under our control, has not yet been cleared of terrorists and weapons," Katz warned.

"This will have to be carried out either through diplomatic means or by continued IDF activity once the ceasefire ends

Sri Lanka has sent home 238 Iranian sailors, including 32 who survived a US torpedo attack that sank their ship in the Indian Ocean, officials said Friday.

Defense Ministry spokesman Brig. Franklin Joseph said Friday that everyone except for a few crew members from the second ship had been repatriated earlier this week.

The Iranian ship has been anchored in the eastern port of Trincomalee port and no decision has been taken on what should be done with it.

"I think it (Sri Lanka) has proven its policy posture not only in words but also in deeds," said H.M.G.S. Palihakkara, a retired former foreign secretary who also served as Sri Lanka's permanent representative to the United Nations.

He said the island nation ensured that it was not seen to be taking sides but acted on the basis of legality, humanity and international law. "All parties to the conflict have acknowledged that. It has enhanced Sri Lanka's government’s credibility," he said.

Israeli strikes on Tyre in southern Lebanon killed at least 13 people just before the 10-day ceasefire with Israel took effect at midnight, a city official said on Friday.

The official, who asked not to be identified, said another 35 people were injured, and emergency workers were still searching the rubble for another "15 missing".

The strikes targeted six residential buildings which were destroyed, and came just minutes before midnight (2100 GMT Thursday), an AFP correspondent said.

France and Britain will chair a meeting on Friday of around 40 countries aimed at signalling to the United States that some of its closest allies are ready to play a role in restoring freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz once conditions allow.

According to a note sent to invited nations, the aim of the meeting is to reaffirm full diplomatic support for unfettered freedom of navigation through the strait - through which around a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas usually passes - and the need to respect international law.

The meeting will also address economic challenges facing the shipping industry and the safety of more than 20,000 stranded seafarers and trapped commercial vessels.

It will also outline preparations for the deployment - when conditions are met - of a strictly defensive multinational military mission to ensure freedom of navigation.

A chair's statement is expected at the end of the meeting to give a more tangible sense of what such a mission could entail, although it is not expected to spell out what specific countries might contribute.

Foreign ministers of Turkey, Pakistan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia will meet on the margins of a diplomacy forum in the southern Turkish province of Antalya on Friday to discuss regional issues including the Iran war, a Turkish diplomatic source said.

"The meeting is expected to include discussions on developing regional solutions to regional issues, particularly the US-Israel-Iran war, within the framework of a regional ownership approach," the source said.

Ministers from the four countries held two meetings in March as part of efforts to broker an end to the Iran war. Turkey, a neighbour of Iran, has been in close touch with the US, Iran, and mediator Pakistan.

A South Korean oil tanker has transited the Red Sea for the first time since the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, Seoul's oceans ministry said on Friday.

Import-dependent South Korea has taken steps to mitigate the risks to its energy supplies since US-Israeli attacks on Iran in late February prompted Tehran to shut off access to the strait, now under a US blockade.

Seoul has sought new sources of oil and said this month that it would send five Korean-flagged ships to the Saudi Arabian Red Sea port of Yanbu to establish alternative routes.

The ministry announced on Friday the "first case of crude oil being transported into the country via the Red Sea, a detour, since the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz".

President Lee Jae Myung called it "a valuable achievement made by the relevant ministries moving as one team".

"I would like to express my gratitude to everyone who worked hard day and night despite difficult conditions, especially the sailors," he said on X.

The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said Friday that it was keeping its "finger on the trigger" in case of any Israeli violations of a ceasefire that went into effect overnight.

In a statement, the Iran-backed movement said it had carried out "2,184 military operations" against Israel and its troops inside Lebanon, adding: "The fighters will keep their finger on the trigger because they are wary of the enemy's treachery."

Fatih Birol, head of the International Energy Agency, has warned the Neue Zuercher Zeitung newspaper in Switzerland that it could take some two years for the Middle East to recover its lost energy output as a result of the US-Israeli war on Iran.

"In Iraq, for example, it will take much longer than Saudi Arabia," he said, cautioning that the IEA estimates "approximately two years overall" for production to reach pre-war levels.

A Palestinian was killed, and two others were wounded in a drone strike on a water desalination plant in Gaza City's Shujayeh neighbourhood, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday said he was concerned that a ceasefire between militant group Hezbollah and Israel "may already be undermined by ongoing military operations."

"I call for the safety of civilians on both sides of the border between Lebanon and Israel," he said on X. "Hezbollah must lay down its arms. Israel must respect Lebanese sovereignty and end the war," he added.