President Donald Trump announced "major combat operations" against Iran on Feb. 28, with massive joint U.S.-Israeli strikes targeting military, government and infrastructure sites.
Following the announcement of a two-week ceasefire, initial U.S.-Iran talks in Pakistan in April failed to reach a peace deal.
Trump later announced the open-ended extension of the ceasefire and the continuation of a U.S. blockade until negotiations are concluded "one way or the other."
Israel's Foreign Ministry responded to Hezbollah's rebuke of the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, saying that Hezbollah needs to be disarmed.
"Hezbollah leader Na'im Qassem's rejection of the ceasefire and rocket interceptions over Kiryat Shmona tell the story: Hezbollah continues to attack Israel and destabilize the region. The Iranian proxy Hezbollah must be disarmed and its terrorist infrastructure in southern Lebanon must be dismantled according to UN Security Council Resolution 1701," the ministry said in a statement Thursday.
Jun 04, 2026, 12:15 PM EDT
Hezbollah leader rejects Israel-Lebanon ceasefire
Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem rejected the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon in a statement read on TV on Thursday, saying "as long as the occupation exists, the resistance will continue."
Describing the negotiations between Lebanese authorities and Israeli part as "absurd, humiliating, and shameful" Qassem said that the negotiations are "completely rejected by broad segments of the Lebanese people."
He added that the agreement's demand that Hezbollah should leave southern Lebanon while it is under fire would mean "surrender, defeat and achieving the enemy's goals."
"The ceasefire must be comprehensive, with no separation between the south and the rest of Lebanon, and no freedom for the Israeli enemy to kill in Lebanon. As long as the occupation persists, the resistance will continue," Qassem said.
"The Washington Declaration is a roadmap for the annihilation of a segment of the Lebanese people and the enslavement of the rest. To pursue a security track under the guise of a fictitious ceasefire is like the devil's dream of entering paradise," he said.
He thanked Iran for helping Lebanon to reclaim its "land and rights" despite its own confrontations.
-ABC News' Ghazi Balkiz
Jun 04, 2026, 7:58 AM EDT
Trump says GOP backers of war powers resolution are 'grandstanders'
President Donald Trump on Thursday called the House-approved war powers resolution a "meaningless vote," and the four Republicans who crossed party lines to advance the legislation "grandstanders" -- saying their actions were "unpatriotic."
"Yesterday, in a meaningless vote, the House voted, 4 bad Republicans and all of the Dumocrats, to limit my War Powers, right in the middle of my final negotiations to end the War with the Islamic Republic of Iran. Who would do such an unpatriotic thing," Trump wrote Thursday morning in a post to his social media platform.
Trump claimed that the four Republicans know where negotiations stand between the U.S. and Iran and "should be ashamed of themselves."
-ABC News' Isabella Murray
Jun 04, 2026, 7:48 AM EDT
Israel maintains 'freedom of action' in Lebanon, Katz says
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Thursday that Israeli attacks on Hezbollah will continue in southern Lebanon and that displaced Lebanese residents will not be allowed to return, despite Wednesday's agreement to implement a ceasefire in Lebanon.
Katz said that the Israel Defense Forces maintains "freedom of action," including in Beirut, where the threat of resumed Israeli strikes has caused tension between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the White House.
Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon, as seen from Nabatieh, on June 4, 2026.
Stringer/Reuters
Katz described the agreement brokered between Israeli and Lebanese leaders in Washington this week as "a ceasefire for the removal of Hezbollah terrorists from all areas south of the Litani and the creation of a demilitarized zone, the IDF continuing its fire and activity in the area."
Katz said the IDF would remain in southern Lebanon, "including in the Beaufort area and without the return of the population," referring to the strategic Beaufort Ridge area -- where the Beaufort Castle, a historic Crusader fortification, is located -- just south of the city of Nabetieh.
Katz also indicated that the destruction of property in southern Lebanon would not stop, saying the military will continue the "thwarting of terrorist infrastructures in the area, and freedom of action for Israel with American backing to attack Beirut in response to firing on Israeli settlements and territory."
Katz said the military campaign created the conditions for this week's agreement to be reached, and "that may lead, depending on developments on the ground and our continued uncompromising stand on the interests of the state of Israel, to a political peace agreement with the state of Lebanon and, above all, to achieving real and permanent security for the residents of the north for the first time in 50 years."
