President Donald Trump announced "major combat operations" against Iran on Feb. 28, with massive joint U.S.-Israeli strikes targeting military and government sites.
After negotiations, U.S.-Iran talks in Pakistan failed to reach a peace deal. Trump said that Iran's nuclear program was the key sticking point, and said the U.S. would respond with a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz starting at 10 a.m. ET on Monday.
Iran announced it would fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, but Trump said the blockade will remain in place until the U.S.'s "transaction" with Iran is complete.
Israel, meanwhile, has reached a ceasefire agreement with Lebanon, ending its ground operations and intense strikes, where it was engaged with the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he supported the ceasefire with Iran.
President Donald Trump has announced that Iran is fully opening the Strait of Hormuz, in a post on social media.
"IRAN HAS JUST ANNOUNCED THAT THE STRAIT OF IRAN IS FULLY OPEN AND READY FOR FULL PASSAGE," Trump said in a post on social media Friday.
Cargo ships in the Gulf, near the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from northern Ras al-Khaimah, near the border with Oman's Musandam governance, amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, in United Arab Emirates, March 11, 2026.
Reuters
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also announced the strait's opening on social media Friday.
"In line with the ceasefire in Lebanon, the passage for all commercial vessels through 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," Araghchi wrote.
6:43 AM EDT
Thousands return to southern Lebanon, buoyed by ceasefire, as Israel issues warning
Tens of thousands of displaced Lebanese people were moving south on Friday, following the announcement of a 10-day ceasefire, headed back toward the homes they abandoned even as Israel issued new warnings.
"Out of concern for your safety and the safety of your families' members -- until further notice -- you are requested not to move south of the Litani River," Avichay Adraee, an Arab-language spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces, said in a social media post.
Women react as displaced people make their way back to their homes crossing the bridge linking southern Lebanon to the rest of the country, which was hit earlier in an Israeli strike, after a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel went into effect, in Qasmiyeh, Lebanon, April 17, 2026.
Louisa Gouliamaki/Reuters
Israel's air raids and ground operations against Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon pushed many locals north in recent weeks.
Israeli prior to the ceasefire had warned anyone south of the Litani River, a geographic boundary between southern and northern Lebanon, that they should move north for their safety.
Displaced residents ride past a destroyed building as they return back to the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh on April 17, 2026.
Mahmoud Zayyat/AFP via Getty Images
Israel said its operations targeted members and infrastructure belonging Hezbollah, an Iranian proxy, both in southern Lebanon and in the suburbs of Beirut.
President Donald Trump said a ceasefire would begin at 5 p.m. ET on Thursday, news that followed talks between Lebanese and Israeli officials in Washington earlier in the week.
Apr 16, 2026, 6:03 PM EDT
State Department releases 6-point agreement for Israel-Lebanon ceasefire
The U.S. State Department released a six-point memorandum of understanding underpinning the 10-day ceasefire agreed to by Lebanon and Israel on Thursday.
The agreement says the ceasefire may be extended by mutual agreement if there is progress in negotiations and Lebanon "effectively demonstrates its ability to assert its sovereignty."
The agreement also stipulates that "Israel shall preserve its right to take all necessary measures in self-defense, at any time, against planned, imminent, or ongoing attacks.”
Under the agreement, Israel says it will not carry out any offensive military operations against Lebanese targets and Lebanon says it will take "meaningful steps" to prevent Hezbollah from carrying out attacks on Israeli targets.
-ABC News' Shannon Kingston
Apr 16, 2026, 4:07 PM EDT
Israel says it is still striking Lebanon before the ceasefire goes into effect
The Israel Defense Forces said it is still striking Lebanon after what it says was a launch from Hezbollah a short time ago.
"The IDF is currently striking launchers from which the Hezbollah terrorist organization launched rockets to northern Israel a short while ago," the IDF said in a statement Thursday.
