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Israel, Lebanon agree to implement ceasefire, boosting hopes for Iran deal

Trump said that parties were working to ​separate the issue of reopening ⁠the strait from the conflict in Lebanon.

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Israel and Lebanon agreed to implement a ceasefire to end hostilities, the Trump administration said on Wednesday, ​in a boost to hopes for a broader deal to end the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, Reuters reported.

Tehran, which had conditioned any deal with the U.S. in part on an end to fighting ‌between Israel and Lebanon, earlier struck Kuwait, damaging its airport and injuring dozens while the U.S. military carried out strikes near the Strait of Hormuz.The Israel-Lebanon ceasefire is contingent on a complete cessation of fire from the Iran-aligned Hezbollah militia and the evacuation of all its operatives from the South Litani Sector, a joint statement released by the U.S. State Department said following negotiations in Washington.

The two sides had agreed last month to a ceasefire but hostilities had continued. Israel invaded Lebanon in March in pursuit of Lebanese ​militant group Hezbollah, which fired across the border in support of Tehran.

The attacks on Kuwait and in the strait are the latest to test a shaky ceasefire between the U.S., Israel and Iran, sending oil prices up nearly 2%, ​as the strait remains largely closed more than three months after the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran.

Flights at Kuwait International Airport were suspended after an Iranian drone and ⁠missile attack damaged airport facilities and diplomatic missions, killing one person and injuring more than 60 others, Kuwaiti authorities and state media said.

Kuwait Airways and Jazeera Airways later resumed flights after taking safety measures, the civil aviation ​authority said.

Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards said they did not fire at Kuwait’s airport and blamed the destruction on U.S. interceptor missiles that failed to hit their targets, according to Iranian state media.

The U.S. military said that was not ​accurate, and that Iranian drones targeted the airport deliberately.

Earlier, Iranian media reported the Revolutionary Guards had attacked the headquarters of the U.S. Fifth Fleet in Bahrain and a U.S. airbase, as well as a vessel identified as Panaya. U.S. Central Command denied its bases had been hit and said Iranian ballistic missiles failed to strike their targets in the region.

CENTCOM said it had carried out a new round of “defensive strikes” in southern Iran, targeted missile launch sites and Iranian boats seeking to lay mines, and conducted ​strikes on Qeshm Island near the Strait of Hormuz after attempted Iranian attacks, read the report.

Since the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran began on February 28, Tehran has repeatedly attacked targets in the Gulf region, home ​to U.S. military bases.

Hostilities have periodically flared up in recent weeks despite a ceasefire agreed in early April, as the U.S. has pushed to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which handled roughly a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas ‌shipments before the ⁠war.

Last week, Iran and the U.S. signalled progress towards a tentative initial agreement to halt the war and reopen the strait, but the two sides have yet to sign off on the deal, which would leave more complex negotiations for later.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told Lebanese broadcaster Al Mayadeen on Wednesday that talks had not been cut off but no progress had been made.

In addition to Tehran conditioning a deal on an end to fighting in Lebanon, it also wants access to billions of dollars in oil revenue, waivers on sanctions on crude exports, a lifting of a U.S. blockade on its ports and continued leverage over the strait.

U.S. President Donald Trump, who is under pressure to ​bring down fuel prices, has said his top priority is ​to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Iran ⁠says its atomic program is for peaceful purposes. In a podcast interview released on Wednesday, Trump said Iran had agreed to not have a nuclear weapon and that Khamenei was involved in negotiations, Reuters reported.

Later on Wednesday Trump suggested there could be progress in negotiations with Iran as soon as this weekend.

“If it happens, it could happen over the ​weekend,” Trump told reporters in the White House’s Oval Office, without elaborating on what he expected to happen within that timeframe.

Trump said that parties were working to ​separate the issue of reopening ⁠the strait from the conflict in Lebanon.

The war has killed thousands, mainly in Iran and Lebanon, while causing global economic pain by severely disrupting energy supplies and other shipping.

It also sparked the latest round of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.

On Wednesday, Israeli drone strikes killed at least six people in southern Lebanon and targeted a car just south of Beirut, Lebanese security sources said, while Israel said it intercepted a hostile aircraft likely fired by Hezbollah.

Araqchi ⁠said Iran would ​respond decisively if Israel attacks Beirut.

In his podcast comments, Trump acknowledged having called Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “crazy” during a reportedly expletive-filled phone ​exchange over the fighting in Lebanon as he sought a deal over the wider war.

“At some point I said, Bibi, we got to stop this. We got to stop it,” Trump said, referring to Netanyahu by his nickname.

Netanyahu told CNBC in an interview that he and Trump ​sometimes had “tactical disagreements” but that they agreed on the main issues concerning Iran.

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South Korea reviews military options for Strait of Hormuz

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South Korea is reviewing a range of options, including possible military measures, to support freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, the presidential office said on Friday, while denying reports that Seoul had already decided to deploy military assets.

Several South Korean media outlets, including JTBC and MBC, reported on Thursday that the government was preparing to deploy military assets to the region before the end of the year and could seek parliamentary approval as early as this month.

The reports said options under consideration included a maritime patrol aircraft, a logistics support vessel and a mine detection and clearance unit.

A presidential official confirmed that South Korea was discussing practical ways to contribute to freedom of navigation in the strategic waterway and that military measures were among the options being reviewed.

“Nothing has been decided,” the official told reporters, adding that Seoul would need to consider domestic legal procedures, military readiness on the Korean Peninsula and the possibility of parliamentary approval before taking any action.

The official also rejected reports that South Korea had provided no assistance related to the Strait of Hormuz, saying Seoul had long been discussing possible practical contributions with the international community.

South Korea has also been discussing the scale and nature of any potential contribution with countries including the United States, Britain and France, according to local media reports.

President Lee Jae Myung could discuss South Korea’s options regarding the Strait of Hormuz when he meets French President Emmanuel Macron next week, the presidential official said.

The issue comes amid heightened tensions surrounding the Strait of Hormuz, a major global energy shipping route. U.S. President Donald Trump said in an August social media post that he had scaled back joint military exercises with South Korea partly because Seoul had declined to assist the United States in its war against Iran.

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Rescuers search for missing after deadly North Cyprus ferry accident

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Rescuers were searching on Monday for survivors a day after a ferry capsized off Northern Cyprus, leaving eight people dead and 18 missing, authorities said.

The ferry departed from the northern port of Girne around midday on Sunday bound for the Turkish mainland but capsized shortly afterwards, triggering a major rescue operation. There were 267 people on board, of whom 241 were rescued, while eight died and 18 remained missing, according to local authorities. Their nationalities were not immediately disclosed.

Several survivors told local media they heard a blast shortly before the vessel overturned, while others said the ferry had begun taking on water before the accident, about four nautical miles into the journey.

Police detained the captain and more than a dozen others following the incident. The captain and eight others were brought before a judge early Monday and formally arrested, according to the official Cypriot news agency TAK.

Northern Cyprus has declared three days of national mourning for the victims.

Footage broadcast by Turkish television showed passengers wearing life jackets clinging to the overturned ferry’s orange hull. The vessel later sank completely and is now lying at a depth of 514 metres, Northern Cyprus Transport Minister Erhan Arikli said.

Arikli said recovering the ferry’s “black box” could help investigators determine the cause of the disaster. Survivors gave differing accounts of the incident, with some reporting an explosion at the front of the vessel and others saying there had not been enough safety equipment on board.

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Trump floats idea of renaming Atlantic or Pacific Ocean

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US President Donald Trump has suggested that the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean could be next for a name change, shortly after signing an executive order renaming Lake Ontario as “Lake America.”

Speaking in the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump joked that after renaming a gulf and a lake, the next step could be an ocean.

“We have a gulf and we have a lake,” Trump said. “Now all we need is an ocean. Maybe we’ll have to change the name of the Atlantic and/or the Pacific. Maybe we’ll change them both.”

The remarks came as Trump signed the order changing the name of Lake Ontario on U.S. government maps, following his earlier move to rename the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.”

Trump has also restored the former name “Mount McKinley” for Alaska’s highest peak, reversing the official use of Denali adopted during the Obama administration.

The latest proposal comes amid increasingly strained relations between Washington and Ottawa. Trump has repeatedly criticised Canada over trade and has previously suggested that the country should be treated as a U.S. state.

While the U.S. government can determine the names used on its own official maps, it cannot compel Canada, other countries or international organisations to adopt the changes.

For now, the Atlantic and Pacific oceans remain firmly on the map under their familiar names — but Trump has made clear he is not ruling out another change.

 

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