Ceasefire tested by strikes on Lebanon and confusion over strait.

People in Tehran, on April 8, 2026, walk by a mural depicting Iranian missiles attacking a U.S. aircraft carrier after an announcement of a two-week ceasefire in the war with the United States and Israel. (Arash Khamooshi/The New York Times)

By ADAM RASGON, RAVI MATTU and YEGANEH TORBATI

A tenuous two-week ceasefire between the United States and Iran was being tested Wednesday — less than a day after it began — by uncertainty over the status of the economically vital Strait of Hormuz and Israel’s continued punishing attacks in Lebanon.

Pakistan, which mediated the truce, and Iranian officials insisted that the agreement covered Lebanon, where Israel has targeted the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard threatened a military response against “aggressors in the region” if the attacks didn’t end immediately, but White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Lebanon was not covered by the agreement.

Leavitt also rejected reports that the Strait of Hormuz, which President Donald Trump had insisted be reopened as a condition of the ceasefire, had been closed by Iran. Roughly 20% of the world’s oil passes through the narrow waterway, and Leavitt insisted that more vessels were getting through since the start of the ceasefire, even as shipping monitors did not show an increase in traffic Wednesday.

Despite those significant complications, the White House seemed determined to plow ahead with a diplomatic process it was already describing as nothing short of total victory. Vice President JD Vance will travel to Pakistan for peace talks beginning Saturday morning, Leavitt said. Steve Witkoff, the president’s special envoy, and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, will accompany him.

Further highlighting the fragility of the truce, Persian Gulf countries continued to report dozens of Iranian missile and drone attacks Wednesday. And Iran’s state media reported that an oil refinery on Lavan, an Iranian island in the Persian Gulf, was struck by unspecified “enemies.”

But there was at least a period of respite for Iran: Nima, who lives in the capital, Tehran, said Wednesday morning was the first time in around 40 days that he had not feared that people he knew might be killed in an airstrike. Just a day before Trump had threatened to wipe out Iranian civilization with bombing.

“Last night was a really frightening evening,” said Nima, who declined to be fully named, fearing reprisals from the government.

Here’s what else we’re covering:

— Lebanon: Israel carried out major strikes Wednesday against Hezbollah, which has mounted rocket attacks on Israel in solidarity with Iran. Lebanon’s Health Ministry said at least 112 people had been killed and more than 800 wounded in the latest strikes on Beirut, the Lebanese capital, and other parts of the country.

— What’s next: Iran publicly released Wednesday what it said was the 10-point framework for talks that Trump described as “a workable basis on which to negotiate” an end to the war. A White House official said the points did not match what Trump was referring to. Leavitt on Wednesday insisted that what Iranian officials were saying publicly did not match with their private communications with the United States.

— Nuclear demand: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday called on Iran to turn over its stockpile of 970 pounds of highly enriched uranium, saying Trump could still order U.S. commandos to seize the material.

— Death tolls: The Human Rights Activists News Agency said at least 1,665 civilians, including 244 children, had been killed in Iran as of Monday. Lebanon’s Health Ministry on Monday said 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.