Trump says Israel and Lebanon agree to extend ceasefire.

People pass near a mural of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s late supreme leader, in Tehran, Iran, on Thursday, April 23, 2026. President Trump said Thursday that he had ordered the U.S. Navy to “shoot and kill any boat” that is laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz, as the Pentagon announced that U.S. forces had boarded another sanctioned tanker that was carrying oil from Iran. (Arash Khamooshi/The New York Times)

By LUKE BROADWATER, ERIC SCHMITT, EUAN WARD and MAX BEARAK

President Donald Trump announced a three-week extension of a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon on Thursday, shortly after he hosted a meeting at the White House between Israeli and Lebanese diplomats.

Just hours before the president’s announcement on social media, Israel and Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militia, had been trading rocket fire in southern Lebanon despite the truce. Hezbollah did not immediately comment on the announcement and did not have representatives at the talks.

The continuing fighting in Lebanon has undermined the halting progress toward a larger peace agreement between Iran, the United States and Israel. Iran supports Hezbollah and sees the ceasefire in Lebanon as a key condition for a wider peace deal. But the ceasefire hinges upon the ability of Lebanon’s government to disarm Hezbollah, or at least persuade them to abide by the truce.

The Lebanon ceasefire had been set to expire in a few days. Earlier on Thursday, an Israeli strike near the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh killed three people, according to Lebanon’s health ministry. Hezbollah claimed three separate attacks on Israeli troops who are occupying southern Lebanon, though none were wounded or killed.

Hostilities between the United States and Iran have shifted to the waters in and around the Strait of Hormuz where both sides have seized ships in recent days that they deemed to be violating rules they have set for the right to use the crucial oil and gas shipping lane.

On Wednesday, Iranian forces claimed to have seized two cargo ships near the strait. There has been little public indication that either Washington or Tehran is intent on restarting their peace talks. On Thursday, Trump shifted to a more aggressive tone toward Iran, ordering the U.S. Navy to “shoot and kill any boat” that is laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz.

The tensions over the strait have injected fresh fear into energy markets. Oil was trading above $100 a barrel again.

On Thursday, the Pentagon said that American forces had stopped and boarded the M/T Majestic X, a tanker under U.S. sanctions that was carrying oil from Iran, in the Indian Ocean. Earlier this week, Navy Seals boarded another ship in the Indian Ocean, the M/T Tifani, the Pentagon said.

Here’s what else we are covering:

— Energy: Fatih Birol, head of the International Energy Agency, said in an interview with CNBC that the world is facing the “biggest energy security threat in history.” High oil and gas prices have already affected gasoline and diesel prices worldwide and threaten to increase global inflation.

— Tankers: Greece’s foreign minister said Thursday that the Epaminondas, one of the tankers that Iran said it had seized the previous day, was now anchored with no Iranians on board, although he did not specify its location.

— Ukraine deals: President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine on Thursday made public details of security agreements that he signed with three Middle Eastern countries, as they bolster their defenses against Iranian drones and missiles.