Operation Epic Fury -The latest

Associated Press Iran, the United States and Israel agreed to a two-week ceasefire on Tuesday, an 11th-hour deal that headed off U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to unleash a bombing campaign that would destroy Iranian civilization. Hours after the announcement, Iran and Gulf Arab countries reported new attacks Wednesday, though it was not clear if the strikes would scuttle the deal. All sides have presented vastly different versions of the terms. Iran said the deal would allow it to formalize its new practice of charging ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Trump said the U.S. would work with Iran to remove buried enriched uranium, though Iran did not confirm that. Pakistan and others said fighting would pause in Lebanon, which Israel has invaded to fight Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said early Wednesday that the deal doesn’t cover fighting against Hezbollah. Israeli strikes hit several dense commercial and residential areas in central Beirut Wednesday afternoon without warning, killing dozens and wounding hundreds of people. The ceasefire may formalize a system of charging fees in the Strait of Hormuz that Iran instituted — and give it a new source of revenue. Iranian attacks and threats deterred many commercial ships from passing through the waterway, through which 20% of all traded oil and natural gas passes in peacetime. Here is the latest: Trump expected to raise possibility of US leaving NATO in meeting with Rutte The president earlier this month said that he was considering withdrawing the U.S. from NATO as he grumbled about the lack of support from members of the alliance in his war of choice against Iran. The criticism from Trump follows years of complaining that the alliance’s member countries aren’t paying enough for their own defense. Trump is set to host Secretary-General Mark Rutte for talks at the White House later this afternoon. “It’s something the president has discussed, and I think it’s something the president will be discussing in a couple of hours with Secretary General Rutte,” said Leavitt, when asked if Trump is still considering leaving the 32-member alliance. Ceasefire is threatened as Israel expands Lebanon strikes and Iran closes strait again The United States demanded Wednesday that Iran immediately reopen the Strait of Hormuz after the Islamic Republic closed the waterway in response to Israeli attacks against the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon. Iran’s move cast doubt over whether an already precarious ceasefire to end more than a month of war would hold. The United States and Iran both claimed victory after reaching the agreement, and world leaders expressed relief, even as more drones and missiles hit Iran and Gulf Arab countries. Israel also intensified its attacks in Lebanon, hitting several commercial and residential areas in Beirut without warning. At least 112 people were killed and hundreds were wounded in one of the deadliest days in the latest Israel-Hezbollah war. The fresh violence threatened to scuttle what U.S. Vice President JD Vance called a “fragile” deal. White House defends Trump’s language threatening ‘a whole civilization’ Asked about Trump’s threat to annihilate Iranian civilization, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt defended it as a “very strong threat that led to results.” “I think it was a very, very strong threat from the president of the United States that led the Iranian regime to cave to their knees and ask for a ceasefire and agree to reopening the Strait of Hormuz,” Leavitt said at a press briefing on Wednesday. She said any suggestion that Iran had the moral high ground was “insulting.” Before a ceasefire was announced, Trump had threatened destruction in Iran if it did not reopen the strait, saying “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.” White House shrugs off NATO’s pledge to ensure freedom of navigation through a reopened Strait of Hormuz Leavitt was asked about NATO allies offering to contribute to keeping the strait open, but said the alliance hasn’t done enough to support U.S. and Israel’s war in Iran. “They were tested and they failed,” Levitt said, reading from a past Trump quote on NATO. She added: “NATO turned their backs on the American people over the course of the last six weeks.” Those comments came as Trump was meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte at the White House later Wednesday. Israel’s airport restarts full operations Israel’s main airport will resume full operations as of midnight on Wednesday, after the Iran war stranded tens of thousands of people, including both Israelis abroad and tourists inside Israel. Israel’s airspace has been open but severely limited during the war, limiting flights to once an hour and just 50 people per flight. Israel joins several other countries in the region in reopening its airspace as the ceasefire with Iran appeared to hold. The White House defends Trump’s threat that ’a whole civilization will die tonight “His very tough rhetoric and his tough negotiating style is what has led to the result that you are all witnessing today,” said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, adding that Iran said they wanted a ceasefire because “they no longer could tolerate being bombed.” Trump’s threats against Iran escalated over the past weeks, culminating in his Tuesday warning that a “whole civilization” could “die” in the lead up to an 8 p.m. deadline, which was later suspended after an agreement was reached. “The world should take his word very seriously,” Leavitt said. Vance will lead US delegation to Islamabad for talks with Iran The White House confirmed that U.S. Vice President JD Vance will lead the U.S. negotiating team in talks with Iran aimed at finding a permanent end to war. Vance will lead the delegation, which is also expected to include special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, for the talks that are expected to begin Friday in Islamabad, according to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. “Vice President Vance has played a very significant and a key role in this since the very beginning,” Leavitt told reporters during a White House press briefing. “Of course, he’s the president’s right hand man. He is the vice president of the United States. He’s been involved in all of these discussions.” Flights gradually resume in Bahrain Bahrain said it is reopening its airspace, the state news agency reported Wednesday evening, citing the country’s civil aviation authority. Bahrain International Airport has begun gradually resuming flights, the agency said. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strikes victorious tone, praises Israel’s resilience even as country remains hobbled from war “We are ready to return to fighting at any time, our finger is on the trigger,” Netanyahu said in his first address to the country since the start of the ceasefire. “Iran is weaker than ever, and Israel is stronger than it has ever been,” adding that the “deep friendship with the US has changed the face of the Middle East.” He said the two wars with Iran in the past year have kept Iran from developing a nuclear weapon program and destroyed both existing missiles as well as Iran’s ability to produce missiles. Netanyahu said he insisted any ceasefire with Iran not include Hezbollah, and cited Israel’s massive strikes across Lebanon on Wednesday for being the biggest attacks against the militant group since the beeper operation in 2024, when Israel engineered exploding pagers that injured hundreds of Hezbollah leaders. The White House says Iran presented a ‘new, modified peace plan that it is able to ’align with our own, 15-point proposal White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that “the Iranians originally put forward a 10-point plan that was fundamentally unserious, unacceptable and completely discarded,” and that it was “literally thrown in the garbage by Trump.” But, she said, Iranian authorities on Tuesda