US President Donald Trump earlier ordered the Navy to “shoot and kill” any Iranian boats placing mines in the Strait of Hormuz.

The US is also scheduled today to host a second round of talks between Israel and Lebanon, News.Az reports, citing CNN.

The talks in Washington between the Middle Eastern neighbors come amid a fragile ceasefire in Lebanon that has seen attacks by Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah.

Here’s what you need to know:

Israel-Lebanon talks: Officials from Israel and Lebanon will sit down for a second round of high-stakes direct talks this afternoon as Beirut looks to extend a tenuous ceasefire. Today’s talks, mediated by the United States, come days before the US-brokered truce is set to expire. Hezbollah and Israel have both conducted military strikes during the truce, including an Israeli strike on southern Lebanon Wednesday that killed one journalist and seriously injured another. Lebanon’s prime minister accused Israel of war crimes after that attack.

Trump’s order: Trump has ordered the US Navy to fire on any Iranian boats that are placing mines in the Strait of Hormuz, the critical energy chokepoint that carries about one-fifth of all global crude oil. The order comes as fears grow that the presence of mines in the crucial waterway could spark economic repercussions that outlive the war itself.

US boards another tanker: The US Defense Department announced today that it boarded a “sanctioned stateless vessel” in the Indian Ocean overnight. The vessel, M/T Majestic X, was carrying oil from Iran, the department said in a post on X.

Military planners meet: The United Kingdom and France have told military planners from dozens of nations in London today that “practical military options” will be needed to ensure freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.

In the strait: Two dry bulk carriers crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, according to the trade analytics company Kpler. One of the carriers, Tema Express, is owned and operated by Hapag-Lloyd — making this the first confirmed transit of the strait by a vessel operated by the German carrier since the start of the conflict, Rebecca Gerdes, a data analyst at Kpler, told CNN.

Deadline unclear: Trump said there is no deadline for ending the war with Iran, the ceasefire, or Tehran’s response to his request for a peace proposal. The US Navy currently has 19 ships in the Middle East, including two aircraft carriers, and seven ships in the Indian Ocean, a US official said.

Israel’s warning: Israel is ready “to return Iran to the dark ages,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said, adding that Israel is “awaiting a green light” from the United States to resume the war and “complete the elimination of the Khamenei dynasty and to return Iran to the dark ages.”

CNN’s Kit Maher, Laura Sharman, Sarah Tamimi, Jennifer Hansler, Billy Stockwell, Charbel Mallo, Tamara Qiblawi, Sana Noor Haq, Dana Karni, Kaanita Iyer, Sharon Braithwaite, Tori B. Powell, Clay Voytek, Elise Hammond, Morgan Rimmer, Mostafa Salem, Haley Britzky and Tal Shalev contributed to this report.

News.Az 

By Faig Mahmudov