We’re closing this page now but our live coverage continues on a new blog here, including a recap of the latest key developments. Thanks for following along.

Australia’s prime minister has been forced to rebuff another bout of criticism from its most important ally, reiterating there has been no direct US requests for military support in the Middle East.

As Lebanon and Israel agreed to a 10-day ceasefire, Donald Trump told reporters in Washington that Australia had not supplied military aid to help reopen the strait of Hormuz.

“I’m not happy with Australia because they were not there when we asked them to be there,” he said.

They were not there having to do with Hormuz. So I’m not happy. I’m not happy with them.”

Anthony Albanese responded by saying the US administration had not asked for additional assistance in the region, Australian Associated Press reports.

The prime minister told reporters on Friday:

There’s been no new requests at all, and indeed President Trump has himself said that he has got this, and he has made that position clear. There’s been no change.

My job is to engage constructively with the US administration. That’s what we do.”

Australia had deployed an E-7A Wedgetail surveillance plane to the Middle East after a request from Gulf countries for defences from missile attacks, Albanese said.

Asian stocks were poised for a second week of strong gains and oil prices were pinned below $100 a barrel with investors hopeful for a near-term resolution to war in the Middle East.

With the Lebanon-Israel truce coming into effect and Donald Trump saying the next US-Iran meeting might take place over the weekend, oil prices were pushed lower, with Brent crude futures falling more than 1% to $98.14 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 1.6% to $93.15 a barrel.

In stocks, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.6% but remained close to its highest since 2 March, the first trading day after the Iran war broke out.

The index is up 14.5% in April after dropping 13.5% in March, Reuters reports. Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.9% in early trading after hitting a record high on Thursday.

Almost all stock markets are back to levels before the war erupted in late February.

“I think equity markets are remaining positive and some solid US earnings have helped, but – and it’s a big but – we need to see some concrete evidence that peace is going to last,” said Nick Twidale, chief market strategist at ATFX Global.

And to me, that is a full reopening of the Strait [of Hormuz], or we could see some substantial corrections in global stocks in the coming days and weeks.”

We’ve just launched a photo gallery of some of the many compelling images that have come in from Lebanon amid the latest bloodshed in the Middle East.

As it says, civilians have been bearing the brunt of the regional conflict.

The fragile 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon is taking effect while a two-week truce between Iran and the US continues and is due to expire next Wednesday.

Here are three of the images:

See the full gallery here:

Under the Israel-Lebanon truce agreement, Israel reserves the right to defend itself “at any time, against planned, imminent or ongoing attacks”, the US state department has said. But otherwise Israel “will not carry out any offensive military operations against Lebanese targets, including civilian, military and other state targets”.

The wording suggested Israel would maintain the freedom to strike at will, as it did in the months after the ceasefire that ended the previous war, the AP is reporting. This time, Hezbollah said it would respond to any strikes by Israel.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported that Israeli shelling continued in the villages of Khiam and Dibbine about a half hour after the truce went into effect at midnight Friday local time (2100 GMT Thursday).

Israel’s military said it was looking into reports of shelling and artillery fire in southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah kept firing rockets at northern Israeli towns and communities right up to the start of the ceasefire. Air raid sirens went off in some often-targeted border towns less than 10 minutes before midnight.

The Israel-Lebanon truce came after a meeting between the two countries’ ambassadors in Washington and a flurry of subsequent phone calls from Donald Trump and secretary of state Marco Rubio, according to a White House official.

The meeting on Tuesday was the first direct diplomatic talks between Lebanon and Israel in decades, and in the lead-up Hezbollah had called for Lebanon to pull out.

Trump spoke on Wednesday evening with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who agreed to a ceasefire with certain terms, according to the official, who was not authorised to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, the Associated Press reports.

Rubio then called Lebanon’s president, Joseph Aoun, who got on board. Trump then spoke with Aoun, and again with Netanyahu.

The state department worked with both governments to formulate a memorandum of understanding for the truce.

Donald Trump has just said the war in Iran is going “swimmingly” and that it “should be ending pretty soon”.

He told supporters at an event in Las Vegas:

The war in Iran is going along swimmingly – we can do whatever we want.”

The US president said earlier that the next meeting between the US and Iran might take place over the weekend, adding to optimism that the Iran war could be nearing an end.

Trump was also quoted as saying that Iran had agreed to hand over its enriched uranium and not to possess nuclear weapons for more than 20 years.

“They’ve agreed to give us back the nuclear dust,” Trump said, referring to the uranium.

Iran’s nuclear activities were a sticking point at talks in Pakistan last weekend.

“We’re going to see what happens,” Trump said at the White House. “But I think we’re very close to making a deal with Iran.”

The Lebanese army claimed early on Friday that Israel had committed violations of the ceasefire in Lebanon that took effect at midnight, including intermittent shelling of several southern Lebanese villages.

In a statement cited by Reuters, the army also called on citizens to hold off on returning to southern villages and towns.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

The Lebanese army is reportedly urging citizens to delay returning to southern Lebanon towns and villages.

It also claimed there had been intermittent shelling on southern Lebanese villages after the ceasefire with Israel took effect.

Earlier, the Israeli military issued a warning via social media to southern Lebanon residents not to return south of the Litani River despite the ceasefire being in effect. It said the IDF would maintain its positions in the southern Lebanon “in the face of the ongoing terrorist activities of Hezbollah”.

Before that, Hezbollah called on displaced Lebanese residents to delay returning to their homes in southern Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley and Beirut’s southern suburbs before the truce began, urging caution amid what the Iran-backed militant group called Israel’s history of “breaking covenants and agreements”.

Donald Trump says he wants Hezbollah to act “nicely” amid the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire and that there should be “no more killing”.

The US president just posted on his Truth Social platform:

I hope Hezbollah acts nicely and well during this important period of time. It will be an GREAT moment for them if they do. No more killing. Must finally have PEACE! Thank you for your attention to this matter.

British prime minister Keir Starmer will say reopening the strait of Hormuz is a “global responsibility” as he chairs a gathering of world leaders in Paris with Emmanuel Macron on Friday.

The talks come as the 10-day ceasefire agreed by Lebanon and Israel could boost attempts to extend the ceasefire between Iran, the US and Israel.

Starmer will arrive in Paris late on Friday morning to co-host the virtual meeting with Macron and then have lunch with the French president.

About 40 countries and the International Maritime Organisation are expected to be on the call, PA Media reports.

Starmer is expected to tell the summit:

The unconditional and immediate reopening of the strait is a global responsibility, and we need to act to get global energy and trade flowing freely again.

Emmanuel Macron and I are clear in our commitment to establish a multinational initiative to protect freedom of navigation.

We must reassure commercial shipping and support mine clearance operations to ensure a return to global stability and security.”

British foreign secretary Yvette Cooper and defence staff chief Richard Knighton will join Starmer.

The Hormuz strait usually has a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied petroleum gas passing through but has been effectively shut by Iran in response to US-Israeli attacks. Donald Trump has now begun a US blockade of Iran’s oil ports aimed at stemming Tehran’s fossil fuel income.

UN secretary general António Guterres has welcomed the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire and urged “all actors” to fully respect it, his spokesperson said.

Guterres also “commends the role of the United States in facilitating” the truce, Stephane Dujarric said in a statement, adding the UN chief hoped the temporary halt to fighting would “pave the way for negotiations”.

Guterres “urges all actors to fully respect the ceasefire and to comply with their obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law, at all times”, said the statement, which was cited by AFP and may extend beyond Israel and Lebanon to the militant group Hezbollah.

Here are some images coming in from Beirut amid Lebanese celebrations over the two-week ceasefire with Israel.