The latest developments in the Middle East war:
Israel renewed its strikes on southern Lebanon on Wednesday, state media reported, after the Israeli military warned residents of Tyre to evacuate.
Earlier, Israel said that it supported the two-week ceasefire deal between the United States and Iran but that it “does not include Lebanon”, where it has been fighting Iran-backed Hezbollah.
European natural gas prices dropped 20 percent at the start of trading Wednesday in the wake of a two-week ceasefire agreed between the United States and Iran.
Oil prices also plunged after the deal to end the fighting, which has seen the strategic Strait of Hormuz effectively closed to tankers in the Gulf.
The dollar, a safe haven for investors during times of market turmoil, fell around one percent against the euro and the pound in early European trading.
Stock markets surged in Asia on relief at the potential end to the war that has roiled the Middle East, with futures contracts pointing to similar strong gains at the European open.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will travel to the Gulf on Wednesday to meet with regional leaders in an effort to bolster the ceasefire in the Middle East war, Downing Street said.
Explosions were heard in Bahrain’s capital Manama on Wednesday morning, according to an AFP journalist, hours after the United States announced a ceasefire with Iran.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif wrote on X that Islamabad would host delegations from the United States and Iran on Friday “to further negotiate for a conclusive agreement to settle all disputes”.
US President Donald Trump said the United States would help with the ship traffic buildup in the Strait of Hormuz, hours after Washington and Tehran agreed to a two-week ceasefire.
“The United States of America will be helping with the traffic buildup in the Strait of Hormuz. There will be lots of positive action! Big money will be made. Iran can start the reconstruction process,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Israel said it supported the two-week ceasefire deal between the United States and Iran but maintained that the deal “does not include Lebanon”, where it has been fighting Iran-backed group Hezbollah.
“Israel supports President Trump’s decision to suspend strikes against Iran for two weeks subject to Iran immediately opening the straits and stopping all attacks on the US, Israel and countries in the region,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.
But it said the ceasefire “does not include Lebanon”, contradicting an earlier announcement by Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif that said the deal covered “everywhere including Lebanon”.
Trump told AFP he believed China had helped get Iran to the negotiating table to agree a two-week ceasefire deal.
“I hear yes,” Trump said in a telephone interview when asked if Beijing was involved in getting key ally Tehran to negotiate on a truce.
Trump told AFP that Iran’s uranium would be “perfectly taken care of” under the two-week ceasefire with Tehran.
“That will be perfectly taken care of or I wouldn’t have settled,” Trump said.
Trump told AFP that the United States had won a “total and complete victory” after agreeing a two-week ceasefire with Iran.
“Total and complete victory. 100 percent. No question about it,” Trump said.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also praised the deal.
“The success of our military created maximum leverage, allowing President Trump and the team to engage in tough negotiations that have now created an opening for a diplomatic solution and long-term peace,” Leavitt said on X.
NATO chief Mark Rutte will hold talks with Trump in Washington on Wednesday, one day after the United States and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire.
Rutte plans to “discuss current security dynamics including in the context of Iran as well as Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine” in his talks with Trump, according to a NATO official.
The United States and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire Tuesday barely an hour before Trump’s deadline to obliterate the rival country was set to expire, with Tehran agreeing to temporarily reopen the vital Strait of Hormuz.
Israel also agreed to the ceasefire, the White House said. The 11th-hour agreement came after Trump said he had spoken to Pakistan’s leaders, who had requested a truce.
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