Iran War Live Updates: Trump Extends Israel-Lebanon Cease-Fire as Strait of Hormuz Tensions Escalate

President Trump announced a three-week extension of the Israel-Lebanon cease-fire on Thursday, pushing the deadline from April 26 to May 17 after hosting Israeli and Lebanese diplomats at the White House. The move aims to preserve momentum toward a broader peace agreement with Iran, though critical obstacles remain: Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militia driving the fighting, had no representatives at the talks and hasn't commented on the extension, and Lebanon's government lacks the power to enforce a halt to attacks by the militia it doesn't control. Before the cease-fire was brokered last week, nearly 2,300 people had been killed in Lebanon and 13 in Israel, but Israeli airstrikes and Hezbollah attacks have since dramatically reduced—though the two sides continued trading fire even hours before Trump's announcement.

Meanwhile, hostilities are shifting to new terrain. The U.S. and Iran are now clashing over the Strait of Hormuz, where both nations have seized cargo ships in recent days over disputed maritime rules. Trump took a starkly aggressive tone Thursday, ordering the Navy to "shoot and kill any boat" laying mines in the critical oil and gas shipping lane. On Wednesday, Iranian forces claimed to have seized two cargo ships near the strait, while the Pentagon announced that American forces had boarded at least two sanctioned Iranian oil tankers in the Indian Ocean. These maritime tensions have rattled energy markets—oil is trading above $100 a barrel again.

The financial toll of the war is staggering: two independent groups estimate the U.S. has spent between $28 billion and $35 billion since the fighting began in late February, roughly $1 billion per day. The White House has declined to provide its own cost estimates. Trump's use of the phrase "nuclear dust" to describe Iran's uranium enriched to 60 percent—dangerously close to the 90 percent purity needed for weapons-grade material—underscores the stakes in any lasting peace settlement. Even as diplomats meet, the conflict remains volatile: fighting in southern Lebanon continued throughout Thursday, with Israeli strikes killing three civilians near Nabatieh and Hezbollah claiming multiple attacks on Israeli troops occupying the south.