10\/04\/2026 – 22:25Lebanon has first contact with Israel ahead of US-brokered talks planned for Tuesday<\/p>\n
Lebanon’s \u2060presidency said \u200bthat Lebanon and \u200bIsrael held their first contact via \u200ba \u200ctelephone call between \u2060their ambassadors in \u200cWashington on Friday, with \u2060the participation of the US ambassador \u200bto Lebanon.<\/p>\n
The \u200cstatement said the call was part \u200cof diplomatic efforts aimed \u200bat securing a ceasefire and launching negotiations, \u200badding that the \u200btwo sides \u200bagreed to hold a \u200bfirst meeting on Tuesday at the US State Department \u2060under US mediation.<\/p>\n
10\/04\/2026 – 21:48Iranian officials land in Pakistan ahead of peace talks<\/p>\n
An \u2060Iranian \u200bnegotiating delegation led \u200bby Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf has \u200barrived \u200cin Islamabad for \u200cpeace talks with \u2060the United States, Iranian media reported , \u200cadding that negotiations would begin if \u200cWashington accepted Tehran’s “preconditions.”<\/p>\n
The \u200bdelegation includes senior political, military and economic \u200bofficials, including \u200bIranian foreign \u200bminister, defence council secretary, \u200bcentral bank governor and several members of parliament.<\/p>\n
10\/04\/2026 – 21:12Pakistan PM says US, Iran leadership both attending Islamabad talks<\/p>\n
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Friday that leaders of both Iran and the United States would attend ceasefire talks set to take place in Islamabad.<\/p>\n
“In response to my sincere invitation, the leaderships of both countries are coming to Islamabad. There, negotiations will be held for the establishment of peace,” Sharif said in an address to the nation.<\/p>\n
US Vice President JD Vance was on his way to Pakistan, but Tehran has said certain conditions must be met before negotiations can occur, casting some doubt on the process.<\/p>\n
10\/04\/2026 – 21:02White House opted against televised address about Iran ceasefire, US officials say<\/p>\n
The White House considered but decided against a national televised address by President Donald Trump \u200bon Tuesday about his ceasefire deal with Iran, with some aides and advisers privately voicing concern<\/p>\n
about potentially overselling the still-nascent agreement, three US officials told Reuters.<\/p>\n
The decision suggests a balancing act by the Trump administration, which sought to project early confidence in the deal to pause fighting and open the Strait of Hormuz even as aides recognized its fragility. Discussions about Trump giving a national address have \u200bnot been previously reported.<\/p>\n
Ahead \u200cof talks slated to begin on Saturday in Islamabad, analysts say it is far from clear if the ceasefire will translate into a negotiated \u2060settlement to the conflict.<\/p>\n
The sources said Trump was talked out of making the speech. But the White House, in a statement, denied the discussions rose to Trump’s level, saying, “This is fake news. This was never even discussed with the president.”<\/p>\n
10\/04\/2026 – 21:00Starmer says NATO in US’s ‘interests’ as Gulf tour ends<\/p>\n
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer insisted on Friday that NATO was “in America’s interests”, at the end of a three-day visit to the Gulf to discuss bolstering the “fragile” Middle East truce.<\/p>\n
Starmer’s comments followed US President Donald Trump’s renewed attacks this week on the Western military alliance and his threats to withdraw from it, after a refusal by NATO allies to join the US-Israel war against Iran.<\/p>\n
“It is in America’s interests. It’s in European interests,” Starmer told UK broadcasters of the nearly 80-year-old security bloc.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“NATO is a defensive alliance, which for decades has kept us much safer than we would otherwise have been,” he added, while reiterating European members “need to do more” financial burden sharing.<\/p>\n
Starmer spoke before leaving Qatar, the last stop of his tour of the war-hit region, which also included visits to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain<\/p>\n
10\/04\/2026 – 20:36 Wall Street mixed and oil prices steady ahead of planned US-Iran ceasefire talks<\/p>\n
Wall Street hovered around yesterday’s levels and oil prices barely budged early Friday amid a shaky ceasefire agreement between the US and Iran, which maintained its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n
10\/04\/2026 – 20:17Israel army says killed 180 Hezbollah militants in Wednesday strikes<\/p>\n
The Israeli military said Friday that airstrikes it carried out in Lebanon two days earlier killed more than 180 Hezbollah militants.<\/p>\n
“Following an initial intelligence assessment… it can be determined that the IDF eliminated more than 180 militants from the Hezbollah terrorist organisation. The count is still ongoing,” the military said.<\/p>\n
Lebanon’s health ministry meanwhile said Friday that the death toll from Israeli strikes across the country two days earlier was 357, up from a previous count of 303, while it said 1,223 more people were wounded.<\/p>\n
10\/04\/2026 – 20:17US-Iran talks in Islamabad are a ‘make or break’ for a permanent ceasefire, Pakistan PM says<\/p>\n
\u2060Pakistani \u2060Prime Minister \u200bShehbaz Sharif said \u200blate on Friday that the US-Iran talks \u200bin \u200cIslamabad slated \u2060to begin on \u200cSaturday were a make \u2060or break to achieve a permanent \u200bceasefire in the \u200cweeks-long Middle East conflict.<\/p>\n
10\/04\/2026 – 20:01Lebanon says death toll from Israeli strikes on Wednesday rises to 357<\/p>\n
Lebanon’s health ministry said Friday that the death toll from Israeli strikes across the country two days earlier was 357, up from a previous count of 303, while it said 1,223 more people were wounded.<\/p>\n
“The toll is still not final, due to the ongoing removal of rubble and the presence of a large amount of human remains” requiring DNA testing, the ministry statement said, after Israel’s massive strikes on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The ministry also raised the overall toll in Lebanon since war erupted between Israel and Hezbollah on March 2 to 1,953 dead and 6,303 wounded.<\/p>\n
10\/04\/2026 – 18:57Iran internet blackout enters 42nd day, despite US ceasefire<\/p>\n
Internet access remains blocked in Iran, for the 42nd consecutive day, despite a ceasefire with the United States online monitor NetBlocks reports.<\/p>\n
The communications blackout has been in place since the start of the war in late February. It prevents people living inside Iran from accessing independent sources of information about current events and sharing their own perspectives with the outside world. <\/p>\n
It has also cut contact between people living inside the country and their relatives living outside Iran.<\/p>\n
10\/04\/2026 – 18:51Trump says Iran has ‘no cards’ beyond Hormuz control<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump has said that Iran has “no cards” in upcoming talks with the United States — apart from Tehran’s effective stranglehold on the crucial Strait of Hormuz shipping channel.<\/p>\n
“The Iranians don’t seem to realize they have no cards, other than a short term extortion of the World by using International Waterways. The only reason they are alive today is to negotiate!” Trump said on his Truth Social network.<\/p>\n
\n 10\/04\/2026 – 18:47\n <\/p>\n
10\/04\/2026 – 18:43US and Iran prepare for talks as Netanyahu authorises negotiations with Lebanon<\/p>\n
FRANCE 24’s Hoda Abdel-Hamid reports from Doha, Qatar.<\/p>\n
10\/04\/2026 – 18:32Over 100,000 worshippers perform Friday prayers at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque<\/p>\n
More than 100,000 Muslim worshippers performed Friday prayers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in east Jerusalem, the holy site’s Islamic authority reported, after it reopened the previous day following a truce agreed between the United States and Iran.<\/p>\n
In Jerusalem’s Old City three major holy sites – Al-Aqsa Mosque for Muslims, the Western Wall for Jews, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for Christians – had been shuttered since the start of the war sparked by the US-Israeli attack on Iran on February 28.<\/p>\n
The sites reopened to worshippers on Thursday, a day after Washington and Tehran declared a two-week ceasefire in the Middle East war.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/69d925fd56b4568d05b4e016.JPG\"\/)
(\u00a9 Ammar Awad, Reuters)<\/p>\n
10\/04\/2026 – 17:58Trump warns of fresh strikes if Iran talks fail, NY Post reports<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump said Friday that US warships are being reloaded with weaponry to strike Iran if talks in Pakistan fail to produce a deal, in an interview with the New York Post.<\/p>\n
“We have a reset going. We’re loading up the ships with the best ammunition, the best weapons ever made – even better than what we did previously and we blew them apart,” the Post quoted Trump as saying.<\/p>\n
“And if we don’t have a deal, we will be using them, and we will be using them very effectively.”<\/p>\n
In a brief and cryptic message on his Truth Social network earlier, Trump had spoken of the “WORLD’S MOST POWERFUL RESET!!!”<\/p>\n
Vice President JD Vance headed to Islamabad on Friday to lead the US delegation in this weekend’s talks with Iran, with a warning to Tehran not to “play” Washington.<\/p>\n
10\/04\/2026 – 17:43Lebanon says Israeli attack killed 13 state security personnel in Nabatieh<\/p>\n
Lebanon’s \u2060President \u200bJoseph Aoun said \u200bon Friday that 13 state \u200bsecurity \u200cpersonnel \u2060were killed \u200cin an Israeli strike \u2060on a governmental building \u200bin the \u200csouthern city of Nabatieh.<\/p>\n
In a \u200cstatement, Aoun \u200bcondemned continued Israeli attacks and said targeting \u200bstate institutions \u200bwould not \u200bdeter Lebanon \u200bfrom defending its sovereignty.<\/p>\n
10\/04\/2026 – 17:40Israel military says 30 rockets fired from Lebanon<\/p>\n
Iran-backed Hezbollah fired around 30 projectiles from Lebanon into Israel on Friday, the Israeli military said, reporting that some strikes caused damage.<\/p>\n
Air-raid sirens were activated across northern Israel near the Lebanese border, where Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants have continued to exchange fire despite a truce in the broader conflict involving Iran.<\/p>\n
Israeli emergency services reported a strike in Safed, where a direct hit damaged several vehicles.<\/p>\n
The emergency services reported additional impacts in the Galilee region, including in Baana and Deir al-Assad, where a building was hit.<\/p>\n
10\/04\/2026 – 17:12Netanyahu requests delay in his corruption trial testimony<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu \u200bhas asked to postpone giving testimony in his long-running corruption trial \u200bthat was set to resume next week, citing the ongoing security situation in the region, Netanyahu’s lawyer said in a court filing on \u200bFriday.<\/p>\n
Netanyahu’s \u200ctrial was set to resume on Sunday, \u2060after Israel lifted a state of emergency imposed over its war with Iran following Wednesday’s \u200cceasefire announcement. The defence said it was prepared to continue \u2060hearing the testimony of a prosecution witness.<\/p>\n
“Due to classified security and diplomatic reasons connected… to the dramatic events \u200bthat have taken place in the State \u200cof Israel and throughout the Middle East in recent times, the Prime Minister will not be able to testify in the\u00a0proceeding for at least \u200cthe next two weeks,” the filing to the Jerusalem District Court said.<\/p>\n
Netanyahu, the first \u200bsitting Israeli prime minister to be charged with a crime, \u200bdenies charges of bribery, fraud and breach of \u200btrust brought in 2019 after years of investigations.<\/p>\n
10\/04\/2026 – 17:02Kuwait says Iranian attack hit National Guard facilities, caused injuries<\/p>\n
Kuwait’s \u2060army \u200bsaid \u200bon Friday \u200bthat an \u200cIranian \u2060attack \u200ctargeted several \u2060vital National \u200bGuard facilities, \u200cwounding a \u200cnumber \u200bof personnel and causing significant \u200bmaterial \u200bdamage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"10\/04\/2026 – 22:57 This liveblog is no longer being updated. Click here to read more on the war…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4929,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[857,5,426,50,309,63,425,72,738,236],"class_list":{"0":"post-4928","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-benjamin-netanyahu","9":"tag-france","10":"tag-hezbollah","11":"tag-iran","12":"tag-iran-war","13":"tag-israel","14":"tag-lebanon","15":"tag-middle-east","16":"tag-military","17":"tag-usa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4928\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}