US-Iran war live updates: Trump orders navy to ‘shoot and kill’ minelayers in Strait of Hormuz; US forces board oil tanker; talks between Lebanon and Israel at White House

Israel has appointed a special envoy to the Christian world after two Israeli soldiers were punished for destroying a statue of Jesus in Lebanon.

One of the soldiers photographed the other using what appeared to be a sledgehammer to hack down the crucifix during military operations in the Lebanese village. The two will be held in military detention for 30 days.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry said George Deek, who recently served as ambassador to Azerbaijan and was the first Christian ambassador in Israel’s history, was a member of the Arab Christian community.

“I am confident that George, a respected and experienced diplomat, will greatly contribute to the friendship and strengthening of the ties between the State of Israel and the Christian world,” Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said.

with AP

In breaking news, Trump says Israel and Lebanon have agreed to extend the ceasefire by three weeks after a meeting of the countries’ envoys and top US officials.

In a post on Truth Social just minutes ago, Trump confirmed the extension.

“The President of the United States, DONALD J. TRUMP, Vice President of the United States, JD Vance, Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, and Ambassador to Lebanon, Michel Issa, met today with High Ranking Representatives of Israel and Lebanon in the Oval Office. The Meeting went very well! The United States is going to work with Lebanon in order to help it protect itself from Hezbollah,” he said.

“The Ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon will be extended by THREE WEEKS. I look forward in the near future to hosting the Prime Minister of Israel, Bibi Netanyahu, and the President of Lebanon, Joseph Aoun. It was a Great Honor to be a participant at this very Historic Meeting!”

AP

During the White House press conference earlier this morning, Trump said he wanted the ceasefire with Iran to be “everlasting”.

Asked why the military operation had dragged on for longer than the four-to-six week timeline Trump projected at the start of the war, Trump said: “I want to make the best deal.”

“I want to have an everlasting … I want to have it where they never get, they never have a chance to get [nuclear].

“I thought it would take four to six weeks, and I was right because at the end of six weeks, at the end of four weeks, their military was decimated,” Trump told reporters.

Representatives from Israel and Lebanon are holding talks at the White House today – their 10-day ceasefire is due to expire on Sunday.

During the press conference, Trump was asked about the former US Navy Secretary John Phelan, who was fired yesterday after reports citing months of tension with senior Pentagon leadership.

“I consider him to have done a very good job. I put out a nice statement about him. Got to get along, especially in the military, got to get along, you know. And some people liked him, some people, and that’s usually the truth about everything. But I found him to be a very good man and I liked him a lot,” Trump told reporters.

Earlier, Trump had posted on Truth Social praising Phelan.

“John Phelan is a long-time friend, and very successful businessman, who did an outstanding job serving as my Secretary Of The Navy for the last year.”

Trump is speaking to reporters at the White House, and has just been asked how long he is willing to wait for a response from Iran about a peace deal.

“Don’t rush me,” he said before launching into an attack of reporters questioning the US’ plans for the war.

“You know, guys like you, you want to say, oh, so we were in Vietnam, like for 18 years. We were in Iraq for many, many years … We were four and a half, almost five years in World War Two. We were in the Korean War for seven years. I’ve been doing this for six weeks, and we’re [saying] their military is totally defeated,” Trump said.

He went on to repeat claims that the military operation would be completed “very quickly” – a claim he has repeated since the first week of the war.

“I don’t want to put that kind of a timetable on it, but it’ll go pretty quickly, and we’ll have the strait opened up now.”

Speaking ahead of talks in Washington during a 10-day ceasefire with Israel, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said he hoped the US would “continue exercising their leverage over Israel”.

“We are entering these negotiations convened by the US convinced that the US is the party that can have leverage over Israel,” Salam told The Washington Post.

The prime minister said Lebanon “cannot live with a so-called buffer zone” in the south of the country where Israeli forces remain, and said any deal would require a full withdrawal of troops.

Salam said disarming the Iran-backed terrorist group Hezbollah was “not something that’s going to happen overnight”.

This morning a White House official said: “The ambassador-level talks between Israel and Lebanon will now take place at the White House. President Trump will greet the representatives upon their arrival.”