This liveblog is no longer being updated. For more on this topic, click here.
Hezbollah claims several attacks targeting northern Israel
Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said it had launched a series of attacks against military targets in northern Israel near the Lebanese border, as delegations from two countries held security talks in Washington.
The armed group said in a series of statements that it targeted gatherings of soldiers near a town in Israel's north using drones, as well as another group in a military camp in Galilee and a barracks.
Israeli troops earlier crossed Lebanon's Litani River in a renewed ground offensive against the Iran-backed group.
US has seized $1 billion in Iranian crypto assets, Treasury Secretary Bessent alleges
Trump's Iran deal meeting has ended, White House official says
US President Donald Trump has finished a meeting during which he said would make a "final determination" on an Iran peace deal, a White House official told AFP.
The official would not say if Trump had reached a decision on the deal with Tehran during the gathering in the high security White House Situation Room.
EU adopts further sanctions against Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad
The European Union has adopted further sanctions against Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the EU said.
"The EU decided to expand the scope of the EU's restrictive measures regarding Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad to also target members of the Political Bureau of Hamas (Politburo), who promote, defend and justify violent actions. The EU also listed 10 individual members of the Politburo," it said in a statement.
The move comes a day after the EU had also imposed sanctions against some Israeli settlers.
Hamas calls Israeli advance in Gaza 'blatant violation' of truce
Hamas said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was guilty of a "blatant violation" of the October 2025 ceasefire after he ordered the army to seize more territory in the Gaza Strip.
"In a blatant violation of all agreements, as is their usual practice, Netanyahu announced expanding control over 70 percent of the Gaza Strip, while the killing and starvation continue," Hamas spokesman Bassem Naim told AFP.
Israeli troops have killed more than 900 people in the devastated Palestinian territory since the US-backed ceasefire began.
Iran says 'no negotiations' taking place on nuclear issues
TehraIran's foreign ministry said that there were "no negotiations" taking place on its nuclear programme.
"At this stage, we are focused on ending the war, and there are no negotiations on the nuclear issue," ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei told state TV.
Iran foreign ministry says still 'no final agreement' on deal with US
Political understanding between Iran and US not yet finalised, Iranian source says
A political understanding has been reached between Iran and the United States over the Iran war, but it has not yet been finalised, a senior Iranian source told Reuters on Friday.
The source said US Donald Trump's claim that uranium would be unearthed by the US was not true, adding that the possible memorandum of understanding between Tehran and Washington does not include any nuclear-related issues.
How is the Iranian regime still standing three months after Khamenei’s death?
Thursday marked exactly three months since the United States and Israel killed Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the opening salvos of its war against Tehran.
To discuss where Iran stands three months later, FRANCE 24’s Nadia Massih spoke to Dr. Ahou Koutchesfahani, a scholar specialising in Iran and international relations.
Iran sees Trump's comments on possible deal as 'mixture of truth and falsehood', Fars news agency reports
Iran views comments by US President Donald Trump regarding a possible agreement with Tehran as "a mixture of truth and falsehood", Iran's semi-official Fars News Agency reported on Friday, citing informed sources.
A memorandum of understanding between Iran and the United States was still in the final stages of ratification in Iran, and no final decision had yet been made, the sources said.
"Trump claimed that Iran was obligated to open the Strait of Hormuz without tolls, even though no such clause appears in the text of the agreement," the agency said.
On Trump's assertion that Washington and Tehran would coordinate on destroying Iran's enriched uranium, it added: "Well-informed sources emphasised that not only does this not appear in the memorandum of understanding, but this claim is fundamentally baseless."
Oil falls, stocks mixed on US-Iran truce prospects
Stock markets were mixed while oil prices fell again on investor optimism that the United States and Iran would reach a deal to extend their ceasefire.
Oil markets have been up and down this week as investors assess the chances of a breakthrough between Washington and Tehran that could potentially resume shipping through the crucial Strait of Hormuz.
Those hopes had been briefly dashed by new US military strikes on Iran on Wednesday, countered by the Revolutionary Guard's targeting of an American airbase in the region.
By Thursday evening, negotiators had edged towards a deal to extend their fragile ceasefire for 60 days, pending approval from President Donald Trump, US sources told AFP.
Kazakhstan open to taking Iran’s uranium stockpile, IAEA chief tells FT
Kazakhstan has signalled it is willing to take Tehran's stockpile of uranium enriched close to weapons-grade levels if the US reaches a deal with Iran over its nuclear programme, the head of UN's nuclear watchdog told the Financial Times.
The central Asian state expressed its openness to keeping the stockpile when Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev met International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi in Astana this week, Grossi told the newspaper in an interview published on Friday.
Kazakhstan hosts an internationally-controlled bank of low-enriched uranium to ensure fuel supplies for power stations in IAEA member states and prevent nuclear proliferation. The storage facility was opened in 2017 in collaboration with the IAEA.
Iran FM says deal depends on end to 'excessive' US demands
Iran's top diplomat Abbas Araghchi told his Omani counterpart that reaching a deal with the United States to end the Middle East war depended on Washington dropping its "excessive demands", Tehran's foreign ministry said.
"The Iranian minister of foreign affairs... indicated that arriving at a final agreement depended on ending the American party's attitude based on excessive demands and shifting and contradictory positions," the ministry said in a summary of a call between the ministers.
Trump says now making 'final determination' on Iran deal
US President Donald Trump said he was now making a "final" decision on whether or not to strike a peace deal with Iran.
"I will be meeting now, in the Situation Room, to make a final determination," Trump said in a lengthy social media post, stressing that Iran must agree never to have nuclear weapons and to open the Hormuz shipping lanes.
Rubio meets Pakistani FM amid talks on Iran war
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with his Pakistani counterpart at the State Department in Washington on Friday, as negotiations aimed at ending the war with Iran drag on.
The meeting with Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar –whose country is acting as mediator between the United States and Iran – came days after Rubio's visit to India, Pakistan's historic rival.
The two officials did not address the press.
Vice President JD Vance said late Thursday that progress had been made toward an agreement between the United States and Iran.
Iran says no trust in US 'words', waiting for Washington to act
Iran's top negotiator said that Tehran would only trust Washington's actions, not its words, after US Vice President JD Vance said progress had been made on a deal to extend a ceasefire and provide a framework for peace talks.
President Donald Trump has remained notably silent about the deal despite US sources telling AFP it only needed his sign-off, underscoring the unpredictability of talks three months after the conflict engulfed the Middle East and shook the global economy.
"We place no trust in guarantees or words; only actions matter. No step will be taken before the other side acts first," Iran's Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf wrote on X.
The parliament speaker, who led Tehran's delegation at peace talks with the US in Pakistan last month, also warned that Iran had gained leverage not "through talks, but through missiles" fired at US bases and allies in the region when war broke out on February 28.
Palestinians mourn the ten people killed in Eid strikes as Netanyahu vows wider control of Gaza
Dozens of Palestinians in Gaza City gathered on Thursday for funeral prayers for 10 people killed in Israeli strikes the night before, including five children and an elderly person, as well as a Hamas militant.
More than 20 people were injured in the strikes, according to Shifa Hospital.
Video from the scene showed flames pouring from an upper-floor window of a building, while bystanders rushed to carry wounded people, including children, to ambulances.
Lebanon president tells Rubio that Israel truce crucial to talks progress
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun told US Secretary of State Marco Rubio that a ceasefire with Israel was crucial, as Israeli and Lebanese military delegations meet at the Pentagon.
A statement from Aoun's office said that during a phone call, the president "emphasised the need to exert all efforts to reach a ceasefire, considering it an essential gateway to moving on to any other step".
Iran's Araqchi says discussed Hormuz and its future administration with Oman's FM
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said he had discussed the Strait of Hormuz and its future administration with Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi in line with their sovereign responsibilities and international law.
In a post on X, Araqchi said he also expressed Iran's solidarity with Oman in the face of any threat.
Israeli plan to seize more of Gaza means 'more children will suffer': UN
The UN warned that an Israeli plan to take control of 70 percent of Gaza is sure to increase suffering among children already hit by the impacts of severe overcrowding.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that he had ordered the military to take control of more territory in the Gaza Strip, in defiance of the terms of a fragile ceasefire that took effect in October.
He said the military had controlled 50 percent of the territory under the terms of the ceasefire, then advanced to take over 60 percent.
"My directive is to move to... 70 percent," he said.
Yesterday's key developments:
• US and Iranian negotiators agreed on a framework for a 60-day ceasefire extension deal, but it still needs President Donald Trump's approval.
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he had ordered the country's military to take control of 70 percent of the devastated Gaza Strip, in defiance of the terms of a US-backed ceasefire that took effect in October.
• The Israeli military pounded Lebanon's fourth-largest city, killing at least 14 people across the south of the country in its ongoing military escalation against the Hezbollah group ahead of crucial talks in Washington.
• This year's United Nations report on sexual violence in conflict zones will include Israeli entities, with the organisation citing "credible information" regarding sexual violence allegedly committed by Israeli security forces against Palestinian detainees in prisons and other detention centres.
