JD Vance stands firm and insists Lebanon ceasefire was never promised

President Donald Trump will discuss the US’ withdrawal from NATO in a meeting with the alliance’s Secretary-General Mark Rutte, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said today.

It comes as the US President said that NATO was ‘tested and they failed’ during the Iran war, Leavitt said, sharing a direct quote from Trump.

The Israeli military has struck the last direct crossing carrying most of the traffic to the key coastal city of Tyre over Lebanon’s Litani River, the strategic demarcation line separating southern Lebanon from the rest of the country.

The attack late Wednesday on the Qasmieh bridge further isolates southern Lebanon as the Israeli army pushes ahead with its ground invasion and bombardment following the announcement of a ceasefire in the Iran war.

Israel has bombed several bridges over the Litani, accusing Hezbollah of using them to bring fighters and military equipment to the border area. But the crossings are also crucial for Lebanese civilians and for those carrying humanitarian aid.

The strike comes as Israel seeks to create a ‘buffer zone’ that it says is necessary to protect its northern towns from Hezbollah rockets. Lebanese civilians fear long-term occupation and displacement.

Bahrain said on Wednesday it had reopened its airspace, which had been closed since the start of the Middle East war, after Iran and the US agreed a two-week ceasefire.

Iraq had earlier announced it was reopening its airspace.

Civil aviation authorities have ‘announced the reopening of airspace over the Kingdom of Bahrain’, the Bahrain News Agency reported.

It added that the operator of Bahrain International Airport, near the capital Manama, ‘confirms the gradual resumption of flights’ and is working ‘to ensure the efficient and smooth return of operational activities, while safeguarding the safety and security of travellers’.

Gulf nations have borne the brunt of Iran’s retaliatory attacks since the United States and Israel launched strikes in late February that ignited a regional war.

The United States and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire on Tuesday in an 11th-hour bid to avert all-out destruction threatened by US President Donald Trump.

US Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday urged Iran not to let the fragile ceasefire deal fall apart over Israel’s attacks on Lebanon, days before he is due to lead talks with Tehran in Pakistan.

‘If Iran wants to let this negotiation fall apart… over Lebanon, which has nothing to do with them, and which the United States never once said was part of the ceasefire, that’s ultimately their choice,’ Vance told reporters in Hungary.

Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday said Tehran’s negotiators thought the U.S.-Iran ceasefire agreed to on Tuesday included Lebanon, but the US had in fact not agreed to that.

The US must choose between a ceasefire or a continued war ‘via Israel’, Iran’s foreign minister has said as Israel pounded Lebanon with deadly strikes on Wednesday.

In an X post, Abbas Araghchi said the terms outlined in the two-week ceasefire between the US and Iran are ‘clear and explicit.’

‘The US.must choose—ceasefire or continued war via Israel. It cannot have both,’ he said, adding that ‘the world sees the massacres in Lebanon.’

‘The ball is in the US’ court, and the world is watching whether it will act on its commitments,’ he added.

The scale of the killing in Israeli strikes on Lebanon on Wednesday is ‘horrific’, the UN rights chief said, urging the international community to help end the unfolding ‘nightmare’.

‘The scale of the killing and destruction in Lebanon today is nothing short of horrific,’ Volker Turk said in a statement.

‘Such carnage, within hours of agreeing to a ceasefire with Iran, defies belief. It places enormous pressure on a fragile peace, which is so desperately needed by civilians.’

Pictured: A view of the destruction after the Israeli military carried out three airstrikes on Beirut, Lebanon on April 08, 2026.

Iran has accused the US of violating three clauses of its framework for a deal.

Iran’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Abbas Araghchi has insisted that an end to the war in Lebanon was part of the ceasefire agreement with the US.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump said the truce did not cover Lebanon.

‘The world sees the massacres in Lebanon,’ he said in a post on X. ‘The ball is in the US court, and the world is watching whether it will act on its commitments.’

Pictured: First responders gather at the scene of a partially destroyed residential building following an Israeli air strike, in the Tallet al-Khayat neighborhood of Beirut, Lebanon, 08 April 2026

Pictured: A woman and an injured man, center, are rescued by firefighters from a destroyed building that was hit in an Israeli airstrike in central Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 8, 2026.

Pictured: First responders search for missing people under the rubble of a partially destroyed residential building following an Israeli air strike, in the Tallet al-Khayat neighborhood of Beirut, Lebanon, 08 April 2026

Pictured: Lebanese army soldiers and first responders look up at an Israeli drone flying overhead at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 8, 2026

Pictured: This photo taken with a mobile phone shows people extinguishing a fire caused by Israeli airstrike in Beirut, Lebanon, on April 8, 2026.

Pictured: Aftermath of an Israeli strike on the Ain mreisseih near the sea side district in Beirut on April 8, 2026.

Donald Trump will discuss the possibility of leaving NATO when he meets with the alliance’s chief Mark Rutte on Wednesday, the White House said, accusing Washington’s partners of ‘turning their back’ on the American people.

The meeting comes one day after the United States and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire. Trump has expressed anger at Western partners’ refusal to back his war on Iran, rocking the 77-year-old transatlantic alliance.

‘It’s quite sad that NATO turned their backs on the American people over the course of the last six weeks when it’s the American people who have been funding their defence,’ White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.

When asked if Trump would discuss a possible withdrawal from NATO, Leavitt said: ‘It’s something the president has discussed, and I think it’s something the president will be discussing in a couple of hours with Secretary-General Rutte.’

‘Perhaps you’ll hear directly from the president following that meeting,’ she added.

Trump has branded NATO partners ‘cowards’ for limiting US forces’ access to bases on their territories and for refusing to lead efforts to open the strategic Strait of Hormuz.