Here’s what happened in the war in the Middle East on Thursday.
The aftermath of an airstrike in the Tallet el-Khayat area of Beirut, Lebanon, on Thursday. Credit…Diego Ibarra Sanchez for The New York Times
Hospital staff and soldiers transferring a patient from a parking garage used as a shelter, back to Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv on Thursday. Credit…Avishag Shaar-Yashuv for The New York Times
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said Thursday that his country would continue striking Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militia in Lebanon, even as he agreed to start talks with the Lebanese government about disarming the paramilitary group. The Lebanese government has no direct control over Hezbollah — just one hurdle of any negotiations.
April 9, 2026, 8:04 p.m. ETApril 9, 2026
Pranav Baskar
International reporter
In a statement on Thursday, the State Department said that a group of U.S. diplomats had been ambushed in Baghdad on Wednesday by Iran-aligned militia groups in Iraq. No casualties were reported. The ambush, the department said, followed “hundreds” of attacks in recent weeks against U.S. citizens and diplomatic facilities — including the weeklong abduction of the American journalist Shelly Kittleson.
The department called on the Iraqi government to take immediate steps to dismantle Iran-aligned militia groups in Iraq, and criticized its “failure” so far to constrain them.
April 9, 2026, 7:49 p.m. ETApril 9, 2026
Farnaz Fassihi
International reporter
Iran’s state media announced that the former foreign minister Kamal Kharazi, who was targeted by Israel in airstrikes on April 1, was dead after more than a week of being in a coma. Mr. Kharazi headed Iran’s Foreign Policy Council, a body that sets foreign policies. He had been supervising discussions with Pakistan for potential talks between Tehran and Washington, according to three Iranian officials.
Credit…Majid Asgaripour/Wana News Agency, via Reuters
April 9, 2026, 4:50 p.m. ETApril 9, 2026
Pranav Baskar
International reporter
The Israeli military said it had detected rockets fired toward northern Israel from Lebanon, according to a military spokesman and Israel’s emergency rescue service. Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese armed group, said it had fired a rocket salvo toward northern Israel, in a statements published through its media arm. The Israeli military spokesman said one rocket was intercepted and another fell in open space, and declined to say whether other rockets were fired.
April 9, 2026, 4:22 p.m. ETApril 9, 2026
Emmett Lindner
Markets cautiously rebounded on Thursday after some progress in negotiations between Israel and Lebanon in the afternoon, but oil prices rose in late trading as reports of fresh strikes came out of the Middle East. Brent crude, the international benchmark, settled at $95.92 a barrel, less than its high of the day but still up more than 1 percent on Thursday.
April 9, 2026, 4:19 p.m. ETApril 9, 2026
Michael Crowley
State Department reporter
The State Department will host a meeting next week with representatives of Israel and Lebanon to discuss cease-fire negotiations. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said Thursday that his country would begin diplomacy with Lebanon to discuss the disarmament of Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon following pressure from President Trump to resolve a matter that has threatened his cease-fire deal with Iran.
April 9, 2026, 4:10 p.m. ETApril 9, 2026
Dayana Iwaza
A senior Hezbollah official dismissed the possibility of talks between Israel and the Lebanese government, hours after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said his government would hold them to discuss disarming the group. Hezbollah is not concerned with any decisions the government may take regarding negotiations, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters. The official said Hezbollah could not take a position on the talks before knowing the government’s stance, but added that the atmosphere between the Iran-backed militant group and the government was negative.
The official also said that Hezbollah would continue to fight to defend Lebanon, and echoed statements by Iran that Lebanon was supposed to be included in the cease-fire.
April 9, 2026, 3:57 p.m. ETApril 9, 2026
Pranav Baskar
International reporter
For the first time since the cease-fire was struck, two non-Iranian oil tankers were tracked to cross to Strait of Hormuz by Kpler, a global ship-tracking firm. Those ships carried Palau and Gabon flags, according to public vessel data. A total of eight bulk carriers, which carry dry cargo, have also crossed the vital waterway since the two-week truce was made, but overall, marine traffic in the strait remained at a trickle.
Adding to the confusion about the waterway’s status, Kpler later said it found that the two non-Iranian tankers that passed through the Strait of Hormuz today have been linked to sanctioned entities tied to Iran.
April 9, 2026, 3:25 p.m. ETApril 9, 2026
Pranav Baskar
International reporter
The Israeli military said it was launching fresh strikes against Hezbollah sites in Lebanon.
April 9, 2026, 3:17 p.m. ETApril 9, 2026
Pranav Baskar
International reporter
In a statement on social media, Kuwait’s army said it was fending off hostile attacks from drones which penetrated the country’s airspace, targeting a number of vital facilities. The army did not specify the source of the drones. It came after a day of relative calm among the Gulf States, where Iran fired hundreds of missiles in the peak of the conflict.
April 9, 2026, 3:15 p.m. ETApril 9, 2026
Vivian Nereim
Reporting from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
A recent attack on a pumping station that is part of Saudi Arabia’s east-west oil pipeline caused damage that will reduce the throughput capacity of the pipeline by 700,000 barrels per day, Saudi Arabia’s state news agency reported, citing an “official source” at the energy ministry. The pipeline has become a key export route for the kingdom, the world’s largest oil exporter, after traffic through the Strait of Hormuz was nearly choked off. The news agency did not say where the attack had originated or when it had occurred.
Recent attacks in Saudi Arabia have also damaged oil production facilities in Manifa and Khurais, reducing the kingdom’s oil production capacity by 600,000 barrels per day, the agency added. One Saudi national has been killed and seven other people injured in the recent attacks, it said.
The war in Iran has dealt a new blow to the world economy, which the head of the International Monetary Fund said on Thursday will mean slower growth this year because of the destruction of energy infrastructure and supply chain disruptions.
The fragile two-week truce that the United States and Iran agreed to this week could temper the economic damage from the war. But Kristalina Georgieva, the I.M.F.’s managing director, warned that even in the most optimistic scenario there would be significant fallout for the global economy.
April 9, 2026, 12:29 p.m. ETApril 9, 2026
Aaron Boxerman
Reporting from Jerusalem
The talks between Israel and Lebanon that the Israeli prime minister just announced will face enormous roadblocks. Israeli officials have so far given no indication that negotiations would lead them to stop their attacks in Lebanon, where they have signaled plans for a longer occupation of the country’s south. It is far from clear how much buy-in the talks have from Hezbollah, which has long overshadowed the official Lebanese government. And while Lebanese leaders have voiced interest in disarming Hezbollah, Israel has expressed intense skepticism that they would be able to do so.
April 9, 2026, 11:52 a.m. ETApril 9, 2026
Aaron Boxerman
Reporting from Jerusalem
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said he had ordered the Israeli government to start direct negotiations with Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Lebanese armed group. In a statement, Netanyahu’s office said the talks — which would take place “as soon as possible” — would also focus on “arranging peaceful ties between Israel and Lebanon.”
Joseph Aoun, Lebanon’s president, has repeatedly called for direct talks with Israel to end the ongoing Israeli invasion in Lebanon against Hezbollah, which escalated amid the monthlong war with Iran. Until now, Aoun’s entreaties had largely been dismissed by Israeli officials. Israel and Lebanon do not have formal relations and official meetings between the sides have been rare in recent decades.
April 9, 2026, 11:48 a.m. ETApril 9, 2026
Anton Troianovski
Foreign policy reporter
Rutte said that NATO countries are “looking for what they can do to contribute” to keeping the Strait of Hormuz open, with assets like warships, minesweepers and radar technology. Rutte is arguing that Europe needs some time to pull together, especially because “there was not a lot of prior consultation” when Trump started the war on Iran on Feb. 28. But major European countries have remained steadfast in describing a mission to secure the Strait of Hormuz as only being possible when the shooting in the region stops, and there is no sign they are changing that position.
Rutte also argued that the U.S. military presence in Europe helpd protect the United States and enabled its global influence. Indeed, despite European unhappiness with the war, American bases in Britain, Germany and elsewhere have been key to the U.S. war effort against Iran.
April 9, 2026, 11:39 a.m. ETApril 9, 2026
Megan Mineiro
Congressional reporter
House Democrats just tried to force passage of legislation that would compel President Trump to ask Congress to authorize the war in Iran to continue the conflict, but the Republican majority blocked the attempt. A handful of Democratic members who came to the Capitol amid the congressional recess to try to force the vote on the war powers resolution yelled “shame” and “end the war” before the brief session ended. The House defeated a similar resolution to end the war last month.
April 9, 2026, 11:38 a.m. ETApril 9, 2026
Anton Troianovski
Foreign policy reporter
The NATO secretary general, Mark Rutte, said he sensed Trump’s “disappointment” in the alliance in his meeting with the president at the White House on Wednesday. Rutte, speaking at an event in Washington, said he told Trump that “we have coalitions in Europe” and “the political home front to take care of.” He added: “But then we pull together, and almost all of Europe did, for the U.S. to project power on the world stage.”
April 9, 2026, 11:13 a.m. ETApril 9, 2026
Isabel Kershner
Reporting from Jerusalem
The war with Iran is unfinished business for Israel’s prime minister.
Image
At an underground bomb shelter being used as a hospital in Haifa, Israel, on Thursday, a television showed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressing the nation. Credit…Marco Longari/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu finally spoke to the Israeli public on Wednesday night, some 18 hours after a two-week cease-fire with Iran had come into force, his televised address was less about victory than unfinished business.
The “double existential threat” of Iran’s ballistic missiles and its nuclear program has been “distanced,” he said, but not eliminated.
Khatibzadeh also told the broadcaster that “we hope that we can meet soon in Pakistan” for scheduled talks with an American delegation. But he insisted that Lebanon was part of the cease-fire deal and criticized Israeli strikes there, saying that Iran hoped the United States could “control its ally” and “honor their words.”
April 9, 2026, 7:14 a.m. ETApril 9, 2026
Josh Holder
Though the cease-fire was announced late on Tuesday Eastern time, Wednesday saw the lowest ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz since late March, according to data from Kpler, a global ship-tracking firm. Just five bulk carriers transited the strait, with no oil or gas tankers making the crossing, the firm said. Before the war, more than 130 ships typically crossed the strait each day.
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