Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to "vigorously attack Hezbollah targets in Lebanon", a statement from his office says.

On Saturday the IDF has issued a number of statements on Telegram accusing Hezbollah of violating a ceasefire agreed between Israel and Lebanon. Both Israel and Hezbollah have repeatedly accused one another violating the ceasefire.

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

While we've been focusing on diplomacy betwen between Iran and the US, Israel's military says it is continuing to strike Hezbollah structures across southern Lebanon.

In a statement, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) says: "The sites were struck in order to remove a threat to IDF soldiers and Israeli civilians, following Hezbollah’s use of these structures to carry out attacks against IDF soldiers and the State of Israel".

Earlier this week, US President Donald Trump said a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon would be extended by three weeks. Both Israel and Hezbollah have accused each other of violating the ceasefire deal.

Image source, AFP via Getty Images

The mounting speculation this week about possible US-Iran talks in Islamabad looks like it has failed to bear fruit.

Pakistan - which has been acting as a mediator - has for days shut down sections of its capital in preparation for talks, but US President Donald Trump has just cancelled his envoys' visit. Here's a reminder of how things unfolded:

11 April: Senior US and Iranian officials meet in Pakistan for talks which last over 21 hours but end without agreement, despite both sides reporting progress.

19 April: US President Donald Trump says his representatives will return to Pakistan for talks. However, this does not happen, as Iran says it's not yet decided whether to take part.

21 April: Trump agrees to extend the ceasefire with Iran for an unspecified time so negotiations can continue.

24 April: The White House says US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will head to Islamabad on Saturday for further talks with Iran. Iran's foreign minister arrives in Islamabad for talks with Pakistan, but an Iranian official says no negotiations with the US are planned

25 April: Iran's foreign minister holds talks with Pakistan's prime minister and army chief in Islamabad, but departs for Oman with no announcement made about when Trump's envoys might arrive. Shortly after, Trump says he's cancelled Witkoff and Kushner's trip.

Morgan Gisholt Minard
Reporting from Mar-a-Lago

Those of us in the press pool are waiting just outside the gates to President Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort on a hot and sunny day here in Florida.

We expect to see him for the first time today when we board Air Force One with him in the next few hours.

Trump is currently attending a cryptocurrency event at Mar-a-Lago, where he is scheduled to speak. But he’s also been busy fielding calls and confirming to various media outlets his decision to cancel his team's planned trip to Islamabad.

In an exchange with a reporter from the New York Post who is currently in Islamabad reporting on the talks, the president reportedly sent her a text message telling her to “Come home!!!”

Not a great sign for those holding out hope that the trip could be resurrected in the coming days.

Clear how difficult getting both sides back to the negotiating table has becomepublished at 18:02 BST

18:02 BST

Carrie Davies
BBC Pakistan correspondent, reporting from Islamabad

It’s been a day of back and forth in Islamabad. With the Iranian foreign minister gone and the American delegation cancelled, what happens next?

There’s been speculation about what might have been relayed during meetings between the Iranian and Pakistani officials.

President Trump had extended the ceasefire to allow Iran to create a ‘unified proposal’. Could Iran have passed on their demands to Pakistan during this trip? We don’t know.

What is clear is how fractious and difficult the process of trying to get the two sides back to the negotiating table face to face has become.

Pakistan has presented itself as a bridge to keep dialogue going.

That role is looking increasingly difficult.

The Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has just arrived in Muscat, Oman, according to a statement from his office.

Araghchi departed Islamabad a short while ago, having concluded talks with Pakistani officials.

In a post on X, Araghchi describes his visit to Pakistan as "very fruitful".

He says he "shared Iran's position concerning workable framework to permanently end the war on Iran", but has "yet to see if the US is truly serious about diplomacy".

US President Donald Trump has confirmed he's cancelled his envoys' trip to Islamabad.

In a post on Truth Social he says: "I just cancelled the trip of my representatives going is Islamabad, Pakistan, to meet with the Iranians.

"Too much time wasted on traveling, too much work!

"Besides which, there is tremendous infighting and confusion within their 'leadership.' Nobody knows who is in charge, including them.

"Also, we have all the cards, they have none! If they want to talk, all they have to do is call!!!"

Trip cancellation a sign of how far apart the sides arepublished at 17:23 BST

17:23 BST

Joe Inwood
World news correspondent

There had been little hope for any diplomatic breakthroughs this weekend. Now, what little there was is gone entirely.

The proposed US delegation, led by Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, already lacked the weight of the vice-president. JD Vance was “on standby”, but was not going to be initially involved.

The fact that even the lower-level team have now cancelled their trip is a sign of how far apart the sides are.

Speaking yesterday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said "we hope that positive developments will come from this meeting” - despite the fact Tehran had flatly denied any meeting was even planned.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi did travel to Pakistan - which has been mediating - but only for bilateral talks with the hosts. His statements after that meeting didn’t give much, if anything, away, but they did give the sense that Iran has not shifted dramatically from its previous positions.

As well as thanking his Pakistani hosts, he said he set out Iran’s “views and considerations” and expressed “readiness to continue Pakistan's mediation efforts until a result is achieved". In short, we’re ready to negotiate, but don’t expect capitulation.

The primary sticking point seems to remain the Strait of Hormuz, that crucial waterway which both sides are now partially blockading. The fact that an issue that was not even on the agenda before the war started is now front and centre, suggests that a lasting resolution to this war is a long way away.

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

We can bring you Donald Trump's full comments to Fox News now.

The outlet says the US president told its White House correspondent: "I've told my people, a little while go they were getting ready to leave and I said 'nope, you're not going to make an 18-hour flight to go there'

"We have all the cards, they can call us any time they want, but you're not going to be making any more 18-hour flights to sit around and talk about nothing."

When asked for comment by the BBC's US partner CBS News, the White House deferred to Trump's quote to Fox News.

Donald Trump tells Fox News that envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will no longer be heading to Pakistan for talks, the news outlet reports.

It quotes the president as saying: "We have all the cards. They can call us anytime they want, but you're not going to be making any more 18 hour flights to sit around talking about nothing."

The BBC's US media partner CBS News reports that Pakistani officials expect Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi to return to Islamabad on Sunday or Monday.

He is currently on his way to the Omani capital Muscat, after leaving Islamabad earlier, it adds.

Amir Azimi
BBC Persian editor

Image source, EPA

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was heading up talks with Pakistan earlier, but who is actually making decisions in the country? BBC Persian's Amir Azimi has more.

Formally, the answer is clear. Mojtaba Khamenei has assumed the role of supreme leader following the killing of his father, Ali Khamenei, on the first day of the war on 28 February.

But in practice, the picture is far murkier. Mojtaba Khamenei has not been seen in public since taking power. That absence matters. In Iran's political system, authority is not just institutional - it is also performative.

On paper, diplomacy sits with the government. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi continues to represent Tehran in talks with the US, under Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

Araghchi's role looks operational rather than directive. His brief reversal over whether the Strait of Hormuz was open or closed offered a rare glimpse of how little control the diplomatic track has over military decisions. Pezeshkian, meanwhile, has aligned with the broader direction of the regime without visibly shaping it.

But neither appears to be setting strategy and their authority is further put into question by the fact that Iran's delegation is headed by Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf.

A former Revolutionary Guard commander, Ghalibaf's position is precarious - active but not clearly authorised. He insists his actions align with Mojtaba Khamenei's wishes, yet there is little visible evidence of direct co-ordination.

In a system that depends on signals from the top, that ambiguity is telling.

• Read more: Iran on the brink: Who is really making decisions?

Image source, Shehbaz Sharif / X

Pakistani PM Shehbaz Sharif has just shared an update on X following talks with Iran's Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi.

"Had a most warm, cordial exchange of views on the current regional situation. We also discussed matters of mutual interest, including the further strengthening of Pakistan-Iran bilateral relations," he writes.

It follows earlier comments from Pakistan's deputy prime minister, Ishaq Dar, who said the meeting between Sharif and Araghchi "lasted around two hours approx".

"The Prime Minister emphasized on the importance of dialogue and diplomacy for the peace and stability in the region and beyond," he writes.

Image source, IRNA

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has now left Islamabad, according to Iran's state-run IRNA.

A short while ago the news agency Reuters news agency shared photographs of a motorcade, which it said was believed to be Araghchi's, leaving the Pakistani capital.

Image source, Reuters

Iranian MP Mahmoud Nabavian has threatened regional countries with destructive action if the US attacks again.

"Regional movements indicate the new folly of the evil American regime," he writes on X.

"The leaders of the regional countries should know that this time, Iran's crushing response will lead to the complete cessation of regional oil production, the destruction of all infrastructure, and the displacement and refugee status of their people," he adds.

Nabavian is a hardline MP who was part of Iran's delegation at the first round of talks in Islamabad.

US President Donald Trump has extended a ceasefire with Iran for an unspecified period. However, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said yesterday that the US was "locked and loaded" on Iranian infrastructure.

Iran has attacked what Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi described as the "presence of the US" in Gulf countries since the war began.

US and Iran dig in as trust remains lowpublished at 15:24 BST

15:24 BST

Carrie Davies
Pakistan correspondent

Image source, Reuters

We now know that Iran's foreign minister has met Pakistan's prime minister and the head of the army.

Iran has described it as bilateral talks. But the expectation is that this is about the war, with Pakistan acting as a mediator between Iran and the US. Will there be any form of movement? We don't yet know.

If the US delegation were to leave Washington in the next few hours, they wouldn't arrive in Islamabad until Sunday. Iran is planning to go to Oman and Russia next. Will they wait?

The US has said Iran wants face-to-face talks but Iran has said there are no plans for a direct meeting. There is very little trust or agreement - at the moment they can't even get on the same page about that.

Both sides seem to be digging in. There is no public indication that the US is willing to shift its position on the blockade of Iranian ports, or that Iran is willing to change its position on nuclear weapons.

Meanwhile, Pakistan - acting as a bridge between the two - is in an ever-stretching role to find common ground.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency says four people were killed on Saturday in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon.

Citing Lebanon's health ministry, it reports that two Israeli strikes - one on a lorry and another on a motorbike - in the Nabatieh district killed four people.

When approached for comment by the BBC, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says "a short while ago" it has killed four people it described as members of Hezbollah.

The military says it targeted Hezbollah members "who were driving in a vehicle loaded with weapons", as well as a fourth person "riding a motorcycle in southern Lebanon, south of the Forward Defense Line".

"The terrorists that were eliminated posed a threat to the IDF soldiers operating in southern Lebanon," it says. "The IDF continues to operate in order to remove threats to Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers."

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says two projectiles were launched from Lebanon towards Israeli territory, with sirens sounding in Upper Galilee.

"This is a blatant violation of the ceasefire agreement by the terrorist organization Hezbollah," IDF says.

It adds that one projectile was intercepted and the other fell in an open area. No injuries have been reported.

Both Israel and Hezbollah have accused each other of violating the ceasefire deal, which was recently extended by three weeks.

Hezbollah has yet to comment on the attack.

Image source, Reuters

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian has called on people to "control consumption" of electricity as the US blockade of Iranian ports continues.

"The enemies are destroying our infrastructure and placing us under siege so that people become dissatisfied and the current satisfaction turns into dissatisfaction," he says.

He adds: "Instead of 10 lights, two lights should be turned on at home; what is wrong with that?"

The CEO of Iranian power company Tavanir has also urged Iranians to watch their usage and report any unauthorised consumption, according to a video shared on Telegram by Iran's state broadcaster.

Iran's armed forces have threatened to respond if the US continues its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

It comes from a statement issued by the army's command centre, and shared by multiple state media outlets, including the Tasnim news agency - which is affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

It says that if the US continues the "siege, banditry, and piracy at sea" in the region, it will "face a response" from the Iranian armed forces.

As a reminder, the US has intercepted multiple ships after imposing a blockade on maritime traffic entering and leaving Iranian ports on 13 April.