LIVE – Donald Trump and Xi Jinping agree that the Strait of Hormuz "must remain open"

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Discussions Thursday between Israel and Lebanon on a soon-to-expire ceasefire were “positive” and will continue as planned for a second day, a US official said. “We look forward to continuing tomorrow and hope to be able to say more at that time,” said the senior State Department official.

On a state visit to China, American President Donald Trump got to the heart of the matter with Xi Jinping this Thursday, notably raising the sensitive subject of the near paralysis of the Strait of Hormuz. He also assured that his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping was ready to provide “help” to reach an agreement, and that he had assured him that no military equipment would be provided to Tehran. TF1’s 8 p.m. takes stock of this crucial diplomatic meeting.

The Israeli army also claimed on She “continues its operations aimed at eliminating threats to Israeli citizens and Israeli army forces” in the area, she assured.

On its X account, the Israeli army reports that “fire coming from Lebanon was detected” in northern Israel, but without causing any injuries. “Some were intercepted and others fell on open ground,” she added, seeing it as a “new violation” of the ceasefire on the part of Hezbollah.

The Israeli army reported at midday that a Hezbollah drone attack had injured several civilians in northern Israel. The latter had been evacuated to a hospital. The Galilee Medical Center said four people were injured “following an explosive drone strike on the parking lot of the Rosh Hanikra site.”

Chinese companies are reportedly preparing secret arms sales to Iran. It was the New York Times which revealed this information, although the delivery would take place via other countries in order to conceal the origin of the shipments. Our journalist Amal Laoui takes stock of LCI.

Continued disruption from war in the Middle East risks leading to less growth and more inflation globally, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned. The organization’s spokesperson, Julie Kozack, affirmed that “we are heading towards the unfavorable scenario.” “Expectations relating to inflation remain reasonably well anchored and financial conditions remain accommodating,” she said during her regular press briefing.

The organization’s latest projections, published last month, forecast global growth limited to 3.1% this year due to the conflict and the blockage of energy flows that it has caused in the Gulf. The IMF warned, however, that the world economy risked sliding towards a more “unfavorable” scenario if the war were to last.

Hezbollah said it used a drone to attack Israeli soldiers in northern Israel, near the border with Lebanon, just as talks resumed in Washington between Lebanese and Israeli representatives.

In a press release, the pro-Iranian movement indicated that it had “targeted a gathering of soldiers of the enemy Israeli army on the site of Rosh Hanikra” with a drone. The Israeli army reported at midday that a Hezbollah drone attack had injured several civilians in northern Israel. The latter had been evacuated to a hospital.

The official Lebanese news agency ANI, for its part, reported Israeli air strikes in the south and east of Lebanon. Despite the truce in force since April 17, Israeli attacks have killed more than 400 people in the country, according to an AFP count based on figures from the Ministry of Health. HAS

In an interview with NBC News (nouvelle fenêtre)American Secretary of State Marco Rubio assured that Washington had not requested any aid from Beijing, while Donald Trump affirmed for his part that his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping stood ready to “help”. “We are not asking for help from China. We do not need their help,” said the official, while ensuring that the two leaders had found common ground on Iran, China having reiterated its opposition to the development of a nuclear weapon by Tehran.

The Iranian Foreign Minister has accused the United Arab Emirates of playing an “active” role alongside the United States and Israel in the war against Iran, since the summit of the Brics countries in India. In statements published later Thursday by the official IRNA news agency, Abbas Araghchi said he told “the representative of the United Arab Emirates that the Zionist regime and the United States cannot guarantee them security” and that Abu Dhabi had “noted the result of the presence of American bases” on its soil.

“We and the United Arab Emirates are neighbors, we have lived together in the past and we must continue to live together in the future. We must therefore change our perspective and view security as mutual cooperation, and not as cooperation with foreign countries,” he insisted.

After the announcement by official Iranian media, Tehran confirmed that its naval forces had since the day before authorized the passage of several Chinese ships through the Strait of Hormuz, which it has blocked since the start of the war in the Middle East.

“The passage of a certain number of Chinese ships through the Strait of Hormuz was made possible in accordance with the strait management protocols put in place by Iran,” the Revolutionary Guards, Iran’s ideological army, said in a statement. This passage, which began “last night”, was made possible thanks to the “close relations between the two countries and their strategic partnership”, they specified.

In an interview with Fox News channel (nouvelle fenêtre)US President Donald Trump, currently visiting China (nouvelle fenêtre)assured that his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping had said he was ready to “help” to reach an agreement with Iran. “President Xi would like to reach an agreement. He actually made a proposal. He said: ‘If I can be of any help, I would be happy to provide it’. That’s what he said,” declared the head of the White House. “He would like the Strait of Hormuz to be reopened,” he added.

The American president also said that Xi Jinping had assured him that Beijing would not send military equipment to Iran. “It’s not like they are fighting a war on our side or anything,” but “he said he would not provide equipment military, it’s a strong statement (…) he said it very clearly,” he said. “But at the same time, he added that they buy a lot of their oil there and that they would like to continue to do so,” he slipped.

Admiral Brad Cooper, head of the American military command for the Middle East (Centcom), was heard by the Senate Armed Services Committee. “We have weakened Iran’s ability to project its power beyond its borders, to threaten the region and to threaten our interests,” he assured, asserting in particular that “with 90% of its defense industrial bases destroyed, Iran will not be able to to reconstitute these weapons before years”.

“Today, Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis are all cut off from arms supplies and support from Iran,” he continued, seeing it as “the culmination of months of careful planning, based on decades of experience.”

Unlike the previous session of negotiations between Israel and Lebanon, neither the American Secretary of State Marco Rubio nor Donald Trump are present: they are on an official visit to China. The team of American mediators includes the US ambassadors to Israel and Lebanon, Mike Huckabee and Michel Issa.

Lebanon is this time represented by Simon Karam, a 76-year-old lawyer and diplomat, fervent defender of his country’s sovereignty, and Israel by its ambassador Yechiel Leiter, 67, a long-time ally of Benjamin Netanyahu.

For its part, Washington says it defends the sovereignty of Lebanon throughout its territory and calls on the authorities to disarm the powerful Hezbollah. The United States “recognizes that comprehensive peace depends on the complete restoration of the authority of the Lebanese state and the total disarmament of Hezbollah,” said the State Department.

According to him, “these talks must make it possible to categorically break with the failed approach of the last two decades which allowed terrorist movements to take root and enrich themselves, while undermining the authority of the Lebanese state and threatening the northern border of Israel”.

The truce in Lebanon has been extended until Sunday May 17. Since its entry into force on April 17, more than 400 people have died in Israeli strikes, according to an AFP count based on official figures. Israel has reserved the right to continue targeting Hezbollah: “anyone who threatens the State of Israel will die because of their fault”, warned Benjamin Netanyahu last week after the assassination of an important military leader of the Lebanese pro-Iranian movement, in the heart of Beirut. More than 2,800 people have died in Lebanon since the start of the conflict in early March, including at least 200 children, according to the Lebanese authorities.

The third meeting between Israeli and Lebanese representatives, two countries which do not maintain diplomatic relations, takes place at the American Department of State in Washington, and is scheduled to last two days. During their last meeting on April 23 in Washington, American President Donald Trump announced a three-week extension of the truce, and expressed the hope of a historic rapprochement between the two Middle East neighbors.

In Washington, Lebanon is seeking “a consolidation of the ceasefire”, a senior official who requested anonymity told AFP. “The priority is to put an end to the death and destruction.” Hezbollah, for its part, reiterated its rejection of these negotiations on Thursday, with one of its deputies, Ali Ammar, denouncing a “free concession” to Israel.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has issued an alert regarding global oil stocks. The latter are being depleted at a record rate due to “increasing losses of supply in the Strait of Hormuz”, strategic for the global energy market.

The head of the Iranian Football Federation said no visas have yet been issued to his national team to travel to the United States to participate in the 2026 World Cup. Iran’s participation in the tournament, scheduled for June 11 to July 19, remains surrounded by uncertainties (nouvelle fenêtre) since the outbreak of war in the Middle East at the end of February.

“We will have tomorrow or the day after tomorrow a decisive meeting with Fifa. It must provide us with guarantees, because the visa problem is still not resolved,” indicated the president of the Federation, Mehdi Taj, quoted by the Irna agency. “We have not received any reports from the other side regarding who has been granted visas. No visas have been issued yet,” he added. Fifa boss Gianni Infantino has reaffirmed that Iran will play its World Cup matches in the United States as planned.

Israel and Lebanon have launched a new session of discussions in Washington to achieve rapprochement, according to diplomats, as a ceasefire expires. This third cycle of discussions, which should last two days, began shortly after 9 a.m. local time (3 p.m. in France) at the State Department, according to a diplomat close to the matter.

Israeli bombings hit southern Lebanon all night, while the Lebanese authorities have already reported around thirty deaths on Wednesday. An extreme level of tension, while bilateral negotiations between Israel and Lebanon, for a third round of negotiations, resume this Thursday in Washington. The explanations of the LCI correspondent in Beirut, Arthur Sarradin.

For its part, the Israeli army announced that it had launched a new wave of strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon and ordered the evacuation of around ten villages in the south of the country, while Israeli and Lebanese negotiators are due to meet in Washington at the end of day. Clashes continued almost daily between Israel and pro-Iranian Hezbollah despite the ceasefire that has come into force since mid-April, and which expires in a few days. On Wednesday, the Israeli army had already intensified its strikes in Lebanon, killing at least 29 people according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.

A drone attack by the pro-Iranian movement Hezbollah injured several civilians in northern Israel, the Israeli army announced. “An explosive drone launched by the terrorist organization Hezbollah fell on Israeli territory, near the Israeli-Lebanese border,” the army said. “Several Israeli civilians were injured and evacuated to hospital for treatment.”

The Iranian Tasnim agency announced today that Iran’s naval forces have authorized the passage of “several Chinese ships” through the Strait of Hormuz since the day before. “Following a decision by the Islamic Republic, several Chinese ships were allowed to pass through the Strait of Hormuz under transit protocols managed by Iran,” the agency reports.

Iran’s foreign minister today accused the United Arab Emirates of playing an “active” role alongside the United States and Israel in the war against Iran. “The United Arab Emirates is an active partner in aggression (against Iran), there is no doubt about it,” Abbas Araghchi said at the Brics summit in India. “It is now clear that they participated in these attacks, perhaps even that they acted directly against us.”

He also referred to the meeting, described as “secret” by Israel, between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the President of the Emirates Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, and which Abu Dhabi denies was held.

American President Donald Trump and his counterpart Xi Jinping expressed today during their summit in Beijing their convergence of views on the fact that the Strait of Hormuz should “remain open”, indicates the White House. “Both sides agreed that the Strait of Hormuz should remain open to ensure the free flow of energy products,” she added.

A ship was boarded by unidentified individuals off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, near the Strait of Hormuz, and is currently heading towards Iranian territorial waters, the British maritime security agency announced today.

The ship was “boarded by unauthorized personnel while at anchor”, 38 nautical miles (approximately 70 kilometers) northeast of Fujairah, and “is now heading towards Iranian territorial waters”, according to a message posted on the UKMTO (United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations) X account.

The authorities of the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday denied “information circulating” reporting a visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or a military delegation to the country.

“The United Arab Emirates denies the information circulating about an alleged visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the Emirates, or the reception of any Israeli military delegation in the country,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. press release published yesterday evening.

The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said Wednesday that Benyamin Netanyahu secretly traveled during the war with Iran to the United Arab Emirates, one of the few Arab countries to have normalized relations with Israel, and was received there by the president, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The office of the head of the Israeli government welcomed a “historic advance”.

Israeli and Lebanese negotiators are meeting from this Thursday in Washington, a few days before the expiration of a ceasefire which did not prevent hundreds of additional deaths during Israeli strikes against Hezbollah.

Representatives of the two countries had already met on April 23 in the American capital. Donald Trump announced on this occasion a three-week extension of the truce, and expressed the hope of a historic rapprochement between the two neighbors in the Middle East who do not maintain diplomatic relations.

The Israeli army intensified its strikes in Lebanon yesterday, killing at least 22 people according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health, despite the truce in progress since April 17. These strikes, on more than 30 separate locations according to the national information agency (ANI, official) come as Lebanon and Israel, which do not maintain diplomatic relations, are due to begin today in Washington a new session of talks under the aegis of the United States, despite opposition from the pro-Iranian movement Hezbollah.

Eight people, including two children, were killed in strikes which targeted three cars about twenty kilometers south of Beirut, according to the Ministry of Health.

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