During an interview this morning ABC News, President Donald J. Trump appeared to endorse a condition by Iran in last night’s ceasefire that allows them to charge tolls on ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz, claiming that the fees may by a “joint venture” between Iran and the United States. “We’re thinking of doing it as a joint venture. It’s a way of securing it - also securing it from lots of other people. It’s a beautiful thing.”

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says that the “ball is in the U.S. court, and the world is watching,” as Israel continues to carry out extensive strikes against targets in Lebanon, despite Pakistan, the mediator of last night’s ceasefire stating that Lebanon is covered under the agreement, with Iran stating that the United States must choose “ceasefire or continued war via Israel.”

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt states that reports earlier today Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz due to continued Israeli strikes against Lebanon are false, claiming that there has been an “uptick of traffic” in the strait today, despite maritime tracking indicating that only two tankers transited through the Hormuz Strait on Wednesday.

The White House confirms that Lebanon is not part of last night’s ceasefire agreement with Iran, despite statements suggesting that it was from both Iran and the mediator of the peace talks, Pakistan. Since the start of the ceasefire earlier this morning, Israel has intensified strikes against Hezbollah and civilian infrastructure throughout Lebanon, severely threatening the balance of the agreement between Iran and the United States.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf released a statement where he claimed that three points of the ceasefire had been violated, continued Israeli operations in Lebanon, the supposed entry of a drone into Iranian airspace, and the denial of what he calls “Iran’s right to enrichment.” However, per White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, Lebanon is not part of any ceasefire deal and U.S. President Donald J. Trump has said that Iran will not be able to continue enrichment activities, showing a clear disconnect between the U.S. and Iran on the basis of the currently untenable ceasefire framework.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance repeats the same statement made earlier today by the White House, claiming that the Strait of Hormuz has seen an “increase in traffic” today, despite all maritime tracking outlets reporting that Wednesday has seen the lowest number of ships transit the Hormuz Strait since the beginning of April.

French President Emmanuel Macron has said that he spoke Wednesday with both U.S. President Donald J. Trump and Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian, telling them “their decision to accept a ceasefire was the best possible one,” while urging both sides to continue negotiations while addressing the concerns raised by Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs, as well as its regional policy and its actions obstructing navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman held a meeting today in Jeddah with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer. As Starmer arrives in the Gulf Nation to help further UK interests in the region following the beginning of the shaky ceasefire framework that was put in place in the past 24 hours between Iran and the United States.

According to Reuters, citing government sources, India is expecting the U.S. to extend the waiver to buy Russian oil. The 30-day waiver (shown in the below photo excerpt), announced by the U.S. Treasury Department last month, expires on the 11th of this month, and was put in place in an effort to get a handle on rising oil prices during the Iran War.

According to CNN, citing people with direct knowledge of the situation, a hacker accessed a Chinese supercomputer and was able to acquire a massive amount of data, including renderings of bombs and missiles, advanced simulations, and troves of other data belonging to defense agencies and aviation corporations. The group that the hacker belongs to reportedly accessed the data with the intention of selling it for cryptocurrency, according to cyber experts who have viewed previews of the data and spoke to CNN.

Courtney Williams, a U.S. Army veteran and former U.S. government civilian employee working with the U.S. Army's 'Delta Force' under U.S. Special Operations Command, was arrested and charged with 1 count of "communicating and transmitting information related to the national defense classified as SECRET//NOFORN [No Foreign Dissemination]" to journalist Seth Harp from 2022 to 2025. The information Williams provided was used by Harp in an article and subsequent book published in August 2025 titled “The Fort Bragg Cartel.”

After U.S. President Donald J. Trump met with NATO General Secretary Mark Rutte earlier today, he made a post on TruthSocial, lambasting NATO, saying that “NATO wasn’t there when we needed them, and they won’t be there if we need them again.”

Following the meeting at the White House today between NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and U.S. President Donald J. Trump, NATO Spokesperson Allison Hart released a statement, saying that the two decision-makers spoke about a range of issues related to the transatlantic defense alliance and that Secretary General Rutte stressed the importance of member states continuing to contribute to a strong alliance in the Northern Atlantic.

In a notable development, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is set to visit North Korea to hold talks with his North Korean counterpart, Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui, between April 9-10. The visit is notable, as the last publicly known visit by China’s foreign minister was in 2019 and high-level meetings and cooperation between the two East Asian nations has waned in the years since.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has published a statement announcing alternative routes for commercial vessels traveling through the Strait of Hormuz, in order to avoid sea mines deployed during the war with Israel and the United States. “All ships intending to transit the Strait of Hormuz are hereby notified that in order to comply with the principles of maritime safety and to be protected from possible collisions with sea mines...they should take alternative routes for traffic in the Strait of Hormuz,” the statement said, providing instructions for an alternative entry and exit route for ships transiting the Hormuz Strait.

U.S. President Donald J. Trump has announced via a post on TruthSocial that, “All U.S. Ships, Aircraft, and Military Personnel, with additional Ammunition, Weaponry, and anything else that is appropriate and necessary for the lethal prosecution and destruction of an already substantially degraded Enemy, will remain in place in, and around, Iran, until such time as the REAL AGREEMENT reached is fully complied with. If for any reason it is not, which is highly unlikely, then the ‘Shootin' Starts,’ bigger, and better, and stronger than anyone has ever seen before.”