US military 'loading up and resting,' Trump says, as Iran tests ceasefire

Click here to follow the latest updates surrounding the ceasefire with Iran.

Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said on Thursday that visitors traveling to Islamabad for the U.S.-Iran talks will be issued visas when they arrive, directing airlines to not require visas for boarding.

"Pakistan welcomes all delegates including journalists from participating nations, traveling in relation to Islamabad Talks 2026," he wrote on X.

"To this end, all airlines are requested to permit boarding to all such individuals without Visa. Immigration authorities in Pakistan will issue them Visa on Arrival," Dar continued.

A hacker group that has taken credit for Iranian cyberattacks against the U.S. said it will pause attacks due to the ceasefire with the Trump administration.

The group, Handala, which the FBI believes is a front for Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security, has taken credit for a cyberattack on the Michigan medical tech company Stryker and leaked old emails from FBI Director Kash Patel's hacked Gmail account.

Handala suggested that top leaders in the Iranian government directed them to stop boasting about hacks targeting the U.S., an instruction that appeared to be in response to the ceasefire.

"According to the orders from the highest leadership of the Resistance Axis, we have currently postponed overt confrontation with the United States, but the world already knows our capability to penetrate and strike at the very core of American infrastructure," the group said on Telegram.

But Handala said it would keep targeting other enemies, including Israel.

"The cyber war did not begin with the military conflict, and it will not end with any military ceasefire," the post reads. "Handala, at full force, continues its cyber operations against the infrastructure of the Zionist regime."

The FBI has dubbed the group's work as "psychological operations."

Earlier this week, the FBI and other U.S. agencies said they were "urgently warning" U.S. organizations about "ongoing cyber exploitation of internet-connected operational technology devices."

South Korean officials said a senior diplomat, Chung Byung-ha, will visit Iran as a special envoy to talk about the safety of South Korean citizens and Iran's control of the Strait of Hormuz.

South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said on Friday that Chung is expected to advocate for freedom of navigation for all ships in the strait, including South Korean vessels.

Seoul previously said Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi welcomed its plan to send a special envoy during a phone call with South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun on Thursday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

An Iranian parliamentarian said Israel's oil tankers may not pass through the Strait of Hormuz, stressing that vessels of countries hostile to the Islamic Republic are "absolutely prohibited."

"Passage of Israeli oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz is absolutely prohibited," Ebrahim Azizi, head of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said on Thursday, according to the SNN news agency.

"The movement of vessels and cargo related to the Zionist regime, whether military or non-military, in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz is absolutely prohibited," he continued.

He added that other countries that are hostile to Iran also may not have their ships pass through the strait.

"Hostile countries and those that cooperate with them against Iran's security do not have the right to pass through the Strait of Hormuz," he said.

Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles said the country will not take offensive military action in the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, after former Prime Minister Tony Abbott called for the air force to take an offensive role.

Abbott wrote in an opinion piece that Australia should offer air force support to the U.S., including by deploying Australian strike fighters.

But Marles, who is also acting prime minister while the country's leader Anthony Albanese is overseas, said Australia had sent the United Arab Emirates a surveillance jet but that it was "not part of this conflict against Iran."

"We will act in our national interest and we respectfully disagree with the position of Mr. Abbott," Marles told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

President Donald Trump has also repeatedly criticized Australia for not providing support to the military campaign against Iran, although Australia says it has not received a request for help.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The State Department released a statement on Thursday alleging that Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau today summoned Iraqi Ambassador Nizar Khirullah following the April 8 ambush of U.S. diplomats in Baghdad.

The attacks come one day after President Donald Trump officially called a ceasefire between the United States and Iran.

Principal Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Pigott wrote that the U.S. government offered "strong condemnation of the egregious terrorist attacks by Iran-aligned militia groups launched from Iraqi territory against U.S. diplomatic personnel and facilities."

"These attacks come after hundreds in recent weeks against U.S. citizens, diplomatic facilities, and commercial interests, as well as Iraq’s neighbors and Iraqi institutions and civilians, including in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region," Pigott added.

Pigott's statement alleged that the Iraqi government failed to prevent the Wednesday attacks. and that any operational cover for the Iranian-backed militias strains relations between the United States and Iraq.

The State Department concluded by asserting that the United States will not tolerate attacks on U.S. interests in the region.

Kuwait, a U.S. ally, has accused the Iranian regime Thursday of drone attacks despite the two-week ceasefire which began Tuesday, the Associated Press reported.

The kingdom of Saudi Arabia, also a longstanding American ally, says a key pipeline was damaged in recent drone attacks.

Kuwait’s Foreign Ministry released a statement on X concerning the "heinous" attacks on "vital Kuwaiti facilities," saying they were in "blatant breach of international law."

Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline, which carries oil to the Red Sea directly circumventing the Strait of Hormuz, was also damaged, per an anonymous official quoted in the state-run Saudi Press Agency.

The attacks come despite the ceasefire, ahead of planned negotiations between the United States and Iran in Pakistan later this week.

In an interview with Channel 4, UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper pushed back on suggestions that Iran can impose tolls on vessels navigating the Strait of Hormuz.

Cooper said freedom of navigation in the strait is a “fundamental principle” of international maritime law.

The secretary argued that neither Iran nor any country imposing tolls could “unilaterally go against the law of the sea."

An anonymous Iranian woman has bravely stepped forward on the international stage to describe what's really happening on the ground in Tehran as President Donald Trump's two-week ceasefire with Iran tentatively began on Tuesday.

In an essay published in The Australian, the anonymous author details nightly explosions, sweeping checkpoints and communications blackouts as a part of Iranian daily life since the beginning of operations launched by the United States and Israel in February.

"In effect, ordinary people have been turned into human shields within a vast militarized landscape," she wrote. "A pervasive sense of anger, paranoia and exhaustion has taken hold."

Flagrant public executions of protesters by the thousands by the Iranian regime in January moved residents to cheer on the initial days of attacks by U.S. and Israeli forces as Operation Epic Fury began on Feb. 28.

"They say they’ve hit the leader’s residence," the author's daughter was quoted saying. "All the children were screaming and cheering … even our teacher was quietly snapping their fingers and dancing."

The author describes everyday Iranians celebrating the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei that same Saturday, with the streets of Tehran filling with cheers of "death to the dictator".

"Perhaps for the first time," the anonymous author recalled, "we allowed ourselves to believe our long-held dream was beginning to take shape."

But soon enough, the reality of day-to-day life under a threatened, crumbling regime and ongoing attacks took a toll. One of the harshest realities faced by those on the ground in Iran is the internet blackout, effectively ending communications with the outside world and leading to great uncertainty at the hands of the regime.

"So far, none of those close to us have suffered physical harm, but no night is calm," the Iranian woman wrote. "What weighs most heavily is not only the war itself, but the possibility that it may end leaving behind a regime even more authoritarian, more repressive, and more violent."

According to the author, a stubborn faction of regime supporters remain, blasting propaganda on loudspeakers nightly through the streets of Tehran and reinforcing its authority to those who support the revolution.

"The streets are now covered with checkpoints," she wrote. "Under bridges and along main roads, movement is restricted. Long traffic lines form. Young people are stopped, their phones inspected under the pretext of routine checks."

This is an excerpt of an article by Fox News Digital's Jasmine Baehr.

Iran has spent decades building a network in the United States with the aim of shaping influence in Washington that would outlast individual administrations.

This influence, constructed by Tehran, is composed of properties, schools, mosques, youth programs, nonprofits, and community centers. These assets are designed to withstand the repercussions of sanctions and media scrutiny, The Jerusalem Post reported, citing a study by the National Union for Democracy in Iran (NUFDI).

The Alavi Foundation, a New York-based nonprofit, has helped fund affiliated institutions across the country, the report states, citing court filings and news reports.

The study alleges that Alavi operates under the direction of Iranian officials and notes that the foundation’s own disclosures show support for more than 35 organizations in the United States, the Post report states.

“A commonality across every region we examined is that the regime invests heavily in attempting to instill a pro-regime worldview in children and teenagers,” said NUFDI Senior Policy Analyst Tymahz Toumadje. “That's a large part of what makes this network durable in a way that short-term enforcement alone can't easily address.”

President Donald Trump lashed out at his critics in a lengthy social media post on Thursday, targeting prominent conservative media figures who have opposed the war with Iran.

“They think it is wonderful for Iran, the number one state sponsor of terror, to have a nuclear weapon — because they have one thing in common, low IQs,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“They’re stupid people, they know it, their families know it, and everyone else knows it, too! Look at their past, look at their record,” Trump said of his critics, a group that included Alex Jones and Candace Owens.

Trump specifically mocked Owens for her baseless claims regarding French First Lady Brigitte Macron. “Actually, to me, the First Lady of France is a far more beautiful woman than Candace; in fact, it’s not even close,” he added.

He also turned his ire toward Jones, noting that the Infowars host "lost his entire fortune, as he should have," following the massive defamation judgments stemming from his false claims that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a hoax.

The White House is warning its staffers not to place bets on prediction markets related to the war with Iran.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the warning came in a March 23 staff-wide email from the White House Management Office, which cautioned that staffers could use their positions to profit from betting markets.

Prediction markets allow users to wager on everything from sports to significant world events.

“The only special interest that will ever guide President Trump is the best interest of the American people,” the White House told the newspaper.

While there is currently no evidence that anyone within the Trump administration has used inside information for well-timed bets, the email highlights a growing concern over the integrity of the betting platforms.

A former Iranian foreign minister who once suggested Tehran could seek a nuclear weapon died Thursday after being wounded in an airstrike last week.

Kamal Kharrazi, who served as foreign minister under former President Mohammad Khatami and later as a foreign affairs advisor to the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was 81, The Associated Press reported.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke to President Donald Trump from Qatar on Thursday about efforts to restore commercial shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, his office said.

"The prime minister set out his discussions with Gulf leaders and military planners in the region on the need to restore freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, as well as the UK’s efforts to convene partners to agree on a viable plan," Starmer's office said in a statement. "They agreed that now that there is a ceasefire in place and an agreement to open the strait, we are at the next stage of finding a resolution."

"The leaders discussed the need for a practical plan to get shipping moving again as quickly as possible," the statement continued.

Both leaders plan to talk again soon.

The United States has summoned Iraqi Ambassador Nizar Khirullah to complain about Iran-backed militia attacks.

Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau summoned Khirullah, stating that Baghdad has not done enough to prevent the strikes, according to a department readout.

"These attacks come after hundreds in recent weeks against U.S. citizens, diplomatic facilities, and commercial interests, as well as Iraq’s neighbors and Iraqi institutions and civilians, including in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region," said Principal Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Pigott.

"While acknowledging the efforts of Iraqi Security Forces to respond to these terrorist attacks, the Deputy Secretary emphasized that the Iraqi government’s failure to prevent them—while some elements associated with the government continue to actively provide political, financial, and operational cover for the militias—adversely impacts the U.S.-Iraq relationship," Pigott added.

Saudi Arabia said Thursday that one of its citizens, an industrial security guard, was killed and seven others were wounded during attacks on its energy infrastructure.

The country’s Energy Ministry stated that strikes targeted production, transport, and refining sites, as well as petrochemical and power facilities in Riyadh, the Eastern Province, and Yanbu on the Red Sea, The Associated Press reported.

The ministry did not specify exactly when the attacks occurred. Among the hardest-hit sites was a pumping station on the East-West Pipeline.

Several major refineries, including SATORP, Ras Tanura, and SAMREF, were also hit.

Bahrain’s Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa on Thursday urged Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

During a meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, the prince also urged Tehran to comply with the ongoing ceasefire.

He said that confronting Iran should include addressing its nuclear capabilities, ballistic missiles, and drone programs, as well as its support for proxy forces and “terrorist groups," Iran International reported.

The State Department will host talks next week in Washington between Israel and Lebanon to end hostilities between the two neighboring countries.

The talks will be led on the U.S. side by Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa, and on the Israeli side by Israel’s Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter, a person familiar with the planning told The Associated Press.

While it was initially unclear who would represent Lebanon, reports suggest the delegation will be headed by Ambassador to Washington Nada Hamadeh Moawad.

Israeli forces and Hezbollah, a terror group based in Lebanon, have been trading strikes since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel.