Congresswoman Sarah Elfreth, a Democrat who sits on the House Armed Services Committee, is telling the BBC that she wants the administration to give Congress and the public more information about the ceasefire deal and what comes next.

"We've had a number of closed door classified briefings on the war, but never any conversations out in the open," she told Caitriona Perry, the BBC's chief presenter in Washington. "It's critical the American people hear some type of strategy, some type of plan. We should have heard it before we went in. Now we need to hear what is the exit strategy."

Elfreth says she's conflicted on whether or not to vote in favour of doling out more funding to the US military. She supports the troops, she says, but Trump has bypassed congressional clearance on the war with Iran.

She noted that former President George W Bush lobbied members of Congress and sought approval from Congress in 2002 before the Iraq War was launched.

"The president has made absolutely zero effort to bring Congress into this planning," she said. "My colleagues refuse to check and balance this president, and it's very frustrating."

Ghoncheh Habibiazad
Senior reporter, BBC Persian

Iranian outlets are reporting that former Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi has died following injuries he sustained in an attack earlier this month.

Kharrazi was known in Iran’s political atmosphere as a reformist politician, head of Iran's Strategic Council on Foreign Relations, and an adviser to Iran’s late Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei. He served as Iran’s foreign minister from 1997 to 2005.

Iran’s reform-leaning Jamaran news website had reported on 1 April that Kamal Kharrazi had been "severely injured and hospitalised" following an attack that, according to the report, killed his wife. Jamaran had reported Kharrazi’s house in Tehran was targeted.

Trump has just posted on Truth Social, writing "Iran is doing a very poor job, dishonorable some would say, of allowing Oil to go through the Strait of Hormuz."

He concludes: "That is not the agreement we have!"

Air raid sirens have been sounding in Tel Aviv, Israel, according to Reuters.

The Israel Defense Forces say these were triggered by Hezbollah launching a missile attack at Israel.

In a meeting with Iraqi Ambassador Nizar Khirullah today, US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau condemned recent "egregious terrorist attacks" against US facilities by Iran-backed militias in Iraq, according to a spokesperson for the State Department.

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

Landau also stressed that the US expects Iraq to immediately make every effort to dismantle the militia groups operating in its country, Pigott says.

He named an 8 April "ambush on US diplomats in Baghdad" as one of the recent attacks from Iran-backed militias in Iraq. The embassy had issued a security alert saying these groups "conducted multiple drone attacks in the vicinity of the Baghdad Diplomatic Support Center and Baghdad International Airport" on 8 April.

Iran "better not be" charging ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, says US President Donald Trump.

"There are reports that Iran is charging fees to tankers going through the Hormuz Strait", he says on Truth Social. "They better not be and, if they are, they better stop now".

• For context: BBC Verify has confirmed that at least nine ships have passed through the waterway today. Trump's press secretary said on Wednesday that the president had "floated" the idea of raising revenue from ships passing through the strait.

Image source, PA Media

UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper says the UK has been working for a "swift resolution" to the conflict and for a plan for what will come after.

She says "most important of all for us" is the "reopening" of the Strait of Hormuz.

She says no country can close such a route as it "goes against the fundamental principles of the law of the sea".

"We need the full and unconditional of the strait as a central part not just of the current ceasefire but the long-term future for the region," she says.

"The fundamental freedoms of the seas must not be unilaterally withdrawn or sold off for individual bidders. And nor can there be any place for tolls on an international waterway.

"Freedom of navigation means navigation must be free."

Cooper also says a durable peace settlement cannot be reached in the Middle East if "in Lebanon the crisis endures".

Photos show a village in the southern Lebanese city of Choukine reduced to rubble after Israel confirmed a fresh wave of air strikes in the region.

An hour ago, the Israeli Air Force posted on X that it would be targeting "terrorist" infrastructure in the region.

"The Air Force has begun to attack launch sites of the terrorist organization Hezbollah in Lebanon a short while ago," they wrote.

Lebanon's state media said on social media that fighter jets targeted several other cities as well, injuring multiple people and destroying civilian homes.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

A little earlier, Israeli emergency services said that it was responding to an attack launched at northern Israel. Media in the country were reporting that sirens had sounded in the Haifa area.

A statement shared by the pro-Hezbollah television channel Al Manar, and attributed to the Iran-backed group, has taken credit for the attack.

It says that Haifa was targeted "with a barrage of advanced missiles".

The statement says that the group did this because it "adhered to the ceasefire" while "the enemy did not".

A separate statement attributed to the group also says it fired rockets at Israeli soldiers in the city of Bint Jbeil in Lebanon. The IDF has not commented on this.

UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper is giving a speech at Mansion House in central London.

She is expected to speak about the situation in the Middle East - we'll bring you the key updates here, and you can watch live above.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and US President Trump have said they're at the "next stage of finding a resolution" to open the Strait of Hormuz, says Downing Street.

Starmer has just landed in Qatar, from where his phone call with the US president took place.

A statement from No 10 says that Starmer set out the UK's "efforts to convene partners to agree a viable plan" to open the shipping lane.

"They agreed that now there is a ceasefire in place and agreement to open the Strait, we are at the next stage of finding a resolution," it says.

It adds that Starmer and Trump "discussed the need for a practical plan to get shipping moving again as quickly as possible".

Israel's emergency services says it is responding to an attack launched at northern Israel, with no known casualties at the moment.

This follows reporting from the Times of Israel, citing the IDF, that a small number of rockets were launched by Hezbollah at northern Israel.

Israeli media reported earlier that sirens had sounded in the Haifa area, in the north of the country.

An evacuation order Israel has issued for an area of Beirut in Lebanon is "unfeasible" because the area contains two major hospitals, the director general of the World Health Organisation (WHO) says.

An evacuation order for Beirut's Jnah area "includes two major referral hospitals; the Rafik Hairiri University Hospital and Al Zahraa Hospital", says Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

There are roughly 450 patients at the two hospitals, 40 of whom are in intensive care, he says.

"At this time, no alternative medical facilities are available" to receive these patients, he says, this makes their evacuation "operationally unfeasible".

"Both facilities are operating at full capacity including treating the injured from the strikes of 8 April," he adds.

Tom Bateman
US State Department correspondent

A State Department official says they can confirm that the department will host a meeting next week to discuss ongoing ceasefire negotiations with Israel and Lebanon.

Kuwait says one of its national guard sites has been targeted by "hostile drones".

The attack resulted in "significant material damage", but there have been no casualties, the government says on social media.

Kuwait's army says in a separate post on social media that air defences have been working to deal with hostile drones, and that vital facilities have been targeted.

Image source, Reuters

How do people in Iran feel about the ceasefire? Some have been speaking to BBC Persian, which is used by 24 million people in the country, despite being blocked and routinely jammed by Iranian authorities.

One person says they "feel happy" about it, because "the country won’t be destroyed more, and fewer people will be killed".

But they say a better outcome would have been "the end of the Islamic Republic" regime, because it "feels like living next to an angry and wounded wolf that shows its fangs to the people now and then".

The US and Israel "can't be trusted", says another person. "I don’t think this ceasefire could permanently last." They say they think the truce is "just another trap" to coax Iranian regime leadership out of hiding so that the US or Israeli military can target them.

A psychiatrist from Tehran says, "I visit people in their homes everyday... People are tired and are suffering from the economic pressure and can’t afford to buy their medicines".

They "hope the Islamic Republic stops supporting its proxies", and thinks "it should release political prisoners, carry out widespread reforms and national reconciliation to avoid a civil war".

Hospitals in Lebanon may run out of life-saving medical equipment as they grapple with the injuries caused by recent Israeli strikes, says the World Health Organization (WHO).

Abdinasir Abubakar, the WHO's representative in Lebanon, tells Reuters news agency that some of the country's hospital may run out of life-saving trauma kits - which include bandages, antibiotics, and anaesthetic - within "a few days".

According to Lebanon's health ministry, 303 people were killed and more than 1,000 wounded on Wednesday across the country as a result of Israeli attacks.

"If we have another mass casualty, like what happened yesterday, it will be a disaster," Abubaker tells Reuters.

"Probably we will lose more lives just because we don't have enough supplies."

The WHO says it will work with the Lebanese Ministry of Health to move supplies between hospitals to avoid total depletion of stocks, but cautioned that the health system is being stretched to its limit.

Image source, Getty Images

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says it has launched a fresh wave of strikes on Lebanon, which it says is targeting Hezbollah-affiliated sites.

"A short while ago, the IDF began striking Hezbollah launch sites in Lebanon," the statement reads.

Image source, AFP via Getty Images

Although it's ceased fighting, the US remains "ready" in the Middle East, says its Central Command.

Speaking in a video update, Admiral Brad Cooper says that the US has "paused offensive operations in accordance with the ongoing ceasefire".

"Iran has suffered a generational military defeat", says Cooper.

But he adds that the military remains "present, vigilant and ready if called" in the region, and continues to "stand shoulder to shoulder" with it's regional partners.

Israel's prime minister has just released a message to those in the north of the country and emphasises "there is no ceasefire in Lebanon".

"We continue to strike Hezbollah with force, and we will not stop until we restore your security," in a message published by the prime minister's office.

Netanyahu reiterates Israel's objectives - to disarm Hezbollah and "to secure a historic and sustainable peace agreement between Israel and Lebanon".

This message comes after US President Donald Trump told US media that Netanyahu had told him Israel would be "scaling back" attacks in Lebanon as peace talks play out.

Image source, Getty Images