Thursday morning news: April 9, 2026

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Ceasefire on shaky ground amid Lebanon fighting »  The ceasefire in Iran is on shaky ground as Iranian leaders on Wednesday again closed the Strait of Hormuz. They say that’s because Israel has increased strikes on the Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah in Lebanon.

And Iran's foreign minister insists the ceasefire called for an end to the fighting there as well. But Vice President J.D. Vance pushed back:

VANCE: We never made that promise, we never indicated that was going to be the case. What we said is that the ceasefire would be focused on Iran, and the ceasefire would be focused on America's allies, both Israel and the Gulf Arab states.

Wednesday was one of the deadliest days of fighting in Lebanon.

SOUND: [Explosion in Beirut]

Explosions heard there in Beirut, as Israel continued targeted airstrikes against Hezbollah in the capital city.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warns that his country is ready to return to fighting in Iran as well if the ceasefire collapses. But both sides of the conflict have plenty of reasons to hope it holds up.

And with U.S. and Iranian officials set to meet in Pakistan this week for peace talks, vice president Vance told reporters:

VANCE:  The United States has certain demands and certain things that we want. The Iranians have things they can get outta the negotiation. The more that they're willing to give us, I think the more they're gonna get things outta this negotiation. The president's talked about sanctions relief...

Israel - Hamas » Meantime, Israel continues its strikes against the terror group Hamas in Gaza.

SOUND: [Scene in Gaza]

The media outlet Al Jazeera, which is owned by the government of Qatar, says one of its correspondents was killed in a targeted Israeli airstrike in his car on Wednesday. 

But an Israeli military spokesperson says Mohammed Wishah was not only an Al Jazeera journalist, but also a Hamas officer—a commander in its anti-tank unit.

Trump administration - NATO » At the White House, NATO chief Mark Rutte met with President Trump in an effort to mend fences on behalf of the alliance.

The president is not happy with NATO allies that he feels did not back the United States as they should have in the war in Iran. And he has repeatedly criticized those allies for not doing more to secure the Strait of Hormuz.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt:

LEAVITT: I have a direct quote from the President of the United States on NATO and I will share it with all of you: “They were tested and they failed.”

After the president’s hours-long conversation with Rutte, Trump continued to cast doubt on social media about whether NATO allies truly have America’s back.

Mark Rutte also met separately earlier in the day with Secretary of State Marco Rubio. They reportedly discussed not only the war in Iran, but also continued pressure for other members of the alliance to step up their defense spending.

China says Afghanistan/Pakistan agree to explore deal » While Pakistan is expected to host peace talks this week between the U.S. and Iran, it’s still trying to solve a conflict of its own. 

WORLD’s Benjamin Eicher has more:

BENJAMIN EICHER: Afghanistan and Pakistan have agreed not to escalate their border conflict—and to work toward what China is calling a "comprehensive solution."

The agreement came after seven days of Beijing-mediated peace talks in China, which concluded onWednesday. China's foreign ministry says all three nations identified terrorism as the "core issue" in the two countries' relationship.

Pakistani leaders have accused Afghanistan of harboring terrorists, who have carried out attacks in Pakistan. That helped spark the latest flare-up in the conflict in February.

The fighting has displaced roughly a hundred-thousand people, with another hundred-thousand completely cut off from aid near the border.

For WORLD, I’m Benjamin Eicher.

Whittaker obituary » Jim Whittaker, the first American to reach the summit of Mount Everest—has died at 97. Whittaker made the historic climb in 1963 alongside Sherpa Nawang Gombu, a decade after Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay first conquered the peak.

The achievement made the Seattle native an instant celebrity and helped spark America's love affair with mountaineering.

He told the Associated Press in a 2013 interview:

WHITTAKER: People said, well, you know, how did you feel? And I say like a very frail human being, because you're just hanging on to life.

Whittaker also later served as president and CEO of the outdoor company REI.

He was a close friend of Robert Kennedy and was at his bedside when the senator died from an assassin's bullet in 1968.

I'm Kent Covington.

And straight ahead: laying the groundwork for peace with Iran. Plus, spreading the gospel to young people in Nepal. 

This is The World and Everything in It. 

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