Morning update
Good morning Middle East Eye readers,
The US and Iran exchanged attacks late on Wednesday, escalating worries of a collapse in discussions around a long-term ceasefire.
While US officials said the attacks across Iran were "defensive", Tehran said it opened fire on US forces operating in the area of the Strait of Hormuz following an attack by the US military on an Iranian oil tanker.
Here are some other notable developments:
US President Donald Trump on Thursday told reporters that Washington is negotiating with Iran, despite an earlier exchange of fire between the two countries.
A confidential CIA analysis reported by the Washington Post predicts that Iran is able to outlast the US naval blockade on Hormuz for at least three to four months. Sources familiar with the document said Tehran possesses significant military capabilities despite intense bombardment of its sites during the war.
Israel's wave of attacks on Thursday killed at least 12 people, including two children and a paramedic, in southern Lebanon, the Ministry of Health reported. This raises the overall death toll since the start of March to 2,727, with 8,438 others left wounded.
Around 1,500 ships and their crews are trapped in the Gulf due to the Iranian blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, the UN's International Maritime Organisation (IMO) chief said in Panama Thursday.
The Global Sumud Flotilla said that activists who were detained during the Gaza-bound aid mission by Israeli forces were subjected to sexual violence and physical abuse, including forceful penetration with a finger, forceful strikes to the genitals, and verbal sexual abuse.