G'day, ABC Middle East correspondent Matthew Doran here in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It's the end of day 48 of the war, day nine of the ceasefire, and day four of the US declared blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
It had seemed for the past few days that a ceasefire in Lebanon, more than a week after the pause in hostilities elsewhere in the region, was imminent.
Although reaching that deal was always going to be tricky.
Talks between the ambassadors of Israel and Lebanon to the United States earlier in the week — however separate they were to the negotiations between the US and Iran about the future of the broader war — were a sign the White House was trying to pull every string possible.
And it appeared those talks only happened as a result of pressure from the United States for Israel to change course.
It was worried that the Israel Defense Forces's intense bombardment of Lebanon, including last Wednesday when more than 300 were killed in the course of just 10 minutes, was harming the prospects of a deal with the Iranian regime to open the Strait of Hormuz and curtail its nuclear ambitions.
Tehran, backed in by mediator Pakistan, had been clear it believed Lebanon was always included in the regional ceasefire. Israel, backed in by the US, had insisted it wasn't.
After the Trump Truth Social announcement, the initial lack of public backing for the ceasefire in Lebanon from the Israeli government suggested it had been dragged to this point.
Israel's public broadcaster, KAN, was already characterising it as Trump "forcing" a ceasefire on Israel.
Avigdor Liberman, one of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's political opponents and a former defence minister, said it was a "betrayal of the residents of the north" who had come under intense Hezbollah rocket fire for the past six weeks.
Hezbollah politician Hassan Fadlallah was reported in Iranian state media as saying Tehran's "efforts have borne fruit in imposing comprehensive ceasefire in Lebanon".
It all appeals to Trump's desire to be seen as the great deal-maker of the world.
But the devil will be in the detail here. Or, more accurately, the enforcement.
The last ceasefire in Lebanon, between Israel and Hezbollah in late 2024, was far from an end to the fighting.
Israel was accused of almost daily breaches of the deal, launching strikes deep into Lebanese territory when it perceived a threat from Hezbollah.
Recent history in Gaza also points to Israel's willingness to continue attacks, even when a deal is on the table.
And Israel is not going to withdraw its forces from southern Lebanon immediately.
It's why some got in a lather earlier in the day, when news filtered through that Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun might talk on the phone.
The deep and long-held enmity between Lebanon and Israel goes back decades. These are two countries that have technically been at war for almost 70 years, since the creation of the state of Israel.
And each chapter of the conflict has been marked by intense suffering, particularly as the Israeli military launched operations such as its invasion of southern Lebanon, which ran from 1982 to 2000.
Its current invasion has brought back some trauma for the Lebanese who remember that period.
It's one thing for the Israeli and Lebanese envoys in Washington to sit in a room together.
It's another thing entirely for leader-to-leader talks, however informal they may be, with the sound of explosions in the background of any phone call — not least because of how that will be received by a war-weary public.
That population will be hoping for a quiet night tonight. How long it lasts in this unpredictable war is anyone's guess.
Thanks for joining me. You can keep track of the latest updates from Iran and around the world throughout the day via our live blog.
