Current round of US-led talks between Israel, Lebanon the least productive yet — sources

The Times of Israel is liveblogging Thursday’s events as they unfold.

Police extract bound IDF soldier from West Bank town in suspected criminal incident

Police say they extracted an IDF soldier from the southern West Bank Palestinian town of Tarkumiya, where he was found bound in an incident that investigators believe is crime-related and not terror.

The suspect, a conscript from the south, was brought to a police station for questioning and is expected to be probed by Military Police.

Current round of US-led talks between Israel and Lebanon the least productive yet, sources tell ToI

WASHINGTON — This week’s round of talks between Israel and Lebanon have been the least productive to date, amid mutual frustration with the Trump administration’s decision to make a ceasefire in Lebanon part of the memorandum of understanding it inked last week with Iran, a government official and a second source familiar with the matter tell The Times of Israel.

Both Israel and Lebanon were opposed to the idea, arguing that it undermines the purpose of the channel between their two countries that Washington established in April specifically to prevent Iran from maintaining its influence over Hezbollah and Lebanon, the two sources say.

The Israeli anger at Washington has led it to be less inclined to accept US requests that it begin pulling back some of its troops from southern Lebanon, the government official says.

Lebanon meanwhile feels that it must take a harder line in negotiations with Israel to counter the notion that Iran wields greater influence over affairs in Lebanese territory than it does, the source familiar with the matter explains.

Accordingly, the Lebanese government has presented maps for a proposed withdrawal that are much more expansive than what Israel is willing to accept at this stage — which was already very little due the political pressures Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is facing, the source adds.

The US was hoping that the three-day talks set to wrap up on Thursday would conclude with an announcement of a pilot program whereby the IDF would withdraw from small areas of southern Lebanon and be replaced by the Lebanese military, with the latter being tasked with dismantling any remaining Hezbollah infrastructure there.

However, such a development currently appears less likely, the two sources tell The Times of Israel.

A State Department spokesperson doesn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump says Iran won’t be allowed to charge fees in Hormuz under final deal

WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump says a final deal with Iran cannot include any fees on shipping.

“It would be unacceptable to me,” Trump says in response to a question from a reporter in the Oval Office.

While the MOU he signed last week bars Iran from charging tolls in the Strait of Hormuz for the next 60 days, it leaves open the possibility that Tehran can do so afterward.

The MOU says that the issue of passage through Hormuz will be discussed together with the Gulf states, and the US argues that they won’t allow a system that prioritizes Iran at their expense.

However, analysts increasingly speculate that it will not be possible to return to the pre-war status quo in the Strait of Hormuz, given Iran’s newfound leverage there.

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Rubio says he invited Trump’s son-in-law to meeting with UAE president because it was ‘chance to catch up’ with a ‘good friend’

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio defends his decision to include President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Michael Boulos, who is a private citizen and businessman, in a meeting yesterday alongside senior US diplomats with UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed.

“He was just here because his brother lives here, and I’m a good friend of Michael, so we had a chance to catch up,” Rubio tells reporters in Kuwait, without explaining why his friendship with Boulos warranted a seat for the latter at a high-level government meeting, which sparked questions of potential conflicts of interest.

Boulos’s father, Massad, is Trump’s senior adviser on African affairs and is reportedly vying for ambassadorship in the UAE.

Met with UAE’s President @MohamedBinZayed in Abu Dhabi, where we discussed President Trump’s MOU with Iran, efforts to secure full and safe transit through the Strait of Hormuz, and regional stability. I thanked the UAE leadership for their unparalleled support, praised their… pic.twitter.com/J3u6bAKR2W

— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) June 24, 2026