The war in the region continues to rage.

Relief over a ceasefire between the United States and Iran gave way to concern on Wednesday as fighting continued to rage across the region, with Israel launching its fiercest attacks yet on Lebanon and Iran targeting oil facilities in neighboring Gulf countries.

Global financial markets rose after President Donald Trump announced the deal late Tuesday, two hours before a deadline he had set for Iran to open the blocked Strait of Hormuz or face the destruction of "its entire civilization."

However, while Israel and the United States suspended attacks on Iran, Israel intensified the parallel war in Lebanon, carrying out the most severe strikes to date on Beirut, where entire neighborhoods were destroyed.

Lebanon's health ministry said hundreds of people were killed in yesterday's attacks. Residents said some of the Israeli strikes were carried out without the usual warnings to civilians to evacuate.

Last night, Iranian media reported a warning from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps stating that if the attacks on Lebanon are not stopped, "aggressors" in the region will face "a response they will regret."

Iran's Tasnim news agency reported earlier yesterday, citing an unnamed source, that Iran would withdraw from the ceasefire if attacks on Lebanon continued.

Trump said in an interview with PBS News yesterday that Lebanon is not part of the ceasefire agreement the US has with Iran “because of Hezbollah,” but that it will “be resolved.” Asked about the continuation of Israeli attacks, Trump said: “That’s a separate conflict.”

Long after the ceasefire was supposed to take effect, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain reported new Iranian missile and drone attacks, some of which targeted key oil, energy and desalination infrastructure.

Iran also attacked Saudi Arabia's massive East-West oil pipeline to the Red Sea just hours after the ceasefire was agreed, an industry source told Reuters. The pipeline is a major route for some oil to bypass the blocked strait.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said he had invited Iranian and American delegations to a meeting in Islamabad on Friday, and that the Iranian president had confirmed that Tehran would participate.

Since several experienced Iranian political leaders were killed in the war, Iran's delegation is expected to be led by Parliament Speaker and former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, along with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

After talks with the Turkish foreign minister yesterday, Aragchi said that Tehran had agreed to a ceasefire based on its own ten-point plan, which he sees as the basis for talks with Washington. He said that if there is serious political will on the American side, it is possible to achieve an end to the conflict and establish lasting stability and security.

At the same time, Trump said that Washington recognizes only “one set of significant points” as the basis for further agreement. “These are the points on which we agreed to have a ceasefire,” Trump said, adding that they would be discussed “behind closed doors.” In an online post, he also threatened a federal investigation into unnamed individuals whom he accused, without offering evidence, of disseminating correspondence that he said was not the basis for the ceasefire agreement.

Although Trump told the New York Post earlier yesterday that direct talks would take place soon, but that his Vice President J.D. Vance might not attend due to security concerns, the White House announced last night that Vance would lead the US delegation to Pakistan. It also said that the first round of talks would take place on Saturday.

Yesterday's statements suggest that the two sides still have different interpretations of the framework of the agreement, even though the ceasefire has formally entered into force and opened the way for negotiations. While Tehran insists on its plan as the basis for a future agreement, Washington emphasizes that key conditions will be defined in direct talks, indicating that the next phase of negotiations will be decisive for the further course of the conflict.

Although both the United States and Iran have declared victory, their key disputes remain unresolved, with both sides holding to opposing demands for an agreement that could shape the Middle East for generations to come.

White House spokeswoman Carolyn Levitt told reporters last night that the United States had seen increased traffic through the Strait of Hormuz yesterday, while Reuters reported that the strait was closed yesterday. A senior Iranian official involved in the negotiations told the British agency that Tehran could open it today or tomorrow, ahead of peace talks.

Any eventual opening, however, would be conditional on an agreement on a ceasefire framework and limited, with ships still having to have Iran's permission to pass.

In a series of online posts, Trump announced new 50 percent tariffs on all goods from any country that supplies weapons to Iran. He claimed that there had been “regime change” in Iran and that Tehran would agree not to enrich uranium, which can be used in nuclear warheads.

“The United States, in cooperation with Iran, will excavate and remove all deeply buried... nuclear 'dust,'” Trump said.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Washington had achieved a decisive military victory and that Iran's missile program had been virtually destroyed.

Citizens took to the streets across Iran overnight to celebrate, waving Iranian flags and burning the flags of the United States and Israel. However, there were also fears that the agreement would not last.

"Israel will not allow diplomacy to succeed, and Trump could change his mind tomorrow. But at least tonight we can sleep without an attack," Alireza (29), a civil servant in Tehran, told Reuters by telephone.

The war was launched on February 28 by Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who stated that they wanted to prevent Iran from projecting power beyond its borders, end its nuclear program, and create the conditions for the Iranians to overthrow the government.

But Iran still possesses nearly weapons-grade highly enriched uranium, as well as the ability to target neighboring countries with missiles and drones. The clerical leadership, which faced mass protests months ago, has withstood the superpower onslaught without signs of internal collapse.

Tehran's newly demonstrated ability to cut off energy supplies from the Gulf, thanks to its control of the strait - despite decades of heavy US military investment in the region - could reshape the balance of power in the Gulf.

"The enemy has suffered an undeniable, historic and heavy defeat in its unjust, illegal and criminal war against the Iranian people," Iran's Supreme National Security Council said.

Netanyahu said in a speech last night that the ceasefire agreement was reached “in full coordination” with Israel and that Israel “was not informed at the last minute”. He said that “the ceasefire is not the end and that Israel has other goals that it intends to achieve either through an agreement or by continuing the fighting”. He also confirmed that the ceasefire does not apply to Hezbollah and said that “Israel will continue its attacks”.

The ceasefire agreement with Tehran, according to Reuters, represents a blow to the Israeli leader, who has repeatedly said that he wants the fall of the Iranian regime.

Yair Golan, a former deputy chief of staff of the Israeli army, called the outcome “a complete failure that jeopardized Israel’s security.” “The nuclear program has not been destroyed. The ballistic threat still exists. The regime is still in power and is even emerging stronger from this war,” he wrote on X.