ELISSA NADWORNY, HOST:
The Strait of Hormuz is still closed today, and Iran says it'll stay that way until the U.S. lifts its blockade. And a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon is holding for now, while a French peacekeeper and Israeli soldier have been killed. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley joins us now from Jerusalem. Good morning.
ELEANOR BEARDSLEY, BYLINE: Good morning, Elissa.
NADWORNY: So let's start with the Strait of Hormuz. What happened there over the weekend?
BEARDSLEY: Well, on Friday, Iran's Revolutionary Guards said that it was open, and then they reversed course and said they're closing it - that was yesterday - because the U.S. is continuing its blockade of Iran's ports. Now, yesterday Iran also fired on two ships, according to the U.K. maritime authority, which monitors the strait. It didn't say what country the ships were from. But separately, India said two ships carrying its flag were involved in a shooting incident, and India summoned the Iran ambassador to New Delhi over it. So it's very unclear what's happening. It's still closed, and - but it's very chaotic situation.
NADWORNY: OK. And in the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, is that ceasefire holding? And how do Israelis feel about it?
BEARDSLEY: Well, it is holding for now, but it is really being tested this weekend. French President Emmanuel Macron says a French soldier in the U.N. peacekeeping force there was killed from - likely from fire from Hezbollah, though Hezbollah says it had nothing to do with his death. Separately, the Israeli military said it fired on what it called several threats that encroached in its zone over the weekend, and also an Israeli soldier died when his vehicle ran over a mine. But, you know, despite all that violence, Israelis are actually not happy about the ceasefire. A large majority of Israelis, more than 70% polls show, are against the 10-day pause in fighting with Hezbollah because they think their army was making progress routing the Iran-backed militant group. I actually had a conversation with my taxi driver this morning about it. Listen to 56-year-old Gabriel Levi.
GABRIEL LEVI: We stop in the middle of to finish the work. The best time is now because the situation of this Hezbollah - it's not very good without the support of the Iranian now.
BEARDSLEY: So, you know, he says, they've done half the job. Let's keep going. Now, he was a Netanyahu supporter, but even Israelis on the left who detest Netanyahu, they have a different thought about Hezbollah. You know, they say it's a nonstate terrorist group. It's hard to negotiate with them, so they're even thinking, maybe we need to keep going because we're close to finishing it off, especially since - remember when the Israeli Shin Bet blew up all the pagers of the Hezbollah operatives in 2024. The government promised that the group was finished, but they are back.
NADWORNY: Yeah. So now, where does all this leave kind of the overall conflict going into this week when the ceasefire with Iran is supposed to expire?
BEARDSLEY: Well, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in a tough place. He's begrudgingly enforcing the ceasefire with Lebanon at President Trump's behest, but as we've spoken, many are not happy. Today, busloads of residents from the north of Israel, who constantly live under Hezbollah rockets, they've come down to Jerusalem to protest. They're very angry. They're protesting in front of the American embassy, Elissa, against this ceasefire. That's never done. You don't see the Israelis protesting their greatest ally, the U.S.
NADWORNY: Yeah.
BEARDSLEY: So it hasn't started yet, but we ran into one of those protesters. Her name is Judy. She was very angry, ticked off. She said she didn't feel like giving her last name, but here's a little bit of her speaking in Hebrew.
JUDY: (Speaking Hebrew).
BEARDSLEY: You know, basically, she said, our economy is ruined. Every time Hezbollah comes back, they promise it's finished, and then we have another war after another war. She said, we want to finish it for good. She said, President Trump, come see how we live. You know, you're the big man giving instructions to Netanyahu. So - and also what this taxi driver told me, he said - I said, what about the ceasefire with Iran? Do you want to see fighting again with Iran? He said, absolutely, we are about to change that regime. We need to go for it. So it's very tenuous here. You know, Iran has said if this ceasefire with its proxy Hezbollah is broken in Lebanon, all bets are off. It will keep the straits closed. So everything is linked here.
NADWORNY: Yeah. That's NPR's Eleanor Beardsley from Jerusalem. Thank you.
BEARDSLEY: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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