Missiles launched from Lebanon toward central Israel were intercepted overnight, triggering sirens shortly after 1:15 a.m. in Ramat Gan, Petah Tikva, Bnei Brak and other communities across the Tel Aviv area and Sharon region.
The incident comes as U.S. President Donald Trump signals he is seeking a swift end to the war with Iran, telling associates in recent days that he wants to avoid a protracted war in Iran and bring the fighting to a close within weeks.
Missiles from Lebanon intercepted in central Israel
According to a report, Trump has privately told advisers he believes the war is entering its final phase and has urged them to stick to the four- to six-week timeline he has outlined publicly, according to people familiar with the matter.
Senior White House officials are also planning a mid-May summit in Beijing with Chinese President Xi Jinping, with expectations among some that the war will end before the meeting takes place.
At the same time, officials acknowledge there are no easy options to end the war, and negotiations toward a deal remain in early stages.
The IDF said it had completed a broad wave of airstrikes targeting infrastructure belonging to the Iranian regime in several areas across Iran, including Isfahan.
Meanwhile, skepticism remains high among Israeli officials regarding Iran’s willingness to negotiate.
“Well, Iran always lies. We’ve learned that they always lie,” said Ophir Falk, a senior political adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in an interview with CNN.
Falk said Israel’s primary objective remains “to remove the existential threat posed by this ayatollah regime,” adding that the preferred outcome would be regime change.
On the diplomatic front, Trump struck an optimistic tone, suggesting Tehran is under pressure to reach an agreement.
“Nobody’s ever seen anything like we’re doing in the Middle East with Iran, and they are negotiating, by the way, and they want to make a deal so badly, but they’re afraid to say it because they figure they’ll be killed by their own people. They’re also afraid they’ll be killed by us,” Trump said at a fundraising dinner in Washington.
The White House said talks with Iran are not at a dead end, even after Tehran did not immediately accept a 15-point proposal to end the war. US officials are working to arrange a meeting in Pakistan to explore a possible off-ramp.
However, Iran publicly rejected the notion that negotiations are underway.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said messages have been exchanged through intermediaries but stressed they do not amount to talks.
“These messages were conveyed via friendly countries, and we responded by stating our positions and issuing warnings. This is neither dialogue nor negotiation, nor anything of the sort,” he said.
He added that Iran’s current policy is to continue “defending” and that it has “no intention of negotiating for now.”
The gap between Washington’s optimism and Tehran’s public stance reflects deep mistrust built over previous rounds of diplomacy, which were followed by military strikes.
From Iran’s perspective, past negotiations did not reduce the risk of war and in some cases preceded escalation, contributing to skepticism toward current US messaging.
Even Iranian officials who support diplomacy are facing internal pressure, as renewed talks are seen as politically risky without clear guarantees of a different outcome.