President Joseph Aoun said Thursday that the latest war has disrupted the economic, financial, administrative, and judicial reforms in Lebanon.

"Lebanon does not need financial aid but investments," he said.

World shares were mixed on Thursday, with benchmarks in Japan and South Korea setting fresh records, after the U.S. and Iran signed their initial agreement ending the war.

The rally in Asia followed a retreat Wednesday on Wall Street driven by speculation the Federal Reserve may raise interest rates this year to curb inflation.

Iran will immediately take steps to reopen the Strait of Hormuz once a tentative deal with the U.S. to end the war is signed and will be allowed to sell its oil without restrictions, according to leaked copies of an interim agreement that officials say broadly matches the document.

The accord, due to be formally signed in a ceremony in Switzerland on Friday, lays out that the U.S. would secure at least $300 billion to rebuild Iran after the war and work to end all American and United Nations sanctions imposed on Tehran if a final agreement addressing Iran's nuclear program is reached.

For nearly two years, beekeeper Salim Sharaf has been unable to reach about 150 of his 200 beehives near the southern Lebanese border village of Mari.

The hives remain in an area where Israeli troops are present, leaving Sharaf uncertain whether the colonies survived, were destroyed during the fighting or dispersed after being left unattended.

World share prices soared Monday after a tentative deal was announced on ending the Iran war and reopening the Strait of Hormuz, while oil prices fell more than $4 a barrel.

The future for the S&P 500 was up 1.2% and that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1%, auguring likely early gains for Wall Street.

The European Central Bank on Thursday became the first major central bank to raise interest rates in response to the Iran war as policymakers around the world including new U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh wrestle with how to confront the inflation fed by sharply higher oil prices.

The ECB's rate-setting council raised its benchmark rate to 2.25% from 2%, where it had been for a year. The move comes ahead of rate-setting meetings next week at the Fed, the Bank of Japan, and the Bank of England.

Saudi Arabia announced Wednesday the end of a ban it imposed on Lebanese imports five years ago, marking a major step in attempts to rebuild relations between Lebanon and Gulf countries.

The kingdom slapped a ban on Lebanese fruits and vegetables in 2021, saying they were being used to smuggle drugs. In one notable case, Saudi Arabia announced it had seized over 5 million pills of the amphetamine drug Captagon hidden in a shipment of pomegranates coming from Lebanon.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday showed how he had learned to stop worrying about inflation and simply, in his own words, "love" it.

Asked about the new report that the consumer price index in May had jumped 4.2% over the last year, the president took a surprisingly optimistic tack with the challenging news. Trump didn't dismiss the affordability issue as a "hoax" that was started by Democrats, as he has done previously. Nor did he claim that he was bringing down the cost of living.

Consumer prices probably jumped in May for the third straight month, heightening concerns for the inflation fighters at the Federal Reserve and underscoring the threat that rising costs pose for the Trump administration as midterm elections near.

Inflation is expected to reach 4.2% in May from a year earlier when the Labor Department reports last month's figures Wednesday, according to a survey of economists by data provider FactSet The annual increase would be up from the 3.8% reading in April. On a monthly basis, prices are forecast to have risen a hefty 0.5%, slightly below the 0.6% increase in April.

Lebanon launched the rehabilitation of its second airport on Saturday, in preparation for an opening within months, at a time when the country faces constant fighting between Hezbollah and Israel.

A jet carrying Prime Minister Nawaf Salam landed at René Mouawad Airport, where he led the ceremony at the facility in Lebanon’s northwest, close to Syria's border.