Iran has warned that Israeli attacks against Hezbollah in Lebanon could threaten Tehran’s ceasefire with the US, after Israel’s prime minister ordered strikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the agreement with the US was “unequivocally a ceasefire on all fronts, including in Lebanon” and that “its violation on one front is a violation of the ceasefire on all fronts”.
Earlier Benjamin Netanyahu said “terror targets” in Dahieh would be struck in response to Hezbollah rocket and drone attacks on Israeli civilians and other violations of a ceasefire announced in April that has failed to end the fighting.
Separately, Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported that Tehran could suspend indirect negotiations with the US.
The news agency – which is affiliated with Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) – also said Iran and its alli
The Iranian authorities have not publicly commented on the report from Tasnim – but state TV said the probability of the ceasefire with the US ending was high if Israel did not end its offensive in Lebanon. The truce came into force on 8 April.
The US has tried to separate events in Lebanon from the negotiations with Iran, which has long provided Hezbollah with significant ideological, military and financial backing and insists that any agreement must include peace in Lebanon.
On Sunday a US official said that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had proposed a plan for “gradual de-escalation” there to Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun.
The Israeli military has struck Beirut twice since the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon came into force on 16 April, most recently on Thursday. But that is a reduction on what went before, with reports that the White House has been pressuring Israel to limit its military action in Beirut to avoid jeopardising efforts to strike a broader deal to end the war between the US, Israel and Iran.
Tensions between Iran and the US also escalated in the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend. The US has said it hit Iranian military sites over the weekend while Tehran said it responded by targeting a US base in Kuwait.
The price of oil rose again on Monday following the exchange of strikes. Brent crude, the global benchmark for oil prices, jumped almost $5 (£3.7) a barrel to $97.44 (£72.45).
Prices of the commodity have been volatile since Israel and the US launched strikes against Iran on 28 February, with potential peace deals and further escalations impacting the market.
The three-month-long war has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz waterway, pushing up global energy costs.
Around a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies usually pass through the strait.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly suggested in recent days that Washington and Tehran are close to a permanent deal and that negotiations are progressing, but so far no formal agreement has been reached.
By BBC News
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