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Talks break amid strikes
Iran said Monday it was breaking off talks with the Trump administration to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz after an escalation of Israeli military action in Lebanon and renewed airstrikes around the Persian Gulf.
“Ceasefire agreement with Iran, a way out of the war for Trump, but at a heavy price Author: Anthony Zorcker Occupation: North America correspondent for the BBC Published: Reading time: 7 minutes In the end, rationality prevailed—at least for now”
The Washington Post reported that negotiations were suspended because of Israel’s escalating military attacks in Lebanon and U.S. strikes, an Iranian official told the paper.
NBC News said Iran suspended high-stakes negotiations with the United States on Monday to protest Israel’s expanding military offensive in Lebanon, according to government-aligned media, complicating efforts to end the three-month war.
NBC News added that the semiofficial news agency Tasnim reported, “The Iranian negotiating team will suspend ‘talks and the exchange of texts through mediators,’” and that Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf told Nabih Berri that Iran might retaliate if Israeli attacks in Lebanon continue.
The Washington Post framed the decision as tied to a push to reopen the Strait of Hormuz following renewed airstrikes around the Persian Gulf.
Trump, Netanyahu, and Hezbollah
While Iranian state-linked reporting said Tehran suspended message exchanges, President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social that he had spoken with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and representatives from Hezbollah and that “all shooting will stop.”
NBC News quoted Trump’s post saying, “I had a very productive call with Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, of Israel, and there will be no Troops going to Beirut,” and it also said Trump posted again later asking Netanyahu not to go into a major raid of Beirut.
NBC News reported that Netanyahu later posted on X that the Israel Defense Forces would strike Beirut if Hezbollah attacks do not stop, and it included Netanyahu’s warning that “if Hezbollah does not stop attacking our cities and civilians, Israel will strike terrorist targets in Beirut.”
The Guardian said Lebanon’s US embassy stated Hezbollah accepted a US proposal for “mutual cessation of attacks,” and it quoted the Lebanese embassy statement that “Israeli strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs would cease in exchange for Hezbollah refraining from carrying out attacks against Israel.”
What’s at stake next
As the U.S.-Iran talks wavered, NBC News reported that Tasnim earlier said Tehran would consider a full closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial shipping route that carried a fifth of the world’s oil supply before the war.
“• Status of talks: Iran has suspended talks with the US in protest over Israel’s actions in Lebanon, which Tehran said “violated” the ceasefire, according to semi-official Iranian state media”
NBC News also said Tasnim reported that closing the Strait of Hormuz would choke other waterways, including the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, and it tied the threat to punishing Israel and its supporters.
The Independent reported that Esmaeil Qaani, the commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Quds Force, warned that Israel’s operation in Lebanon could lead to the Bab-al-Mandab strait becoming like the Strait of Hormuz, and it quoted Qaani saying Iran and its allies could “take steps to activate other fronts, and equate the traffic situation of the Bab El Mandeb Strait with the Strait of Hormuz.”
CNN said late today Lebanese authorities received confirmation of Hezbollah’s agreement to a US proposal for a ceasefire with Israel, but it also reported Netanyahu’s response that the Israeli military would keep striking southern Lebanon “as planned,” and Defense Minister Israel Katz’s line that “There is no ceasefire in Lebanon.”
