Trump Says U.S. And Iran Deal To End War Threatened By Israeli Strike On Beirut

U.S. President Donald Trump said the United States and Iran had reached a deal to end the war on Sunday, while an Israeli strike on Beirut, Lebanon, threatened to derail talks as they reached the final stage.

“Trump says the Israeli attack on Beirut 'should not have happened' The American president, Donald Trump, said that the Israeli raid targeting the southern suburb of Beirut 'should not have happened on this special day, and we are very close to a peace agreement with Iran,' according to what he wrote on his Truth Social platform”

BBC

Trump wrote on Truth Social that the Israeli attack on Beirut “should not have happened,” and he said the attack was “very small and meaningless, nobody was hurt, injured, or killed,” as he urged all parties to stand down.

BBC

Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, confirmed the agreement on state television and said Iran would start implementing it after it was signed later this week.

The Israeli army said it targeted a “Hezbollah command center” in Beirut after it launched “aerial targets” toward Israel, and the BBC reported that Lebanese official media said 3 dead and about 15 injured before later tolls were confirmed.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry put the total number of those killed in Lebanon since March 2 at 3,783, with 11,699 wounded, as the dispute over whether Lebanon would be included in any eventual peace deal remained a major sticking point.

As Trump pressed for restraint, Iran’s parliament speaker and chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf threatened to halt peace talks with the United States after Israel bombed Beirut, saying the “Zionists’ aggression against Dahieh once again showed that the United States either lacks the will to implement its commitments or lacks the ability to do so.”

The BBC reported that Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said the response to the Israeli strike on the southern Beirut suburb is “imminent,” while Trump told Axios that the strike “delayed the signing.”

France 24

In Jerusalem, Israeli officials said Washington was “normalizing fire at Israel,” and they argued the U.S. position was unfair and did not reflect the way an ally should be treated.

The Jerusalem Post reported that Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a joint statement, “Israel will not tolerate fire directed at its territory,” as the IDF maintained “high alertness and readiness in all arenas.”

Lebanese Civil Defense said it retrieved three bodies and six wounded people from the rubble, while the BBC later reported the Lebanese Health Ministry said among the dead were two women and the total number of the wounded reached 16.

The proposed U.S.-Iran framework was tied to reopening the Strait of Hormuz, which Trump said he would authorize to open immediately after the deal, while the BBC and other outlets described the Beirut strike as arriving during the final stage of negotiations.

“Israel is estimating that Iran will respond to the Israeli strike on a Hezbollah command center in Beirut's Dahieh suburb on Sunday”

Israel National News

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the two sides had declared the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon, and he said “technical talks” would follow.

France 24 reported that Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said “the response of Islamic fighters is imminent,” and it added that “Lebanon is our life, and the Islamic Republic's red lines will not be allowed to be crossed.”

The BBC said the IDF chief of staff Eyal Zamir was continuously assessing the situation with all relevant commanders and that, based on situational assessments, the IDF was preparing for a possible firing toward Israeli territory in the coming hours.

With Israel’s campaign continuing and the Lebanon arena described as a “main focal point,” the BBC reported that the IDF affirmed the continuation of “operations in Lebanon to strengthen defense of towns in the northern region and to deepen the strike against Hezbollah through ground maneuvers and system-wide fire.”