Israel strikes Beirut despite truce, Iranian lawmaker threatens to retaliate
Though the sides have both said they are close to a preliminary agreement that would reopen the strait, they have repeatedly traded strikes, with escalations in recent days that have included attacks on nearby Arab states hosting US bases.
· CNA · JoinRead a summary of this article on FAST.
Get bite-sized news via a new
cards interface. Give it a try.
Click here to return to FAST Tap here to return to FAST
FAST
BEIRUT/DUBAI/NEW BRUNSWICK: Israel struck the outskirts of Beirut on Sunday (Jun 7) for the first time since the US announced a truce plan for Lebanon last week, and an Iranian lawmaker threatened to retaliate, putting talks to end the wider war into new jeopardy.
Iran has long said any peace deal with the United States would depend on a ceasefire also holding in Lebanon, which Israel invaded in March in pursuit of Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters who fired across the border in solidarity with Tehran.
Iran's chief peace negotiator, parliamentary speaker Mohammed Baqer Qalibaf, said U.S. bases and Israeli assets were legitimate targets because of hostile acts including the "violation of agreements over Lebanon".
"They showed that they only understand the language of power," he wrote on X.
CNA Games
Guess Word
Crack the word, one row at a time
Buzzword
Create words using the given letters
Mini Sudoku
Tiny puzzle, mighty brain teaser
Mini Crossword
Small grid, big challenge
Word Search
Spot as many words as you can
Show More
Show Less
Ebrahim Rezaei, an influential hardline lawmaker who serves as spokesperson for the Iranian parliament's national security committee, posted on X that Iran would deliver a "decisive and painful response" to Sunday's Israeli strikes on Lebanon.
"Look at the sky of the occupied territories tonight," he wrote, an apparent reference to some form of attack on Israel itself. Iran has not targeted Israel directly since a ceasefire in the wider war in April, although Hezbollah has done so.
An Israeli official, responding to the apparent threat, told Reuters that Israel would retaliate against any attacks on its territory from Iran, and consider it "an opportunity to renew the campaign".
Washington and Tehran have shown little progress in reaching a deal to end the war that President Donald Trump launched in February with a campaign of air strikes alongside Israel against Iran. Trump has repeatedly threatened to restart the strikes unless there is an agreement soon.
"We're very close to a deal, or I'm going to blow the hell out of them," Trump told NBC News in an interview, broadcast to mark 100 days of the conflict. The comments were recorded on Friday and broadcast on Sunday as Trump visited his New Jersey golf course.
TRUMP LEANS ON NETANYAHU
Trump has leaned on Israel to scale back its campaign in Lebanon to allow room for a peace deal with Iran, including rebuking Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with obscenities in a phone call last week. After the call, Netanyahu called off air strikes on Beirut and agreed the latest truce plan with the Lebanese government.
But Israel has never fully halted its campaign in Lebanon, which has killed thousands of people and driven hundreds of thousands from their homes. Hezbollah, which was not party to the truce and would be dismantled under its terms, has also continued attacks and says it will not give up its weapons unless Israel halts fighting and withdraws.
Netanyahu said Sunday's strike on Beirut's southern outskirts, a district known as Dahiyeh that has long been a Hezbollah stronghold, was ordered in response to Hezbollah firing toward Israel.
The Israeli military had earlier said it had intercepted two projectiles fired over the border. It issued an evacuation order for the southern Lebanese city of Tyre and surrounding areas ahead of possible strikes there.
Elsewhere in Beirut on Sunday, mourners held a military funeral for Brigadier General Wissam Sabra, a senior military officer killed in a strike on his vehicle in the south the previous day.
The wider war has been stalemated since the United States and Israel paused their attacks on Iran in early April, with Tehran blocking most shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the main transit route for Middle East oil. Washington has imposed its own blockade of Iranian ports.
Though the sides have both said they are close to a preliminary agreement that would reopen the strait, they have repeatedly traded strikes, with escalations in recent days that have included attacks on nearby Arab states hosting US bases.
US forces struck Iranian coastal radar sites in Goruk and Qeshm Island, both in the Strait of Hormuz, early on Saturday after shooting down drones launched by Iran that US Central Command said posed a threat to maritime traffic. Two more Iranian attack drones that were threatening shipping in the strait were shot down, the US military said late on Saturday.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they retaliated against US bases in Kuwait and Bahrain. Kuwait's army said it engaged seven ballistic missiles that passed over residential areas, resulting in material damage but no casualties.
Trump has said any agreement to end the war must prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, and he is under pressure to deliver terms tougher than those agreed in 2015 under then-President Barack Obama in a deal Trump later repudiated.
Tehran's demands include the lifting of US and international sanctions, recognition of its sway over the strait and the release of billions of dollars in frozen assets.
A source familiar with US plans told Reuters on Saturday that Washington could make Iranian assets available to Gulf neighbours to repair damage inflicted by Iran.
Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said on Sunday that any such diversion of Iranian assets would be illegal, and Iran would take measures in response.
Sign up for our newsletters
Get our pick of top stories and thought-provoking articles in your inbox
Get the CNA app
Stay updated with notifications for breaking news and our best stories
Get WhatsApp alerts
Join our channel for the top reads for the day on your preferred chat app