Beirut, Lebanon. Israel struck the outskirts of Beirut on Sunday for the first time since the United States announced a truce plan for Lebanon last week, and Iran later fired missiles at Israeli targets. The developments added new jeopardy to talks aimed at ending the wider war.
Escalation after truce plan
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.
Missile launches and response
Israeli military officials said late on Sunday that missiles had been launched from Iran and that Israeli defense systems had intercepted them. Details on whether Israel suffered any damage were not yet available.
An Israeli official told Reuters that Israel would retaliate against any attacks on its territory from Iran and would consider it “an opportunity to renew the campaign”.
U.S. reaction
Axios reported that President Donald Trump, who was spending Saturday at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, had been briefed about the escalation between Iran and Israel. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Statements from Iran
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.
Ebrahim Rezaei, spokesperson for the Iranian parliament’s national security committee, wrote on X that Iran would deliver a “decisive and painful response” to Sunday’s Israeli strikes on Lebanon.
Wider conflict
Iran has not targeted Israel directly since a ceasefire in the wider war in April, although Hezbollah has done so.
Washington and Tehran have shown little progress in reaching a deal to end the war that 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.
