Israel carried out its heaviest strikes on Lebanon on Wednesday, killing hundreds of people and drawing a threat of retaliation from Iran, whose lead negotiator said it would be unreasonable to proceed with talks for a permanent peace deal with the United States. The warning from Iran’s lead negotiator and parliament speaker, Mohammed Bager Qalibaf, highlighted continued volatility despite Tuesday’s ceasefire.
Qalibaf said Israel had already violated several conditions of that ceasefire by ramping up its parallel war against the Iran-aligned militia Hezbollah, while the United States had violated the agreement by insisting Iran abandon its nuclear ambitions. He stated that in such a situation, a bilateral ceasefire or negotiations were unreasonable.
Israel and the United States both said the two-week ceasefire did not cover Lebanon, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the strikes would continue. United States Vice President JD Vance, who will lead the US delegation for the negotiations, told reporters in Hungary that the Iranians thought the ceasefire included Lebanon, but it simply did not.Â
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Lebanon’s civil defence service said 254 people had been killed in Israel’s strikes across Lebanon on Wednesday, with the highest toll in the capital Beirut where Israeli strikes killed 91 people. Residents said some of the Israeli strikes came without the usual warnings for civilians to evacuate. Hezbollah said early Thursday that it fired rockets at northern Israel in response to what it called ceasefire violations.
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