IRANIAN officials have warned that Israel’s escalating attacks on Lebanon and ongoing hostilities in Gaza threaten to derail the ongoing ceasefire negotiations with the United States which continue to drag on.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi suggested on Monday that the mounting Israeli invasion of Lebanon and its strikes on the country, alongside the continued US siege of Iranian ports, constitutes a violation of the ceasefire.
“The ceasefire between Iran and the US is unequivocally a ceasefire on all fronts, including in Lebanon,” Araghchi said in a social media post. “Its violation on one front is a violation of the ceasefire on all fronts. The US and Israel are responsible for the consequences of any violation.”
Iran’s chief negotiator and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf made the same point.
“The naval blockade and escalation of war crimes in Lebanon by the genocidal Zionist regime are clear evidence of US noncompliance with the ceasefire,” he wrote on social media.
“Every choice has a price, and the bill comes due. It will all fall into place,” he added.
Their comments came as Israel deepens its invasion of south Lebanon and threatens to resume large scale attacks in Beirut.
Not long after the comments emerged, the Israeli military issued a forced displacement order for residents of the southern Beirut suburbs of Dahiye and strikes were ordered. The previous day Israeli ground forces reached their deepest point in Lebanon in 26 years.
But US President Donald Trump suggested he had intervened to de-escalate the tension, posting on Monday afternoon that he had received assurances that Israeli troops would not be continuing their advance.
“I had a very productive call with Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, of Israel, and there will be no Troops going to Beirut, and any Troops that are on their way, have already been turned back,” Trump wrote.
“Likewise, through highly placed Representatives, I had a very good call with Hezbollah, and they agreed that all shooting will stop — That Israel will not attack them, and they will not attack Israel.”
It is not clear who Trump might have spoken to in Hezbollah, which the US has designated as a “foreign terrorist organisation”. Such discussions with the group would likely be a first for a US president.
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Monday afternoon that Tehran is also demanding a halt to Israeli military attacks in Gaza.