Iran announced today that it has suspended talks with the United States over ending the war in response to Israel’s brutal escalation in southern Lebanon. “Given the continuation of the crimes of the Zionist entity in Lebanon and considering that Lebanon was part of the preconditions for the ceasefire, and that this ceasefire has been violated on all fronts, the Iranian negotiating team will suspend talks and the exchange of texts through intermediaries,” Tasnim News reported.
Earlier in the day, a statement had come from Israel Acting Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz ordering Lebanese to evacuate parts of Beirut, because the IDF would start conducting a bombing campaign there. This came in the context of a surge of IDF northward in Lebanon.
Within hours of Tasnim’s announcement of suspension ot the U.S.-Iran indirect talks–which had been praised all weekend by President Trump, he was apparently prompted to get on the phone to Israel. “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,”he wrote on Truth Social. “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.”
Netanyahu, according to Israeli media, then backed down from striking Beirut.
The three points that Iran stressed today, according to Tasnim, are: 1) The necessity of an immediate cessation of attacks by the Zionist regime in Gaza and Lebanon; 2) The necessity of a complete Israeli withdrawal from the occupied areas in Lebanon; and 3) Until Iran’s view in this regard is met, there will be no further talks.
Tasnim concludes, “The Resistance Axis and Iran, together, have jointly determined to completely block the Strait of Hormuz and activate other fronts including the Bab Al-Mandeb Strait, in order to punish the Zionists and their allies.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned separately that the United States and Israel would bear the consequences of any ceasefire breaches. “A ceasefire between Iran and the United States constitutes, without any ambiguity, a comprehensive ceasefire across all fronts, including Lebanon,” he said in a statement on X. “Any violation of this ceasefire on one front shall be considered a violation of it across all fronts. The United States and Israel bear responsibility for the consequences of any breach of the truce.”
Today’s earlier statement from the office of Netanyahu and Katz had ordered the IDF to start striking targets in Beirut. “There will not be a situation in which Hezbollah attacks our cities and our citizens, and its terrorist headquarters in Beirut, in Dahiyeh, remains out of bounds,” the statement quotes Netanyahu as saying. “We are continuing to deepen our operational activity on the ground in southern Lebanon and are eliminating Hezbollah strongholds. Hezbollah is on the run. We are determined to restore security to the residents of the north, just as we did for the residents of the south.”
Iran’s military headquarters issued its own warning. “Netanyahu, continuing his acts of aggression in the region, has threatened to bomb Dahiyeh and Beirut and has issued an evacuation warning to their residents,” it said. “Given the regime’s repeated violations of the ceasefire, if this threat is carried out, we warn residents of the northern areas and military settlements in the occupied territories: If they do not wish to be harmed, they should leave the area.”
