Iran warns ‘imminent’ response coming to Israeli strike on Beirut
Iran’s highest national security body warned on Sunday that a response was “imminent” following an Israeli strike targeting Tehran’s ally Hezbollah in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
“The response of the fighters of Islam is imminent,” the Supreme National Security Council said in a statement on X. “Lebanon is our life and violation of the red lines of the Islamic Republic will not be tolerated.”
Key events
The secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, addressing the recent Israeli military action in Lebanon, warned that a response from the “Islamic warriors” is coming, according to Reuters.
Donald Trump reiterated that a peace deal with Iran was still on track to be signed within hours, despite an Israeli strike on Beirut that he said had delayed the plan, adding that he told Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he has “no fu*king judgement”.
“It shook it up. It delayed the signing by a few hours. It was supposed to be now. Now it is scheduled for a few hours from now,” Trump said in a phone call with Axios.
Trump fumed at Netanyahu over the attack on Beirut, saying, “it is so bad – I couldn’t believe it. An hour before we are supposed to sign the deal.”
Using a string of expletives, Trump told Axios he raged at Netanyahu after Israel struck Beirut’s southern suburbs on Sunday, killing three people, in response to what it said was Hezbollah fire at northern Israel.
“Why did Bibi (Netanyahu) have to do a fucking attack?” Trump told Axios. “I was so pissed off. I let him know. He has no fucking judgement. I let him know that.”
Trump says he will ask Iran not to respond to Israeli strikes on Beirut, reports say
Donald Trump said he will ask Iran not to respond against Israeli strikes that targeted Hezbollah, Fox News correspondent Trey Yingst reported.
Trump also told Fox News that he asked Israeli prime minister Netanyahu “what the fu*k are you doing?”
Trump added that he believes a deal with Iran will be electronically signed in the next 2-3 hours.
Defense secretary Pete Hegseth said the US is already “doing things” to quickly secure safe passage through the strait of Hormuz.
“We’re already doing things I can’t talk about on this program to ensure that safe passage happens as quickly as possible,” Hegseth said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “So we’re all over this, we know exactly what the dynamics are.”
Hegseth said “once this deal is signed, our expectation is that Iran will stop shooting” at commercial shipping vessels.
“We’re attuned to what’s happening with Hezbollah firing rockets into northern Israel, which they need to stop doing,” he said, adding that “Iran needs to encourage them to stop doing that in very adamant ways”.
“If Iran wants this to hold, they need to pull back Hezbollah, no doubt,” he added.
Israel’s foreign ministry said in an X post that “Iran’s proxy, Hezbollah, is the one that attacked Israel again this morning, completely unprovoked”.
“Hezbollah constantly fires at Israeli civilians,” it said, adding that these attacks have continued “even after the ceasefire”.
“It was Hezbollah that launched an unprovoked attack on Israel in March, acting under the orders of its Iranian masters,” it said.
The statement came in response to comments that were made Sunday by Iran’s top negotiator, Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, who said Israel’s latest strikes on Beirut show the US is not fulfilling its commitments.
“The Zionists’ incursion into Dahiyeh has once again shown that America either lacks the will to fulfill its commitments or the ability to do so. By giving the green light to the regime, you cannot gain concessions. The game of bad cop and good cop is outdated,” Ghalibaf wrote. “If you lack the will and ability to fulfill your commitments, speaking of continuing the path is not possible”.
Israel’s army said in a social media post that “several suspected aerial targets” fell a short while ago in the north of the country, near the Lebanese border.
“No injuries were reported, and the incident is under review,” it added.
Trump says Israel’s attack on Beirut ‘should not have happened’
In a Truth Social post, Donald Trump has criticised Israel for attacking the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital Beirut earlier today seeing as Washington and Tehran are “so close” to a peace deal.
Trump said there should be no more attacks on Lebanon, something Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is very unlikely to accept. He also warned Hezbollah, the Iran backed Lebanese militant group, of striking across the border into Israel.
Trump said:
This morning’s attack on Beirut should not have happened, particularly on a special day when we are so close to a Peace Deal with Iran. Israel has the right to defend itself against threats, but the attack it was responding to was very small and meaningless, nobody was hurt, injured, or killed, and should not disrupt this important process.
We are very close to a Deal that will bring peace to the region, including to Lebanon, and all sides should stand down. There should be no more attacks by Israel anywhere in Lebanon, but there should also be no more attacks by any other party, including Hezbollah, against Israel. This could be the beginning of a long and beautiful peace — Let’s not blow it!
Despite Iran’s cautious statements, the US ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz told ABC News’s ‘This Week’ programme that Donald Trump and his vice-president JD Vance have every “intent” for an agreement with Tehran to be signed today.
“I’ll leave the actual details and timing to the White House,” he said. “The Iranians are incredibly difficult negotiators coupled with the fact that they’re having a very hard time getting guidance from their supreme leader.”
“I’m confident, the team is confident,” Waltz added. “I’ll let the final details be announced by them. I don’t want to get ahead of the president or the vice president, but they have every intent of getting this done today.”
Allow content provided by a third party?
This article includes content hosted on platform.x.com. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as the provider may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click ‘Allow and continue’.
The proposed deal calls for reopening the strait of Hormuz and lifting the US naval blockade on Iranian ports, sources on either side of the talks said. Negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program would take place afterwards.
According to Iranian officials, the agreement would end conflict on all fronts, including Lebanon, and ensure the release of $24bn (£18bn) of Iran’s frozen assets, as my colleagues note in this story.
It would also set a 60-day period for negotiations on Tehran’s nuclear programme, offer the suspension of sanctions on the sale of Iran’s oil and petrochemical products, allow Iran to levy service charges on passage through the strait of Hormuz and lift the US naval blockade on Iranian ports, which has been in place since 13 April.
Iranian media says US-Iran deal not yet finalised
Citing a source “close” to the Iranian negotiating team, the Fars news agency is reporting that the emerging US-Iran deal is yet to be finalised and that “no agreement will definitely be signed at the time Trump announced”.
Donald Trump announced yesterday that a deal is scheduled to be signed at some point today, though Tehran has cast doubt on the timings. Qatari negotiators reportedly flew to Tehran this morning to help facilitate the finalisation of the agreement – but Israel’s ongoing attacks on Lebanon are likely to complicate diplomatic efforts.
