US-Iran truce on the rocks over Israel’s offensive in Lebanon

TEHRAN – Negotiations to end the war in the Middle East appeared in deep trouble on June 1, as Iranian news agency Tasnim reported Iran had suspended dialogue with mediators in protest against Israel’s expanding Lebanon offensive.

Iran’s move came hours after it again exchanged strikes with US forces despite a weeks-long ceasefire.

“Given the continuing crimes of the Zionist regime (Israel) in Lebanon, and considering that Lebanon was one of the preconditions for the ceasefire and that this ceasefire has now been violated on all fronts, including Lebanon, the Iranian negotiating team is suspending dialogues and exchange of texts through mediators,” Tasnim reported.

The report caused oil to surge and equity markets to drop, with Brent crude rising to around US$97 (S$124) a barrel. It fell more than 11 per cent last week, with traders optimistic on the prospects of a deal.

Tasnim said Iran and the so-called Resistance Front have discussed completely blocking the Strait of Hormuz and activating other fronts to “punish” Israel and its supporters.

The “Resistance Front” includes Iran’s Shi’ite allies in Yemen, Lebanon and Iraq,

If the Houthis, Iran’s allies in Yemen, open a new front in the conflict, one obvious target would be the Bab El Mandeb Strait off the coast of Yemen, a key shipping chokepoint and narrow passageway that controls sea ​traffic towards the Suez Canal.

“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,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on X on June 1, referring to Israeli operations in Lebanon.

The war launched by the US and Israel on Feb 28 has left thousands of people dead, mainly in Iran and Lebanon.

It has also caused global economic pain by pushing up energy prices since Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, a vital global supply route for oil and liquefied natural gas.

“The immediate cessation of the Zionist regime’s aggressive and brutal army operations in Gaza and Lebanon, and the necessity of the regime’s complete withdrawal from the occupied areas in Lebanon have been emphasised by Iranian officials and negotiators, and there will be no talks until Iran and the resistance’s views on this matter are met,” Tasnim added.

‘Bill comes due’

Iran’s Foreign Ministry said earlier on June 1 that a ceasefire in Lebanon remains a key condition for any deal with the US to end the Middle East war.

“We insist that a ceasefire in Lebanon is an essential condition for any deal aimed at ending the war,” the ministry’s spokesman, Esmaeil Baqaei, said at a weekly news briefing, as Israel expands its offensive in Lebanon.

A truce in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah formally began on April 17 but has never been observed, with both sides accusing each other of violating it.

Israel has pursued a ground offensive into southern Lebanon, raising its flag over a mediaeval castle that served as a base during its two-decade occupation of the country in the 1980s and 1990s.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to push deeper into Lebanon, and instructed the military to strike “terror targets” in a southern district of Beirut.

Colonel Avichay Adraee, the Israeli military’s Arabic-language spokesman, posted on X that residents of Dahiyeh, as the district is known, should evacuate “to preserve their safety”.

Israel’s military has declared all areas south of Lebanon’s Zahrani River – around 40km from the border and including the cities of Tyre and Nabatieh – to be “combat zones” and told residents to evacuate.

It issued on June 1 a new evacuation order for seven towns and villages north of the Zahrani.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said on June 1 his country was facing “a vicious and reprehensible Israeli aggression”.

Baqaei said Iran “will take all measures to support Lebanon and the resistance against the Zionist regime’s illegal aggression”.

Similarly, Iran’s chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said the US naval blockade on Iran’s ports since April 13 and the escalation in Lebanon were “clear evidence of US non-compliance with the ceasefire”.

“Every choice has a price, and the bill comes due,” Ghalibaf said in post on X.

A fragile ceasefire between Iran, the US and Israel has been in place since April 8, but military confrontations have continued in Lebanon despite Tehran’s insistence that Lebanon should be covered by the truce.

On June 1, Baqaei accused the United States of “violating the ceasefire” after a brief overnight flare-up in which the US struck a telecommunications tower in a southern Iranian port city.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they targeted the US base from which the attack originated, without specifying its location.

Iran will “take whatever measures we deem necessary to defend Iran’s national security”, Baqaei said. REUTERS, AFP