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!
Key events
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.”
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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.
The Israeli military said it was preparing for a possible retaliatory attack “in the coming hours”, after carrying out a deadly strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs earlier on Sunday.
“Following the IDF strike in Beirut … the IDF is preparing for potential fire toward the territory of the state of Israel in the coming hours,” the military said.
Israel’s military chief, Eyal Zamir, said the military is “closely monitoring developments” across the region. “Lebanon is our main center of gravity, but we are also preparing for developments in other arenas,” Zamir was quoted as having said during a meeting with commanders at the Northern Command.
Egypt’s president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, is expected to have a meeting with Donald Trump on the sidelines of the G7 summit.
The summit, which is taking place in Évian-les-Bains, on France’s eastern border with Switzerland, will start tomorrow and last three days.
A spokesperson for the Egyptian presidency said Egypt’s participation “underscores its pivotal role in advancing development and stability efforts in the Middle East”. “During the summit, President El-Sisi is scheduled to hold a multitude of bilateral meetings with participating world leaders on the sidelines of the summit, prominently featuring a bilateral meeting with US President Donald Trump,” the statement added.
Lebanon’s state-run National News agency is reporting that Israel carried out a “large bombing operation” in the southern Lebanese town of Haddatha this afternoon. No casualties or injuries were immediately reported. We will monitor for developments on this.
Iran military official reportedly says Beirut attack will not go ‘unanswered’
A senior Iranian military official has warned that Israel’s strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs would not go “unanswered” by Tehran, according to local media (see post at 11.45 for more details on the attack).
“Without a doubt, these crimes will not go unanswered,” Brigadier General Mohammad Jafar Asadi, deputy commander of Iran’s highest military command, told Defa Press news agency.
The IDF notified the US Central Command (Centcom) about its strike on Beirut’s Dahiyeh district shortly before the attack took place, according to Axios’ global affairs correspondent Barak Ravid.
Iran says that any Israeli attack on Beirut is a violation of the ceasefire with the US and could therefore derail ongoing peace talks.
Analysts say Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to sabotage the talks for his own political purposes. He clearly seems reluctant to stop the attacks on Lebanon, which the military says are only targeting Hezbollah fighters and sites, even though the strikes regularly kill civilians and destroy civilian infrastructure.
According to a statement on the Iranian foreign minister’s official Telegram account, Abbas Araghchi highlighted the fact that many observers now argue that his country has emerged more powerful from the war than the before (principally because it has shown its ability to impact the global economy through control of the strategic strait of Hormuz, and attack US-allied Gulf countries, which are incredibly vulnerable despite the fact they are meant to be safeguarded under an American security blanket).
“This change in perspective is not simply due to the country’s defense capabilities; rather, it is rooted in the steadfastness, solidarity, and resistance of the Iranian nation, which were the main support of the country in difficult days,” Araghchi wrote.
The Iranian foreign minister also spoke of Iran’s importance in relation to regional security going forward. He wrote in his post: “The experience of the recent war showed that regional security cannot be based on eliminating or ignoring Iran.”
“The countries of the region have gradually come to the realisation that sustainable security, economic development, and regional stability are only possible through cooperation, understanding, and consideration of the common interests of all countries in the region, including the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
Iran’s top negotiator says Israeli attack on Beirut suburbs shows US lacks will or ability to fulfill commitments
Iran’s top negotiator, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, said on Sunday that Israel’s attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs showed the United States either lacked the will to fulfill its commitments or the ability to do so, Reuters reports.
In a post on X, he said continuing on the current path would be impossible if commitments could not be fulfilled.
The deputy commander of Iran’s top joint military command, Khatam al-Anbiya central headquarters, said on Sunday that Israeli “crimes” in the southern suburbs of Lebanon’s capital will not go unanswered, according to state media.
The comments follow Israeli strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs that Israel claimed targeted Iran’s Lebanese ally Hezbollah.
Summary of the day so far
Here are summary of today’s development’s so far as we wait for any concrete details on a potential peace deal between the US and Iran:
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The Israeli military has launched strikes on Beirut it claimed were targeting Hezbollah infrastructure. Smoke has been seen rising over the capital.
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Lebanon civil defence says three people were killed in the strikes.
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The attacks follow the IDF telling people in 29 villages in southern Lebanon to leave their homes ahead of strikes.
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The attack on Beirut were launched despite ongoing efforts to secure a peace deal between the US and Iran. On Saturday night Trump said the two countries would sign the deal on Sunday
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However sources told Iranian media that Tehran had ‘not yet’ made a final decision on signing the deal.
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This follows Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmaeil Baghaei, advising caution on Saturday. “We will have to wait and see about the exact date of the signing of the memorandum of understanding, although it will not be tomorrow,” Baghaei was quoted as saying. “The possibility of this happening in the coming days cannot be ruled out.”
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Qatari mediators have traveled to Tehran on Sunday to finalise the agreement according to sources, suggesting there is more detail to be resolved.
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No concrete details have emerged on the deal, but it is reported that Iran has agreed not to produce or acquire a nuclear weapon under a draft memorandum of understanding between Iran’s leaders and the US, according to a senior Iranian official speaking to the Reuters news agency.
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Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, said on Saturday Islamabad was preparing for an electronic signing within 24 hours to be followed by technical-level talks next week. “We are closer to a peace deal than ever before,” Sharif wrote on social media.
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Pro-government night-time rallies continue across Iran, and have now been held for more than 100 nights, with some people protesting an agreement with the US. A resident in the north-eastern city of Mashhad told Reuters in Dubai that some protesters chanted: “Death to the compromiser,” in an apparent reference to the foreign minister Abbas Araqchi.
Some images from today’s Israeli strikes on Beirut. The strikes are second strikes on the capital in a week.
There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah on the Israeli statement regarding strikes on Beirut, but the group said it launched missiles and drones towards Israeli troops in southern Lebanon.
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