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Iran threatened Israel and closed the strategic Strait of Hormuz after a series of violent strikes killed over a hundred in Lebanon.
The strikes came hours after a two-week ceasefire between Iran and the United States entered into effect early on April 8. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who brokered the agreement, said that “an immediate ceasefire everywhere including Lebanon and elsewhere” was agreed upon.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office issued a statement welcoming the ceasefire at the time, but stressing that it does not cover Lebanon.
Later, U.S. President Donald Trump told PBS that Lebanon was not included in the two-week ceasefire agreement with Iran.
The violent Israeli strikes that targeted the capital, Beirut, the Beqaa Valley and southern Lebanon claimed the lives of over a hundred people.
“The Israeli enemy’s airstrikes on numerous Lebanese areas, reaching the capital Beirut, have led, in an updated non-final toll, to 112 martyrs and 837 wounded,” the Lebanese health ministry said in a statement.
Hezbollah, which halted operations with the start of the ceasefire, said that it has a “right” to respond to the Israeli strikes on Lebanon.
“We affirm that the blood of the martyrs and the wounded will not be shed in vain, and that today’s massacres, like all acts of aggression and savage crimes, confirm our natural and legal right to resist the occupation and respond to its aggression,” the group said in a statement.
An Iranian security source later told the Fars news agency that the Islamic Republic is considering “deterrent operations” against Israel in response to what happened in Lebanon.
The semi-official news agency also reported that Iran has halted the passage of oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz. It said that only two oil tankers were allowed to pass through the strait after the ceasefire between Iran and the U.S. took effect.
“Simultaneous with Israel’s attacks on Lebanon, the passage of oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz has been stopped,” the agency added.
Several shipping sources confirmed to AFP that Iranian naval forces threatened ships attempting to pass through the strait without Tehran’s permission with destruction, adding that transit through the waterway remained shut,
Following these reports, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned that it would respond if Israel did not cease attacks on Lebanon.
“We issue a firm warning to the United States, which violates treaties, and to its Zionist ally, its executioner: if the aggression against beloved Lebanon does not cease immediately, we will fulfill our duty and deliver a response,” the Guards said in a statement carried on state TV, using a reference to Israel.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also raised the issue of ceasefire violations by Israel in Lebanon with Pakistani mediators.
Araghchi “discussed the Zionist regime’s violations of the ceasefire in Iran and Lebanon” in a call with the powerful Pakistani military leader Field Marshal Asim Munir, according to a statement by the ministry.
The Tasnim news agency even reported that Iran was prepared to withdraw from the ceasefire and retaliate over Israeli strikes on Lebanon.
“Iran will withdraw from the agreement if Israel continues to violate the ceasefire in its attack on Lebanon,” the semi-official news agency reported, citing a well-informed source.
The latest Israeli strikes on Lebanon were clearly an attempt to sabotage the ceasefire, and even to thwart American-Iranian talks set to be held in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, on April 9. With the U.S. siding with Israel on this, the attempt may actually succeed.
Iran will likely refrain from responding before the talks, just to test the waters with the U.S. The Islamic Republic is not likely to hold its breath for long, however. The attack on Lebanon signals bad intentions, and Iran has already demonstrated that it will no longer wait for the fire to reach it.
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“the attack on lebanon signals bad intentions, and iran has already demonstrated that it will no longer wait for the fire to reach it.”
exactly the response needed from iran. no deal with satanic warpigs.
no cease fire will ever happen, china is getting cut off from the regions energy. that is it. the reason
why does israel still have air fields? why? f the ‘strategic targets’. eliminate every last flat piece of paved ground in that leech state. no air fields, no attacks on anyone. what’s so hard about that? the chinese or russians can pin-point their locations. it’s been a month and they can still launch aircraft? wtf?
right! what’s the point to bomb tel aviv using costly missiles to burn some cars and blow some holes in the streets, when the airfield are not bombed by the powerful cluster bombs warheads?
it is not the “zionists”, it is the jews
did you swallow my skin i had cut off weed
expecting bloodthirsty joo filth to respect a ceasefire must be the height of absurdity. the war continues. the strait remains closed. no respite to the jooz and amerikunts to replenish their empty arsenals.
iran full of shit in two weeks it will the end of iran just like russia oil ports burning to warm the sea water fucking twats
the globalist war cabal makes propaganda but will continue until all the regions energy is under all currency is under control of the epstine class. iran is stuck in this. if the zio globalists wanted hormuz open they would not started this war. it will stay closed by plan.