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The U.S. and Israel kicked off a 39-day bombing campaign against Iran on Feb. 28 during which over 13,000 targets were hit, including the upper crust of the regime in Tehran. While the U.S. and Iran agreed in early April to a ceasefire, it has been strained in recent days and weeks by violent exchanges between the warring parties.
While admittedly not in a rush to strike a deal to end the war in time for the midterms, President Donald Trump nevertheless expressed optimism early Monday that "Iran really wants to make a deal, and it will be a good one for the U.S.A. and those that are with us."
Hours later — and after U.S. Central Command announced that a pair of Iranian ballistic missiles targeting American forces in Kuwait had been intercepted — Iranian state media reportedly announced that Tehran has suspended peace talks with the United States, citing as cause Israel's offensive in Lebanon and escalations in Beirut.
'I don't particularly want to talk either.'
Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said in a statement before his nation's state media threw cold water on the peace talks that "the ceasefire between Iran and the US is unequivocally a ceasefire on all fronts, including in Lebanon. Its 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."
Following the news of the initial ceasefire in April, the Israel Defense Forces announced that the Israeli military had "ceased fire in the operation against Iran" but was "continuing to conduct targeted ground operations against Hezbollah" in Lebanon, where the IDF already had a significant troop presence.
In the months since, Israeli forces have expanded their occupation of the south of the country — going well beyond the Litani River — and claimed significant gains over Hezbollah militants.
On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he ordered attacks on the southern suburbs of Beirut.
Ronen Zvulun/POOL/AFP/Getty Images
Mohsen Rezaei, an Iranian politician who served as military adviser to the late Ali Khamenei, said on Monday, "The Strait of Hormuz is under Iran's management. We will not allow the continuation of the maritime blockade, and the escalation of tensions in Lebanon will not be tolerated either. The patience of the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran has its limits."
Tasnim, the semi-official state news agency that is affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, subsequently reported that "the Iranian negotiating team will suspend 'talks and the exchange of texts through mediators.'"
The agency also claimed that Iran and its allies would "activate other fronts, including the Bab al-Mandab Strait" at the entrance of the Red Sea.
Trump told NBC News' Garrett Haake, "I think it's fine if they're done talking."
"It's an appropriate thing to say, because they're better negotiators than they are fighters," the president said. "But they haven’t informed us of that."
Trump noted that the apparent suspension of talks "doesn't mean we're going to go and start dropping bombs all over there" but that the U.S. will "keep the blockade. Blockade is a piece of steel."
"If they don't want to talk, that’s okay with me. I think it's fine. I don't particularly want to talk either. We talk too much," Trump added.
In an apparent effort to rescue the peace talks from total collapse, Trump announced around 1:30 p.m. on Monday that after speaking to Netanyahu, "there will be no Troops going to Beirut, and any Troops that are on their way, have already been turned back."
The president also said Hezbollah had agreed not to attack Israel.
Tump said in a Truth Social post just minutes later that "talks are continuing, at a rapid pace, with the Islamic Republic of Iran."
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