Rescuers work at the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut, Lebanon, April 8, 2026.
A ceasefire deal to pause the war in Iran appeared to hang by a thread Wednesday after the Islamic Republic closed the Strait of Hormuz again in response to Israeli attacks in Lebanon. The White House demanded that the channel be reopened and sought to keep peace talks on track.
The U.S. and Iran both claimed victory after reaching the agreement, and world leaders expressed relief, even as more drones and missiles hit Iran and Gulf Arab countries. At the same time, Israel intensified its attacks on the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon, hitting several commercial and residential areas in Beirut without warning. At least 256 people were killed and over 1100 were wounded in one of the deadliest days in any Israel-Hezbollah war.
The fresh violence threatened to scuttle what U.S. Vice President JD Vance called a “fragile” deal.
Parliament speaker accuses US of breaking Iran’s conditions
The Iranian parliament speaker said planned talks with the U.S. to seek a permanent halt to hostilities were “unreasonable” because Washington broke three of Tehran’s 10 conditions for an end to the fighting. In a social media post, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf objected to Israeli attacks on Hezbollah, an alleged drone incursion into Iranian airspace after the ceasefire went into effect and the U.S. assertion that it will not accept any Iranian enrichment capabilities in a final agreement.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi insisted that an end to the war in Lebanon was part of the ceasefire deal with the U.S. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump said the truce did not cover Lebanon.
“The world sees the massacres in Lebanon,” Araghchi said in a post on X. “The ball is in the U.S. court, and the world is watching whether it will act on its commitments.”
Lebanon’s health ministry said Israeli strikes killed 256 people on Wednesday, the highest single-day death toll in any Israel-Hezbollah war.
AP
