Iran says talks pointless if US cannot halt Israeli airstrikes. Oil markets watch for Strait of Hormuz reopening as G7 summit this week could yield a signing.
Israeli airstrikes on Hezbollah sites in Beirut killed three people and wounded 15, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported. The attacks came after Hezbollah fired projectiles into northern Israel.
Iran’s top negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said there was “no point” continuing talks if the U.S. lacked the “will and ability” to stop Israel from bombing Lebanon. Tehran warned the strikes would not go unanswered, according to state media.
President Donald Trump responded with a social media post arguing there should be no more attacks by Israel anywhere in Lebanon. He also said no other party, including Hezbollah, should attack Israel. “This could be the beginning of a long and beautiful peace – Let’s not blow it!” Trump wrote. He later told Fox News the deal could be finalized within hours Sunday, with a possible in-person signing in Europe later in the week.
The planned U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding would extend what is effectively a cease-fire by two months, reopen the Strait of Hormuz to crude tankers, and lift an American blockade of Iranian ports. Officials from each country have given differing public versions of the latest draft. Even before the Israeli strikes, Iranian media played down Trump’s assertion that the deal would be signed on Sunday, his 80th birthday. Officials in Tehran said an electronic signing was more likely than an in-person event.
Trump swore at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a phone call early this month over the deepening invasion of Lebanon. Israel says its operation aims to create a security buffer zone to stop attacks by Hezbollah, a U.S.-designated terrorist group and key Iranian ally. Tehran has insisted any deal with Washington first requires a cease-fire in Lebanon.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told CBS’s Face the Nation the two sides remained on track. “From all I know, we are on track – it’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when,” he said. “There’s logistics involved into how these things happen.”
The Israeli military said late Sunday it was preparing for potential fire toward Israel from either Lebanon or Iran within hours. The two countries exchanged missiles a week ago.
Group of Seven officials on Friday said Iran and the U.S. might affirm a deal on the sidelines of the group’s summit this week in France. Iranian media later said it was more likely to be an electronic signing. The interim deal is meant to buy time for broader negotiations to address Iran’s nuclear program. The Strait of Hormuz has remained partially blocked since the U.S. imposed the blockade, disrupting crude oil flows and raising shipping and insurance costs. A delay in the deal prolongs that uncertainty. The G7 summit in France this week provides the next scheduled moment for news on the talks.
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