Iran says peace talks unreasonable after Israeli strikes

Israel unleashed its most intense strikes yet on Lebanon, killing hundreds and provoking a threat of retaliation from Iran, which signaled it would be “unreasonable” to move ahead with talks aimed at securing a permanent peace deal with the United States.

The remarks from Iran’s chief negotiator, parliament speaker Mohammed Bager Qalibaf, underscored how fragile the region remains even after President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire.

The United States and Iran have entered Saturday’s planned peace talks with sharply different goals, raising fresh doubts over whether the two-week truce can survive that long.

Mr Qalibaf said Israel had already breached several ceasefire conditions by escalating its parallel war against the Iran-backed militia Hezbollah, while the United States had violated the accord by demanding that Iran give up its nuclear ambitions.

Israel and the United States both said the two-week ceasefire did not apply to Lebanon, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the strikes would go on.

“I think the Iranians thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon, and it just didn’t,” US Vice President JD Vance, who will lead the US delegation, told reporters in Budapest.

The gap between the two sides also appeared wide on Iran’s nuclear programme, one of the main reasons Mr Trump cited for going to war.

Mr Trump said Iran had agreed to halt uranium enrichment, a process that can be used to produce nuclear weapons, and the White House said Tehran had indicated it would hand over its existing stockpiles.

“The United States will, working with Iran, dig up and remove all of the deeply buried … Nuclear ‘Dust,” Mr Trump said on social media.

A fireball rises from a building hit by an Israeli airstrike in the area of Abbasiyeh

Mr Qalibaf, however, said the terms of the ceasefire still allowed Iran to continue enriching uranium.

Although both Washington and Tehran have claimed victory in a war now five weeks old and responsible for thousands of deaths, the central disputes between them remain unsettled.

Both governments are holding fast to rival demands in negotiations that could influence the Middle East for generations.

Even with that uncertainty hanging over the region, world stock markets rallied and oil prices tumbled 14% to settle near $95 a barrel after dropping as low as $90.40.

Iran’s newly demonstrated capacity to choke Gulf energy supplies through its hold over the strait, despite decades of vast US military spending in the region, suggests the conflict has already shifted the balance of power in the Gulf.

‘Finger on the trigger’

Mr Netanyahu said Israel had its “finger on the trigger” and stood ready to resume fighting at “any moment.”

Lebanon’s civil defence service said 254 people were killed in Israeli strikes across the country.

It said the highest death toll was in the capital Beirut, where 91 people were killed in the attacks.

Residents said some Israeli strikes were carried out without the usual warnings for civilians to evacuate.

Iran also hit oil facilities in nearby Gulf states, including a pipeline in Saudi Arabia that has been used to bypass the blockaded Strait of Hormuz, according to an oil industry source.

Kuwait, Bahrain and the UAE also reported missile and drone attacks.

The Strait of Hormuz remained closed to vessels sailing without permits, and shippers said they needed greater clarity before traffic could resume.

In a burst of online posts, Mr Trump announced new tariffs of 50% on all goods from any country supplying arms to Iran, though he does not have the authority to impose them.

Iran’s ruling establishment survives

Crowds poured into the streets of Iran overnight in celebration, waving Iranian flags and burning those of the United States and Israel. Yet the public mood was also marked by caution over whether the deal would last.

“Israel will not allow diplomacy to work and Mr Trump might change his view tomorrow. But at least we can sleep tonight without strikes,” Alireza, 29, a government employee in Tehran, told Reuters by phone.

The war began on 28 February when Mr Trump and Mr Netanyahu said their aim was to stop Iran from projecting force beyond its borders, dismantle its nuclear programme and create conditions for Iranians to overthrow their rulers.

A driver gestures with an Iranian flag during celebrations welcoming the ceasefire

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said Washington had secured a decisive military victory.

But Iran still retains both its stockpile of near-weapons-grade highly enriched uranium and its ability to strike neighboring countries with missiles and drones.

The clerical leadership, which only months ago faced mass protests, has survived the assault by a superpower without any visible sign of internal collapse.

“The enemy, in its unjust, illegal and criminal war against the Iranian nation, has suffered an undeniable, historic and crushing defeat,” Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said.

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