Israel and Iran exchange fire for first time since truce

Two months after a ceasefire appeared to quiet the Middle East war, Israel and Iran traded attacks once more, shattering the pause despite a public appeal for restraint from US President Donald Trump.

Israel launched its strikes after Iran fired at Israel in retaliation for an airstrike on Beirut’s southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold backed by the Islamic republic.

The renewed exchange came after weeks of stalled negotiations aimed at securing a lasting end to the regional conflict ignited by US and Israeli strikes on Iran on 28 February.

No casualties have been reported so far.

The escalation unfolded only hours after Mr Trump urged Israel not to answer Tehran’s missile fire with retaliation.

Explosions echoed over Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Ramallah, while the Israeli army said it was working to intercept another wave of Iranian missiles.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had targeted Israel’s Nevatim and Tel Nof air bases “in response to a missile attack launched by the Zionist regime”.

‘I call the shots’

In a further sign of widening regional tension, Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels announced a missile attack on Israel today, their first since early April, and said Israeli shipping would be barred from the Red Sea, reviving fears of major disruption along the vital trade corridor.

“We declare a complete and total ban on Israeli maritime navigation in the Red Sea,” a statement from the Houthis’ armed forces said.

Mr Trump appealed for de-escalation from both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Iranians, but Israel said Tehran had committed a “grave mistake”.

Donald Trump insisted that he, not Benjamin Netanyahu, was in charge

“I call the shots. I call all the shots. He doesn’t call the shots,” Mr Trump said in an interview with the Financial Times yesterday, referring to Mr Netanyahu.

In a separate interview with Fox News, Mr Trump said: “What I would suggest to Iran: You’ve shot your missiles, that’s enough, get back to the table and make a deal.”

‘Legitimate targets’

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas urged both sides to step back, calling on them to “sit down to a negotiation table and agree”.

China also appealed for restraint, with foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian saying that “resuming hostilities is not in any party’s interest”.

Tehran has maintained that any permanent agreement to end the war must also stop the parallel conflict in Lebanon, where Israel had been conducting a campaign against Hezbollah.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards described their attack as a “warning” after Israel struck Beirut’s southern suburbs earlier in the day, and threatened broader action if such attacks were repeated.

A separate Iranian strike today on the headquarters of “terrorist groups” in Iraqi Kurdistan added fresh pressure to already fading hopes for a durable peace.

The Iranian government has accused armed Kurdish factions of serving Western or Israeli interests.

Smoke billows from the scene of an Israeli airstrike in the southern Lebanese coastal city of Tyre

Yesterday, Mr Netanyahu’s office said the army had “struck a militant command centre in Beirut’s Dahiyeh district, in response to Hezbollah’s fire towards Israeli territory”.

Lebanon’s health ministry said the raid killed two people and wounded 20 others.

Israel had warned it would strike the area if Hezbollah attacked northern Israel, and the Iran-backed group later confirmed it had launched missiles and drones at two Israeli army barracks early Sunday.

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s parliament speaker and chief negotiator in talks with Washington, accused the United States of giving a “green light” to the Beirut strike, and said US and Israeli assets were now “legitimate targets”.

The head of Iran’s military central command said Israel had “crossed all red lines” with the Beirut attack.

‘Everything is horrible’

The latest violence pushed crude prices sharply higher as hopes faded for any near-term reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, the key route for oil and gas transit that Iran has blockaded.

Inside Iran, weeks of uncertainty were already taking a toll on ordinary people.

“I really have gone numb,” said Elaheh, a fitness trainer from Ahvaz.

“Daily life? It’s a joke. Everything is horrible. We only try to survive,” the 32-year-old added, pointing to rising prices.

There were tentative signs over the weekend that diplomacy had not entirely collapsed, with Pakistan Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi visiting Tehran to deliver what he described as a “special letter” to Iran’s supreme leader, according to Iranian state television.

He has since returned to Pakistan, a Pakistani official source said.

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