Iran Says Peace Talks Would Be ‘Unreasonable’ Following Israeli Strikes

DUBAI/TEL AVIV/BEIRUT/BUDAPEST, April 8 (Reuters) – Israel hit Lebanon with its heaviest strikes yet on Wednesday, killing hundreds of people and drawing threats of retaliation from Iran. permanent peace agreement with the United States.

The warning from Iran’s chief negotiator, House Speaker Mohammed Bager Qalibaf, highlighted the ongoing instability in the region following President Donald Trump’s ceasefire announcement on Tuesday. The two sides have laid out sharply contrasting agendas for peace talks that begin on Saturday, but it was unclear whether the two-week ceasefire would continue by then.

Qalibaf said that Israel had already violated various conditions of the ceasefire by escalating its parallel war against Iran-affiliated militia group Hezbollah, while the United States had violated the agreement by insisting that Iran give up its nuclear ambitions.

“In such a situation, a bilateral ceasefire or negotiations were unreasonable,” he said in the statement.

While Israel and the USA said that the two-week ceasefire did not include Lebanon, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the attacks would continue.

US Vice President JD Vance, who will head the US delegation, told reporters in Budapest, “The Iranians thought the ceasefire included Lebanon, but it did not happen.”

The two sides also seemed far apart from each other regarding Iran’s nuclear program, one of the factors cited by Trump as the basis of the war.

Trump said Iran had agreed to stop enriching uranium that could be turned into a nuclear weapon, and the White House said Iran had indicated it would transfer its existing stockpiles.

Trump said on social media: “The United States will work with Iran to dig up all of the deeply buried nuclear ‘Dust’.”

However, Kalibaf said that uranium enrichment was allowed to continue under ceasefire conditions.

Although both the United States and Iran have declared victory in the five-week war that has left thousands dead, their core disputes remain unresolved. Both sides remain committed to competing demands for a deal that could shape the Middle East for generations.

Despite the uncertainty, world stock market indexes rose MKTS/GLOB.N, while oil prices fell 14% to settle near O/R $95 per barrel after falling as low as $90.40.

Benchmark Brent crude is about $25 higher than it was before the joint US-Israeli attacks began. Tehran’s newly demonstrated ability to hold off the strait and cut off Gulf energy supplies, despite decades of massive US military investment in the region, shows how the conflict is already changing. power dynamics In the Gulf.

Netanyahu said Israel had its “finger on the trigger” and was ready to return to war “at any moment.”

Lebanon’s civil defense agency said 254 people were killed in Israeli attacks on Lebanon on Wednesday. It was stated that the highest death toll was in the capital Beirut, where 91 people died in Israeli attacks. Some of the Israeli attacks took place without the usual warnings for civilians to evacuate, residents said.

Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militant group in Lebanon, said early Thursday it had fired rockets into northern Israel in response to “ceasefire violations”.

French President Emmanuel Macron condemned Israel’s indiscriminate attacks on Lebanon “in the strongest possible terms” and said in a statement on channel X that the ceasefire “must completely cover” Lebanon.

The leaders of 13 European countries, Japan and Canada also issued a joint statement welcoming the ceasefire and calling for a rapid end to hostilities to “avoid a serious global energy crisis”.

Iran has also hit oil facilities in nearby Gulf countries, including a pipeline used to bypass the blockaded Strait of Hormuz in Saudi Arabia, according to an oil industry source. Kuwait, Bahrain and the UAE also reported missile and drone attacks.

The Strait of Hormuz remained closed to ships sailing without permission, and sailors More clarity was needed before continuing on public transport.

The semi-official Iranian news agency ISNA said Iran’s Revolutionary Guard navy had published a map showing alternative shipping routes in the Strait of Hormuz to help ships avoid sea mines.

Trump announced in a flurry of online posts: New tariffs of 50% It assumes responsibility for all goods coming from any country that supplies arms to Iran, even though it does not have the authority to do so.

Crowds took to the streets of Iran throughout the night to celebrate, waving Iranian flags and burning flags of the United States and Israel. But there were also concerns that a deal would not hold.

“Israel will not let diplomacy work and Trump may change his view tomorrow. But at least we can sleep tonight without a strike,” Alireza, 29, a government worker in Tehran, told Reuters by phone.

The war was started by Trump and Netanyahu on February 28. Netanyahu said they aim to prevent Iran from sending forces beyond its borders, end its nuclear program and create conditions for Iranians to overthrow their rulers. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Wednesday that Washington had achieved a decisive military victory.

But Iran so far maintains both a stockpile of near-weapons-grade highly enriched uranium and the ability to strike its neighbors with missiles and drones. Faced with mass protests months ago, the religious leadership withstood the superpower’s onslaught with no signs of internal collapse.

(Reporting by Reuters bureaus worldwide; Writing by Andy Sullivan, David Dolan, Peter Graff and Keith Weir; Editing by Kevin Liffey, Keith Weir, Ros Russell, David Gaffen and Deepa Babington)