Israel And Lebanon Agree To Implement Ceasefire, Trump Admin Says

DUBAI, June 3 (Reuters) – Israel and Lebanon have agreed to a ceasefire to end hostilities, the Trump administration said on Wednesday, boosting hopes for a broader agreement to end the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.

Tehran, which has conditioned any deal with the United States in part on an end to the conflict between Israel and Lebanon, has previously struck Kuwait, damaging its airport and injuring dozens of people; Meanwhile, the US army carried out attacks near the Strait of Hormuz.

In the joint statement issued by the US State Department after the negotiations in Washington, it was stated that the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire is contingent on the complete cessation of fire by the Iran-affiliated Hezbollah militia and the evacuation of all militants from the Southern Litani Region.

The two sides agreed on a ceasefire last month, but clashes continued. Israel invaded Lebanon in March after the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah crossed the border and opened fire in support of Tehran.

The attacks on Kuwait and the strait were the latest attacks to test the tenuous ceasefire between the United States, Israel and Iran. Oil prices increased by nearly 2 percentAs the Bosphorus remained largely closed for more than three months after the US and Israeli intervention Attacks on Iran.

Flights were stopped after a while at Kuwait International Airport Iran’s drone and missile attack Kuwaiti officials and state media said the attack damaged airport facilities and diplomatic missions, killed one person and injured more than 60 people.

The civil aviation authority said Kuwait Airways and Jazeera Airlines resumed flights after taking safety measures.

Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard said they did not fire on Kuwait airport and blamed the destruction on US interceptor missiles that failed to hit their targets, according to Iranian state media.

The US military said this was not true and that Iranian drones deliberately targeted the airport.

Earlier, Iranian media reported that the Revolutionary Guard attacked the US Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain, a US air base and a ship identified as Panaya. US Central Command denied that its bases were hit and said Iranian ballistic missiles failed to hit targets in the region.

CENTCOM said it had carried out a new round of “defensive strikes” in southern Iran, targeting missile launch sites and Iranian boats attempting to lay mines, and launching attacks on Qeshm Island near the Strait of Hormuz following Iranian attempts to attack.

Since February 28, when the US and Israel began their attacks on Iran, Tehran has repeatedly attacked targets in the Gulf region, where US military bases are located.

Fighting has flared periodically in recent weeks despite a ceasefire reached in early April as the United States attempts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which before the war handled roughly one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments.

Last week, Iran and the United States signaled progress toward an initial tentative agreement to end the fighting and reopen the strait, but the two sides have yet to sign the agreement. Which one would leave? more complex negotiations for later.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told Lebanese broadcaster Al Mayadeen on Wednesday that talks had not been interrupted but no progress had been made.

In addition to a deal stipulating an end to the conflict in Lebanon, Tehran also wants access to billions of dollars in oil revenues, exemptions from sanctions on crude oil exports, the lifting of a US blockade of its ports and continued pressure on the strait.

US President Donald Trump, under pressure He said fuel prices should be reduced highest priority Preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Iran says its atomic program is for peaceful purposes. In a podcast interview published Wednesday, Trump said Iran had agreed not to have nuclear weapons and that Khamenei was involved in the negotiations.

Later Wednesday, Trump said progress could be made in negotiations with Iran starting this weekend.

“If it happens, it could happen over the weekend,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office of the White House, but did not detail what he expected to happen during that time.

Trump said that the parties were working to separate the issue of reopening the strait from the conflict in Lebanon.

The war has caused global economic pain by causing thousands of deaths, primarily in Iran and Lebanon, while severely disrupting energy supplies and other shipping.

This also sparked the latest conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.

Israel on Wednesday drone attacks Lebanese security sources said the attack killed at least six people in southern Lebanon and targeted a car just south of Beirut, while Israel said it intercepted an enemy plane likely fired by Hezbollah.

Araqchi said that if Israel attacks Beirut, Iran will respond decisively.

In podcast comments, Trump agreed He described Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as “crazy” in a phone call reportedly filled with expletives about the conflict in Lebanon as he sought an agreement on the wider war.

“At one point I said Bibi, we’ve got to stop this. We’ve got to stop this,” Trump said, referring to Netanyahu by his nickname.

In his interview with CNBC, Netanyahu said that he and Trump sometimes had “tactical disagreements” but agreed on basic issues regarding Iran.

(Reporting by Reuters bureaus; Writing by Andy Sullivan, Clarence Fernandez, Aidan Lewis, Gareth Jones and Tim Reid; Editing by Lincoln Feast, Ros Russell and Deepa Babington)