US House Passes Resolution to End Iran War as Talks Stall

Weeks of complex talks, with sharp rhetoric and flare-ups of violence, have failed to reach an agreement to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, vital for oil supplies.

Washington and Tehran have sent different messages in recent days; While Iran said Wednesday that “there has been no concrete progress,” Trump once again expressed optimism, telling reporters at the White House that “this could happen by the end of the week.”

But in the latest chapter of the violence, Kuwaiti officials said on Wednesday that renewed hostilities included an Iranian drone strike on the passenger terminal at Kuwait international airport that killed one person and injured 63 others.

Following the flare-ups, four lawmakers from Trump’s Republican party joined Democrats on Wednesday in voting 215-208 in favor of the public rebuke.

The decision was largely symbolic because the U.S. president could veto the measure if it received Senate approval.

“This is a loud and clear message to Donald Trump on behalf of the American people: It is time to end his highly unpopular and illegal war of choice in Iran,” Democrats wrote on X.

Iran’s highly enriched uranium stockpile is at the center of talks with Tehran, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told a congressional hearing.

Washington insists that for any peace deal to come into force, Tehran must surrender its near-weapons-grade enriched uranium, agree to halt its nuclear activities and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the main shipping channel for Gulf oil and gas.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said lines of communication with the United States were still open but warned that any Israeli attack on the Lebanese capital Beirut as part of its campaign against Iran-backed Hezbollah would trigger a “full-scale resumption” of the conflict.

“Communication with the Americans was not interrupted and messages were given that the aggression against Beirut should be stopped, but no concrete progress was made in the negotiation process,” Tasnim news agency quoted Araghchi as saying to Lebanon’s Al Mayadeen TV.

“Any attack on Beirut would have serious consequences and lead to a full-blown resumption of war,” he said. “Our armed forces are ready to attack if Israel attacks Beirut.”

– Israel and Lebanon agreed on a ceasefire –

In Washington, Israel and Lebanon reached an agreement on a ceasefire after two days of direct talks. Specifically, the agreement calls for a “complete cessation” of Hezbollah fire.

They also agreed, “with the guidance of the United States,” to create “pilot zones” in which the Lebanese armed forces fighting to contain Hezbollah would “take exclusive control of the region to the exclusion of all non-state actors,” the joint statement said.

Further talks were planned for the week of June 22, with the aim of reaching a “comprehensive agreement”.

However, Israel and Hezbollah continued to exchange fire; Hezbollah claimed that missile attacks were carried out in northern Israel on Wednesday, while Lebanon said that at least nine people, including two medics, were killed in Israeli attacks in the south.

Israeli soldiers are carrying out the deepest land attack on Lebanon in the last twenty years.

A ceasefire to stop fighting in Lebanon was scheduled for April 17, but was never observed.

-‘We are playing with fire’-

The Kuwaiti military condemned the drone attack on the airport as an act of “criminal aggression by Iran”. India’s foreign ministry said one of the dead was an Indian citizen.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard denied the attack on the airport, saying it was a “fault in American Patriot systems that landed at the terminal after failing to intercept Iranian missiles.”

The Revolutionary Guard also accused US forces of provoking a response by targeting a tanker and communications tower on the country’s Qeshm Island.

The new attacks pose one of the most serious tests yet of the April 8 ceasefire, which paused for more than a month the war sparked by U.S.-Israeli bombing of Iran and has largely held up despite occasional ceasefires.

Trump downplayed renewed hostilities, saying, “A ceasefire in this part of the world is when you shoot more moderately.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, accused Iran of “playing with fire”.

“Iran certainly knows what the US president said, that there will be a full-scale return to military action if necessary,” Netanyahu said in an interview with US channel CNBC. he said.

Following the drone attack on the airport, Kuwait suspended air traffic and diverted incoming planes to other destinations, but Kuwait Airlines later resumed flights.

The international airport was targeted several times during the war and only fully resumed operations on Monday.

Hasan Sheikh, a 40-year-old Pakistani Kuwaiti citizen living near the airport, stated that he heard explosions throughout the night and said, “For the first time, my children felt how serious the situation was.”