Hezbollah rejection clouds Lebanon ceasefire and prospects for ending Iran war

DUBAI/BEIRUT – The Iran-backed Hezbollah militia rejected a new ceasefire in Lebanon on Thursday, while Israel said it would not withdraw troops from the country, undermining U.S. President Donald Trump’s efforts to halt fighting and pursue peace with Tehran.

Iran has made a ceasefire in Lebanon a condition for any peace deal with Washington and has suggested in recent days that it could intervene directly if Israel continues attacks in the country.

However, Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem rejected the U.S.-brokered agreement between Israel and the Lebanese government to halt hostilities. Hezbollah was not a party to the negotiations. There was no immediate response from Israel or Lebanon.

In Washington, Trump told reporters he believed progress was being made in Lebanon and said the country deserved peace. “It’s been going on for a long time, you know,” he added.

Despite the ceasefire talks, Israel continued airstrikes in southern Lebanon. Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israeli forces would not withdraw or halt operations in the country, which they invaded in March alongside the ongoing Iran war.

The commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Quds Force, which founded Hezbollah in 1982, stated that Israel must at least withdraw to the positions it held before the conflict began.

Moderate Fighting Across the Region

Along with Lebanon, residents of Gaza, northern Israel, and Kuwait have experienced attacks this week, despite U.S.-arranged ceasefires. Trump said Wednesday that the ceasefires involved “shooting in a more moderate manner,” rather than a complete halt to fighting.

Iranian and U.S. forces clashed in the Gulf on Wednesday in one of the most intense confrontations since early April, when a ceasefire had temporarily halted large-scale hostilities.

Iranian forces struck Kuwait’s airport, killing one person and injuring more than 60, authorities reported. The U.S. military responded with strikes near the Strait of Hormuz.

In Oman, an alleged drone attack forced the suspension of oil loading at the Mina al Fahal terminal following an explosion, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

About one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supplies pass through the strait in normal times, though it has largely been closed since the war began three months ago.

Iranian oil exports have dropped to their lowest levels in six years, according to shipping data. Still, global oil prices fell about 3% on hopes that a Lebanon ceasefire could help Washington and Tehran reach a diplomatic solution.

Despite Trump’s repeated statements since late March that a deal was imminent, little evidence of diplomatic progress has emerged. Facing pressure at home to lower fuel prices ahead of November’s congressional elections, Trump received a rare rebuke from the House of Representatives on Wednesday, which voted to block him from continuing the war. The measure is largely symbolic, as Trump is unlikely to sign it into law.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said Thursday that Iran’s enemies had already been defeated on the battlefield and were now attempting to sow internal divisions. Khamenei has not appeared publicly since succeeding his father, who was killed in an airstrike at the start of the war.

Tehran seeks access to billions of dollars in oil revenue, waivers on sanctions for crude exports, a lifting of the U.S. blockade on its ports, and leverage over the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump, whose top priority is preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, told reporters that Washington does not need a deal with Iran to obtain enriched uranium from the country. “I don’t think they could stop us if we wanted, but there’s no reason to,” he said in the Oval Office. “It’s entombed.”

Iran maintains that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. The U.N. nuclear watchdog said Thursday that Iran’s program remains largely unchanged despite three months of war.

-Reporting by Reuters bureaus; Writing by Andy Sullivan, Ros Russell, and Clarence Fernandez; Editing by Peter Graff, Andrew Cawthorne, Cynthia Osterman, and Kate Mayberry/Reuters