A new US-brokered ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon raised hopes on Thursday of progress toward ending the broader war waged by the US and Israel against Iran, although there was still uncertainty about how and when it would be implemented.
Tehran has made a ceasefire in Lebanon a condition of any peace deal with Washington and has suggested in recent days that it could intervene directly in support of the allied group Hezbollah if Israel maintains or increases attacks in the country.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said the latest ceasefire would come into effect within 24 hours of approval by all parties involved, appearing to refer to Hezbollah, which is not directly party to the agreement and has not commented on it.
But casting doubt on the strength of the truce, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Thursday that the military would continue to attack in Lebanon for now and would not withdraw from the south.
The commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Quds Force, Esmail Qaani, said the minimum requirement would be for Israel to withdraw to positions occupied before the start of the war, Iranian state media reported.
Hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel reignited on March 2 when the group opened fire in support of Tehran, which was under attack by the US and Israel. The war has continued despite several ceasefires declared by Washington since April.
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Explosion in the Gulf
The agreement comes after an outbreak of violence across the region. Iranian forces exchanged attacks in the Gulf on Wednesday in some of the most intense fighting since another ceasefire halted large-scale US and Israeli bombing of Iran in early April.
Iranian forces attacked Kuwait, damaging the local airport and injuring dozens of people, officials said, while the U.S. military carried out strikes near the Strait of Hormuz.
The strait, through which a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies normally pass, remains largely closed more than three months after the US and Israel launched their attacks on Iran.
Oil prices gave up some of the previous day’s gains on Thursday on hopes that the ceasefire in Lebanon could help Washington and Iran find a diplomatic way out of the war.
US President Donald Trump, who is under pressure to lower fuel prices, suggested there could be progress in negotiations with Iran as early as this weekend.
“If it happens, it could happen over the weekend,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office of the White House on Wednesday, without elaborating on what he expected to happen within that time frame.
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Trump said the parties were working to separate the issue of reopening the Straits from the conflict in Lebanon.
Iran denies attack
Wednesday’s attacks in Kuwait damaged airport facilities and diplomatic missions, killing one person and injuring more than 60 others, Kuwaiti authorities and state media said.
Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards said they did not fire on Kuwait’s airport and blamed the destruction on US interceptor missiles that failed to reach their targets, according to Iranian state media. The US military said that Iranian drones deliberately targeted the airport.
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Iranian media reported that the Revolutionary Guards also attacked the US Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain and a US air base. US Central Command denied that its bases were hit and said Iranian ballistic missiles had failed to reach their targets in the region.
CENTCOM said it carried out a new round of ‘defensive strikes’ in southern Iran, targeting missile launch sites and Iranian boats trying to lay mines, and carried out strikes on Qeshm Island near the strait following attempted Iranian attacks.
