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LAST UPDATE | 45 mins ago
THE IRANIAN PRESIDENT has said Israel’s continued strikes on Lebanon “blatantly violate” the ceasefire between the United States and Iran and render planned negotiations “meaningless”.
Masoud Pezeshkian said the strikes “signal deception and non-compliance” with the two-week truce, while Iran’s parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf warned Tehran sees Lebanon as an “inseparable part of the ceasefire”.
It comes after Lebanon declared a national day of mourning after Israeli strikes killed over 200 people yesterday.
Washington and Tehran both claimed victory in the Middle East war on Tuesday night after agreeing a two-week truce and negotiations aimed at ending a conflict that has killed thousands across the region and plunged the global economy into turmoil.
But fractures have quickly emerged, particularly around whether Lebanon was included in the agreement. Pakistani prime minister Shehbaz Sharif, who acted as a go-between in the truce, had said it applied “everywhere including Lebanon”. But Israel said it did not include Lebanon, something US vice president JD Vance agreed with yesterday.
Israel has been consistently striking the country since Iran-linked Hezbollah launched attacks on it on 2 March to avenge the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Hezbollah dragged Lebanon into the war, but Israel’s right to defend itself does not justify inflicting such massive destruction.
— Kaja Kallas (@kajakallas) April 9, 2026
Israeli strikes killed hundreds last night, making it hard to argue that such heavy-handed actions fall within self-defence.
Israeli actions are…
In a statement this morning, the European Union’s senior diplomat Kaja Kallas said Hezbollah had “dragged” Lebanon into the war, “but Israel’s right to defend itself does not justify inflicting such massive destruction”.
“Israeli strikes killed hundreds last night, making it hard to argue that such heavy-handed actions fall within self-defence,” she said.
Israeli actions are putting the U.S.-Iran ceasefire under severe strain. The Iran truce should extend to Lebanon.
Kallas added that Hezbollah must disarm and that the EU supports Lebanon’s efforts to see this done.
France’s foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot condemned the strikes as “unacceptable”, while his UK counterpart Yvette Cooper called for the ceasefire to include Lebanon.
German chancellor Friedrich Merz said “the severity with which Israel is waging war” in Lebanon “could cause the peace process as a whole to fail, and that must not be allowed to happen.”
Ahead of expected US-Iran talks in Islamabad tomorrow, Pakistani prime minister Shehbaz Sharif has condemned Israel’s “ongoing aggression against Lebanon”.
“The prime minister said that Pakistan was engaged in sincere efforts for regional peace and it was in this spirit that the peace talks between Iran and the US were being convened,” his office said in a statement.
Tehran’s ambassador to Pakistan, meanwhile, deleted a social media post saying an Iranian delegation would arrive in Pakistan today.
An official at the Iranian embassy in Islamabad said the post was removed “because of some issues” and refused to say whether the delegation was still expected.
At least 203 people were killed and more than 1,000 wounded yesterday, according to the Lebanese health ministry.
The Lebanese prime minister’s office said today will be “a national day of mourning for the martyrs and wounded of the Israeli attacks that targeted hundreds of innocent, defenceless civilians”, ordering the closure of public administrations and the lowering of flags.
Hezbollah subsequently said it had fired rockets towards Israel in response to what it called a violation of the US-Iran truce.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said this morning that it will continue to strike Hezbollah “wherever necessary”.
“We are continuing to strike Hezbollah with force, precision, and determination,” he said on his personal X account.
“Our message is clear: anyone who acts against Israeli civilians – we will strike them. We will continue to hit Hezbollah wherever necessary, until we fully restore security to the residents of the north” of Israel, he added.
JD Vance, who is due to lead negotiations with Iran in Pakistan tomorrow, last night backed Israel in saying Lebanon was excluded from the truce.
“If Iran wants to let this negotiation fall apart… over Lebanon, which has nothing to do with them, and which the United States never once said was part of the ceasefire, that’s ultimately their choice,” he said.
Iran’s parliament speaker Ghalibaf subsequently listed three alleged US violations of the truce plan: the continued attacks in Lebanon, a drone entering Iranian airspace and Washington’s opposition to the country’s right to uranium enrichment.
Adding to the fragility of the truce, a senior US official said Iran’s 10-point plan was not the same set of conditions the White House had agreed to in order to pause the war.
In Lebanon, where UN rights chief Volker Turk called the scale of killing “horrific”, strikes across the capital Beirut that came without warning triggered horror and panic.
“People started running left and right, and smoke was billowing,” said Ali Younes, who was waiting for his wife near Corniche Al-Mazraa, one of the areas targeted.
More than 1,700 people have been killed in Lebanon since Israel launched airstrikes and a ground invasion last month, local officials said.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warned they would “fulfil our duty and deliver a response” if Israel did not cease its strikes, while Hezbollah said it had a right to respond.
Separately, the head of Iran’s nuclear energy agency, Mohammad Eslami, dismissed Washington’s suggestions that the truce deal would halt Tehran’s nuclear programme.
“The claims and demands of our enemies to restrict Iran’s enrichment programme are merely wishes that will be buried,” he said.
A key point of contention remains the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of the world’s oil as well as vast quantities of natural gas and fertiliser pass in peacetime.
Iran announced alternative routes today for ships travelling through the strait, citing the risk of sea mines.
But it was unclear if Tehran was allowing vessels to pass through the strait, following reports yesterday suggesting it was shut – something the White House called “completely unacceptable”.
With reporting from © AFP 2026
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