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Rozette, second left, the wife of Lebanese army captain Elie Khoury, who was killed on Saturday in an Israeli airstrike, at his funeral today
Hezbollah
Israel vows to continue attacks in Lebanon despite Iran warning 'crushing measures' would follow
Donald Trump has insisted that he ‘calls the shots’ in his relationship with Benjamin Netanyahu.
LAST UPDATE | 8 Jun
ISRAEL HAS VOWED to continue its invasion of Lebanon and attacks across the country despite warnings from Iran that doing so would incur “more severe and crushing measures”.
The announcement came just hours after both Israel and Iran said they had halted their exchange of strikes, which Iran instigated over the weekend after Israel bombed the Lebanese capital of Beirut.
Earlier, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz insisted that the campaign in Lebanon would carry on regardless and said Israel would strike the Hezbollah-dominated southern suburbs of Beirut in retaliation for each attack on northern Israel by the militant group.
Katz said Israel’s armed forces “will continue to operate in Lebanon against the terrorist organisation Hezbollah”.
“We categorically reject Iran’s threats. Any Iranian attempt to link Lebanon and Iran and attack Israel will be met with great force, as happened yesterday,” Katz said.
Israeli prime minster Benjamin Netanyahu then said in a televised statement he had told US president Donald Trump that “Israel has a full right to self-defence, and we are exercising it as required”.
Iran announced earlier that it had halted its missile attacks against Israel after the two countries briefly resumed fighting for the first time since a ceasefire agreement was reached in April. Israeli made a similar announcement not long after.
Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said the Islamic Republic remained in negotiations with the United States, but that it was also still prepared to fight.
“Diplomacy and defence are the two wings of national power; we have neither left the battlefield nor the negotiating table,” Pezeshkian said in a post on X, adding that Tehran “will not retreat in the face of any threat”.
Iran had delivered a “painful response” to Israel and “accordingly, the cessation of armed forces operations is hereby announced”, the Iranian military said in a statement carried by state television.
“However, it is emphasised that should acts of aggression and hostility continue, including in southern Lebanon, much more severe and crushing measures than before will follow,” it added.
The flare up of strikes between the two countries began with Iran launching 11 missiles at Israel, citing the continuation of Israeli attacks carried out as part of its invasion on Lebanon.
The original ceasefire agreement, according to mediator Pakistan and the government of Iran, had included Lebanon, but both the US and Israel have denied that and the campaign against Hezbollah has continued.
US president Donald Trump had said that Israel and Iran must immediately stop “shooting” after both sides traded strikes overnight, threatening hopes for a deal to end the war in the Middle East.
All of Iranian missiles were reportedly intercepted and there were no casualties in Israel, although Israeli media censorship laws mean those reports cannot be confirmed.
Tehran had warned of retaliation after Israel struck Beirut’s southern suburbs without warning earlier on Sunday in defiance of Washington’s request days ago to stand down. It was the first attack on the Lebanese capital since a ceasefire was renewed last week.
Israel’s strikes overnight came hours after Trump called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to refrain from retaliating.
Today, Hezbollah, which is not part of recent negotiations between the Israeli and Lebanese governments, rejected a recent claim from Trump, who said he had been in direct contract with the Iran-supported group.
The latest Israeli attacks included a strike on an Iranian petrochemical complex and a missile attack on Israel by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, the first since April.
The Houthis also declared a ban on Israeli shipping in the Red Sea, raising the spectre of a return to major disruption on the key route.
Israel’s military said it struck and dismantled Iranian defence systems deployed across several areas in the country.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had struck Israel’s Nevatim and Tel Nof air bases “in response to a missile attack launched by the Zionist regime”.
‘I call the shots’
Speaking at a press conference in Tehran, foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said Israel’s actions “cannot be separated” from US policies.
“No one believes that the Zionist regime would carry out any action without prior coordination and cooperation with the United States,” he said.
Baqaei said the resumption of hostilities in the war will have consequences for ongoing talks with the US “to put an end to this imposed war”. However, he said “diplomatic consultations are naturally continuing in all circumstances”.
Trump had sought to rein in Netanyahu and also called for calm from the Iranians, as Israel accused Tehran of making a “grave mistake”.
In a phone interview with Axios journalist Barak Ravid, Trump was quoted as saying “I am going to call Bibi right now and tell him not to retaliate”, using Netanyahu’s nickname.
“Israel had its strike and Iran had its strike. We don’t need another one,” Trump reportedly told the US news site.
In an interview with the Financial Times, he said of Netanyahu: “I call the shots. I call all the shots. He doesn’t call the shots.”
In a separate interview with Fox News, Trump said: “What I would suggest to Iran: You’ve shot your missiles, that’s enough, get back to the table and make a deal.”
Ravid later posted that a US official said Trump spoke with Netanyahu, although the White House and Trump have yet to comment.
‘Legitimate targets’
The European Union’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas has urged calm and called on both sides to “sit down to a negotiation table and agree”.
China also called on the two sides to refrain from fighting, with foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian saying that “resuming hostilities is not in any party’s interest”.
Tehran has insisted any deal to permanently end the war must also halt the parallel conflict in Lebanon, where Israel was pursuing a campaign against Hezbollah.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards called its attack a “warning” after Israel struck Beirut’s southern suburbs earlier in the day, threatening wider strikes in the event of repeated aggression.
On Sunday, Netanyahu’s office announced the army had “struck a militant command centre in Beirut’s Dahiyeh district, in response to Hezbollah’s fire towards Israeli territory”.
The raid killed two people and wounded 20 more, Lebanon’s health ministry said.
Israel had warned it would hit the area should Hezbollah attack northern Israel, with the Iran-backed group later confirming having launched missiles and drones at a pair of Israeli army barracks early Sunday.
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s parliament speaker and its chief negotiator in talks with Washington, accused the US of having given a “green light” for the Beirut attack, saying US and Israeli assets were now “legitimate targets”.
The head of Iran’s military central command said Israel had “crossed all red lines” with the Beirut strike.
‘Everything is horrible’
The attacks sent crude prices surging more than 5% as hopes dimmed on any imminent reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, the crucial waterway for oil and gas transit which Iran has blockaded.
Iranians were also already feeling the strain of weeks of uncertainty.
“I really have gone numb,” fitness trainer Elaheh from Ahvaz told AFP.
“Daily life? It’s a joke. Everything is horrible. We only try to survive,” the 32-year-old added, pointing to rising prices.
There were some weekend signs of ongoing diplomatic efforts, with Pakistan Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi visiting Tehran to deliver what he said was a “special letter” to Iran’s supreme leader, according to Iranian state television.
He has since travelled back to Pakistan, an official Pakistani source said today.
Iran said that “diplomatic consultations are naturally continuing” with Pakistan to end the war with the US, even after fighting resumed with Israel.
With reporting from David Mac Redmond © AFP 2026
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