DUBAI (Reuters); Iran is halting indirect negotiations with the U.S. after Israel ordered troops to push deeper into Lebanon to battle Tehran-backed Hezbollah, the Iranian news agency Tasnim said on Monday, complicating diplomatic efforts to end three months of war.
Tasnim said the Islamic Republic’s negotiating team was stopping exchanging messages with Washington through mediators over attacks on Lebanon, where the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran has reignited Israel’s conflict with Hezbollah.
The move poses a further obstacle to hopes of a swift end to the crisis, after Iran said it had attacked a U.S. air base following weekend U.S. strikes on Iranian military targets that put further strain on a fragile ceasefire.
Oil prices rose more than $5 a barrel after the Tasnim report.
U.S. President Donald Trump had earlier reiterated on social media that he believed Tehran wants to reach a deal. But hopes of a breakthrough were tempered by comments by Iranian officials criticising the “constantly changing” U.S. negotiating stance.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi also raised Lebanon, where another ceasefire is in place, as a stumbling block.
“Violation on one front is a violation of the ceasefire on all fronts. The U.S. and Israel are responsible for the consequences of any violation,” he said on X.
FRAYING CEASEFIRES
The war launched by the U.S. and Israel on February 28 has killed thousands of people, mainly in Iran and Lebanon. It has also caused global economic pain by pushing up energy prices since Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, a vital global supply route for oil and liquefied natural gas.
Tasnim said Iran and the Resistance Front, which includes its Shi’ite allies in Yemen, Lebanon and Iraq, had set an agenda to completely block the strait and activate other fronts, including the Bab El Mandeb Strait, to “punish” Israel and its supporters.
If the Houthis, Iran’s allies in Yemen, open a new front in the conflict, one obvious target would be the Bab El Mandeb Strait off the coast of Yemen, a shipping chokepoint and narrow passageway that controls sea traffic towards the Suez Canal.
