Israel attacks Lebanon killing hundreds, Iran vows revenge for ‘savage massacre’: As it happened

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei has accused the US of “reneging” on the terms of the ceasefire deal.

In an X post, he published a clip of White House press secretary Leavitt telling reporters earlier today that Lebanon is not part of the two-week ceasefire agreement.

Baghaei also shared the Pakistani PM’s post on X from yesterday, which stated that Iran and the US had “agreed to an immediate ceasefire everywhere including Lebanon.”

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Trump’s abrupt shift from threatening to “destroy an entire civilization” to accepting a ceasefire based on Iran’s terms shows a person driven by “bluster and bluff” who had “created a situation for himself where there was no way out,” Greg Simons, a journalism professor at Daffodil International University in Dhaka, Bangladesh, has told RT. The US president is acting “like he was still on the set of The Apprentice,” he argued, calling Trump’s Easter F‑bomb‑laden posts a sign of “bad judgement” and a “low level of culture and intellect.”  

Simons said Washington is trying to present the truce as a victory, but in reality has “achieved nothing at all” except “higher fuel prices, energy prices, and a fertilizer crisis,” as well as an “economic shock” that analysts say could be “even worse than the 1973 crisis.” He described Trump and Netanyahu as “bad faith characters” whose word “isn’t worth the breath with which it is given,” adding that the war has been “an absolute humiliation” for US military power that may force a “rollback of the US military footprint in West Asia.”

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A fragile US-Iran ceasefire is already under strain after Israel’s exclusion of Lebanon and increased strikes on the country, former British MP George Galloway has told RT, arguing that “everything looked different as the sun went down.” He said what initially appeared to be a “tremendous victory… for everyone” when Washington accepted Iran’s 10‑point proposal as a basis for talks has been undermined by Trump “explicitly” excluding Lebanon and by “savage” bombing that has killed or wounded up to a thousand people there in a single day.  

Galloway said he did not see “how anyone with a straight face could claim it was a victory for the US,” insisting Washington has “not achieved a single one of their goals” and that simply by surviving, Iran is “the winner.” He argued that US claims of having “decimated” Iran’s military are belied by continuing missile strikes on Israel and US bases, and that the biggest casualty of the conflict is America’s “military credibility,” adding: “They couldn’t beat Iran. What chance would they have against Russia and China?”

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The UAE has said it is closely following the announced two-week US-Iran ceasefire, emphasizing the need for Tehran to “fully” halt its attacks and to reopen the Strait of Hormuz while ensuring “freedom of navigation.” In a statement posted on X, the Foreign Ministry called for a “comprehensive” response to what it described as Iranian “threats,” including missile and drone capabilities.

Iranian parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has accused the US of violating three key clauses of Tehran’s 10‑point proposal, which Washington has called a “workable basis” for the ceasefire talks. In a statement shared on X, he cited alleged non‑compliance with the Lebanon ceasefire, the intrusion of a drone into Iranian airspace, and “denial of Iran’s right to enrichment,” and argued that under such conditions “a bilateral ceasefire or negotiations is unreasonable.”

Lloyd’s List, a leading maritime industry source, has reported that only three vessels have transited the Strait of Hormuz since the US-Iran ceasefire was announced early on Wednesday, “all with current or past links to Iran.” A further three ships are “positioned to cross or are heading for the Iran‑approved detour route around Larak Island,” it said.

The US observed an uptick in traffic through the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, Leavitt has claimed. US Vice President J.D. Vance will reportedly lead the negotiating team in talks with Iran in Islamabad, with Trump envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff also set to take part in the first round on Saturday morning.

White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt has said Lebanon is not covered by the two‑week ceasefire arrangement between the US and Iran. “Lebanon is not part of the ceasefire,” she told reporters on Wednesday, adding that “this will continue to be discussed, I’m sure.”

Netanyahu has said Israel “has more goals to complete” despite the US-Iran ceasefire, warning that the country is “ready to return to fighting at any time.” In a video statement, he vowed those objectives would be achieved “either through agreement, or through renewed fighting,” adding that “the finger is on the trigger.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said that the Iran-US ceasefire terms are “clear and explicit,” warning that Washington must choose between enforcing the truce or backing Israeli attacks. In a post on X, he shared Pakistani PM Shehbaz Sharif’s announcement that Iran and the US “along with their allies” had agreed to an “immediate ceasefire everywhere including Lebanon and elsewhere,” adding, “The world sees the massacres in Lebanon… the ball is in the US court.”