Israel bombed more targets in Lebanon on Thursday, putting the U.S.-Iran ceasefire into further jeopardy after the biggest Israeli attacks on its neighbour of the war killed more than 250 people and threatened to torpedo Donald Trump’s truce.
In Pakistan, authorities locked down the capital Islamabad in anticipation of the war’s first peace talks. Access was blocked from a zone 3 km (2 miles) around the luxury Serena Hotel, where both the U.S. and Iranian delegations are expected to stay.
Guests were told to check out until Sunday as it had been “requisitioned” for “an important event”.
But there was no sign Iran was lifting its near-total blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which has caused the worst disruption to global energy supplies in history.
Tehran said there would be no deal as long as Israel was striking Lebanon.
In the first 24 hours of the ceasefire, just a single oil products tanker and five dry bulk carriers sailed through a strait that typically accommodated 140 ships a day before the war.
Daily shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz fell to less than 10% of its historical average after the start of the U.S.-Israel war.
ISRAEL SAYS CEASEFIRE DOES NOT COVER LEBANON
Israel, which invaded Lebanon last month in parallel with the war on Iran to root out the Iran-aligned armed group Hezbollah, says its actions there are not covered by the ceasefire announced late on Tuesday by Trump.
Washington has also said Lebanon is not covered by the truce, but Iran and Pakistan, which acted as mediator, say it was explicitly part of the deal.
A host of countries, including Britain and France, said the truce should extend to Lebanon.
Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, expected to head the Iranian delegation opposite U.S. Vice President JD Vance, tweeted that Lebanon and the rest of Iran’s “axis” of regional allies were inseparable parts of any ceasefire.
A Pakistani source said Pakistan was working on ceasefires for Lebanon as well as Yemen, where Israel has also hit Iran-aligned forces: “It will be discussed during the (upcoming) talks and we will settle it.”
ISRAEL SAYS IT KILLS HEZBOLLAH CHIEF’S NEPHEW
The Israeli military said it had killed the nephew of Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Naim Qassem and struck river crossings in southern Lebanon overnight.
Israel hit Beirut’s southern suburbs just before midnight and at dawn, and hit towns across the south on Thursday morning, Lebanese state media said.
Israel expanded its evacuation orders for areas on Beirut’s outskirts, telling residents in the Jnah district to leave immediately.
Orders also covered areas near Beirut airport and the Camille Chamoun stadium, Lebanon’s largest, now converted into a shelter for the displaced.
Hezbollah announced at least 20 military operations on Thursday, saying it had targeted Israeli vehicles on Lebanese territory as well as firing into northern Israel.
Following Wednesday’s attacks, which Lebanese officials described as a “massacre”, Lebanon declared a day of mourning.
Rescuers searched through the night for dead and wounded under rubble after the attacks, which hit heavily populated areas without warnings for civilians to flee.
Outside Beirut’s Rafik Hariri University Hospital, a steady stream of ambulances arrived throughout Thursday afternoon, driving past the emergency room entrance straight to the forensic department.
“We’re picking up body parts for the most part. It’s very rare that we find entire bodies intact,” said a rescue worker on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the press.
One woman, between tears, told Reuters she had lost her entire family in one of the strikes.
Zeev Elkin, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet, said Israel would keep hitting Lebanon, though he signalled it would scale back during the peace talks.
He described Wednesday’s huge attacks as a one-off, made possible because the ceasefire meant warplanes that would be flying sorties over Iran were available to hit Lebanon: “As long as this fragile ceasefire in Iran exists, we can use the entire might of our air force to badly hurt Hezbollah.”
MOURNING FOR KHAMENEI
After six weeks of war, Trump has sought an off-ramp before the economic consequences derail his presidency.
The ceasefire has curbed a surge in benchmark oil prices, which are based on contracts to deliver oil a month in the future.
But present-day spot prices are still rising, with some refineries in Europe and Asia paying record levels near $150 a barrel. The U.S. retail price for diesel rose to $5.69 a gallon on Thursday, just 13 cents below the all-time high.
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Inside Iran, where the halt to six weeks of U.S. and Iranian airstrikes has been portrayed as total victory for the clerical rulers, huge crowds turned out to commemorate 40 days of mourning for Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, killed on the war’s first day.
State TV showed crowds in Tehran and other cities, with mourners in black carrying Iranian flags and portraits of Khamenei and his son and successor Mojtaba. Commemorative billboards were displayed and a huge Hezbollah flag hung from one building.
Trump, who announced the truce just before a deadline he had set to destroy Iran’s “whole civilisation” unless it unblocked the strait, said on Wednesday he would resume attacks unless Iran complies.
Though Trump has declared victory, Washington has not achieved the aims he announced at the war’s outset: to eliminate Iran’s ability to attack its neighbours, destroy its nuclear programme and make it easier for Iranians to topple their government.
Iran still possesses missiles and drones that can hit its neighbours and a stockpile of more than 400 kg (900 pounds) of uranium enriched to near weapons grade.
Its rulers, who put down a mass uprising just months ago, survived the superpower onslaught with no sign of organised opposition.
And they demonstrated their ability to exert control of the strait despite a massive U.S. military presence in the region.
Iran is pressing for even more U.S. concessions in a final deal, including the total lifting of sanctions that have crippled its economy and acknowledgment of its control over the strait, previously freely open to trade.
Washington, for its part, wants Iran to yield up the enriched uranium, forego further enrichment, give up its missiles and stop backing regional allies, all demands it had already made in talks it abandoned two days before the war.