Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s parliament, said in a post on X on Thursday night that “time is running out” for the US and Israel to honor the ceasefire agreement by putting an end to Israel’s attacks on Lebanon.
Ghalibaf’s post included the image of text that outlined three parts of Iran’s position regarding Lebanon that warned there would be a response if the Israeli attacks continued:
- Lebanon and the entire Resistance Axis, as Iran’s allies, form an inseparable part of the ceasefire.
- Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif publicly and clearly stressed the Lebanon issue during the Islamabad talks; there is no room for denial or backtracking.
- Ceasefire violations carry explicit costs and STRONG responses. Extinguish the fire immediately.
Ghalibaf and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi are expected to take part in potential talks with US officials this Saturday in Islamabad, though the message from Tehran appears to be that the negotiations won’t happen unless there’s a ceasefire in Lebanon.
Israel’s Tasnim news cited an unnamed Iranian source who denied reports that Iran’s negotiating team had already arrived in Pakistan. “The source at the same time emphasized that as long as the United States does not fulfill its commitment to the ceasefire in Lebanon and the Zionist regime continues its attacks, the negotiations remain in suspension,” the report said.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Thursday that the continued Israeli attacks on Lebanon render negotiations with the US “meaningless” and warned Iran was ready to strike. “Our hands remain on the trigger. Iran will never forsake its Lebanese brothers and sisters,” he wrote on X.
Vice President JD Vance is expected to lead the American side and will be joined by US envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law. Both Vance and Trump have claimed that the ceasefire doesn’t include Lebanon, despite it being included in the initial US-approved statement from Pakistan’s prime minister announcing the ceasefire.
Also on Thursday, President Trump made two posts on Truth Social criticizing Iran’s handling of the Strait of Hormuz, which Iranian media reported has remained closed besides the transit of a few Iranian-approved ships due to the continued Israeli attacks in Lebanon.
“Iran is doing a very poor job, dishonorable some would say, of allowing Oil to go through the Strait of Hormuz. That is not the agreement we have! President DONALD J. TRUMP,” Trump wrote.
In an earlier post, the US president said that there are “reports that Iran is charging fees to tankers going through the Hormuz Strait — They better not be and, if they are, they better stop now!”
Iran has made clear that it will require ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz to pay a transit fee, with the funds used for reconstruction. “We will certainly demand compensation for every single damage inflicted, the blood money of the martyrs, and the blood money for the wounded in this war,” Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said in a statement on Thursday. “We will also undoubtedly take the management of the Strait of Hormuz to a new stage.”
