Tehran (AFP) – Iran and Israel said Monday that hostilities between them had halted, after the two countries exchanged strikes that threatened to reignite the Middle East war. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that the “fire on that front is contained” hours after Tehran said it had stopped its military action.
Tehran launched missiles at Israel on Sunday over Israel’s ongoing war against Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israel then struck back, despite efforts by US President Donald Trump to dissuade Netanyahu. That triggered another round of Iranian missiles before Tehran announced it would cease fire. Iran has sought to tie its truce with the United States — in place since April 8 despite repeated attacks by both sides — to Israel’s war against Hezbollah, warning that attacks on Lebanon would force it to act.
Tehran said on Monday it would attack again if Israel persisted with its strikes in Lebanon, while Netanyahu warned in turn that should Iran “make the mistake of resuming attacks against us, we will respond with full force.” 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.
Trump, who has reportedly grown increasingly exasperated with Netanyahu, had earlier urged both sides to stop “shooting” and said that “final negotiations” towards peace would proceed “subject to ignorance or stupidity getting in its way.” The Israeli premier, though, said in a televised statement he had told Trump that “Israel has a full right to self-defence, and we are exercising it as required.”
– Deadly strikes in Lebanon –
Iran fired nearly 30 missiles at Israel overnight, according to the Israeli military, and Israel targeted military sites in the Islamic republic. No casualties have been reported in either Israel or Iran after the exchange of fire. But violence continued in southern Lebanon on Monday, with an Israeli strike killing five people in the city of Tyre while another in the Nabatieh district left seven dead and a third in Marwanieh killed two, the Lebanese health ministry said.
The Israeli military said it had identified projectiles launched towards its soldiers operating in southern Lebanon, some of which were intercepted while one landed near troops without causing casualties. It later said that a “suspicious aerial target” from Yemen had been intercepted without any reported injuries.
– Calm in Tehran –
On Monday in Tehran, there was little sign of any return to war, with cafe terraces packed. Traffic seemed lighter than usual for a weekday, suggesting that some people had stayed home, and there were also many more people queuing at petrol stations. Maryam, 41, an accountant in Tehran, described “a sense of uncertainty and confusion.” “You don’t know if there’s going to be a war, nor do you know if the peace agreement will last. Nothing is clear. People are frustrated,” she said.
Residents of Tel Aviv meanwhile went to shelters as sirens went off. “I hope it will be short, but you can never know. Last time we thought it would be short and then it was a month, so I don’t know,” said Jonathan Ariel, 30. Iranian news agencies reported early Tuesday that the capital’s international airport — shut down over the renewed missile launches — had reopened, allowing flights carrying hajj pilgrims from Saudi Arabia to land.
The world’s main crude contracts, Brent North Sea and West Texas Intermediate, surged by more than five percent in Asian trading hours on worries that the war would resume but eased later in the day, logging gains of 1.3 percent and 0.8 percent respectively. The conflict has seen Tehran all but halt shipments of the Gulf’s oil and gas through the Strait of Hormuz while Washington has imposed a blockade on Iran’s ports. The US military said it struck and disabled an unladen oil tanker Monday that violated the ports blockade.
– Still ‘at the negotiating table’ –
The exchange of fire between Iran and Israel came at a critical moment for diplomatic efforts to end the conflict involving mediator Pakistan. Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei warned at a press conference in Tehran on Monday that diplomacy was continuing but could be affected by the fighting. As he was speaking at the foreign ministry, a huge explosion shook the building, followed by repeated explosions believed to be from air defence systems, an AFP reporter said.
Pakistan Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi visited Tehran to deliver what he said was a “special letter” to Iran’s supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, according to Iranian state television. He has since returned to Pakistan, an official Pakistani source said on Monday. Iranian President Masoud Pezehskian posted on X that Tehran was still “at the negotiating table.”
© 2024 AFP
