Firefighters gather at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut, Lebanon on Wednesday.Hussein Malla/The Associated Press
A ceasefire deal to pause the war in Iran appeared to hang by a thread on Wednesday after the Islamic Republic closed the Strait of Hormuz again in response to Israeli attacks in Lebanon. The White House demanded that the channel be reopened and sought to keep peace talks on track.
The United States and Iran both claimed victory after reaching the agreement, and world leaders expressed relief, even as more drones and missiles hit Iran and Gulf Arab countries. At the same time, Israel intensified its attacks on the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon, hitting commercial and residential areas in Beirut.
The fresh violence threatened to scuttle what U.S. Vice-President JD Vance called a “fragile” deal.
Oil prices tumble after Iran, U.S. and Israel agree to ceasefire
The Iranian parliament Speaker said planned talks were “unreasonable” because Washington broke three of Tehran’s 10 conditions for an end to the fighting. In a social-media post, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf objected to Israeli attacks on Hezbollah, an alleged drone incursion into Iranian airspace after the ceasefire took effect and U.S. refusal to accept any Iranian uranium enrichment capabilities in a final agreement.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi insisted that an end to the war in Lebanon was part of the ceasefire deal, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump said the truce did not cover Lebanon. When the deal was announced, Pakistan’s Prime Minister, whose country served as a mediator, said in a social-media post that it applied to “everywhere including Lebanon and elsewhere.”
Lebanon’s Health Ministry said Israeli strikes killed 182 people on Wednesday, the highest single-day death toll in the Israel-Hezbollah war.
“The world sees the massacres in Lebanon,” Iran’s Mr. Araghchi said in a post on X. “The ball is in the U.S. court, and the world is watching whether it will act on its commitments.”
A tenuous ceasefire deal in the Iran war allowing negotiations for a longer-term peace between the United States and Iran appears to be in jeopardy after Tehran accused the Trump administration of major violations.
The Associated Press
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the closing of the Strait of Hormuz, reported in Iranian state media, was “completely unacceptable.” She repeated Mr. Trump’s “expectation and demand” that the channel be reopened.
U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said American and Israeli forces had achieved a “capital V military victory” and that the Iranian military no longer posed a significant threat to American forces or the region. The Iranian military said the country forced Israel and the U.S. to accept its “proposed conditions and surrender.”
Much about the agreement was unclear, as the sides presented vastly different visions of the terms.
Iran said the deal would allow it to formalize its new practice of charging ships passing through the strait, a crucial transit lane for oil. The White House said Mr. Trump is opposed to tolls for ship passage through the strait.
Fighting continues as Israel says U.S.-Iran ceasefire doesn’t apply to Lebanon
Only 11 vessels moved through the strait on Wednesday, roughly the same as in prior days, according to Windward, a maritime intelligence firm. Iran was requiring shippers to pay tolls of up to US$1 a barrel for outbound oil, it said. The largest supertankers carry up to three million barrels of crude.
The fate of Iran’s missile and nuclear programs – the elimination of which were major objectives for the U.S. and Israel in going to war – also remained unclear. Mr. Trump said the U.S. would work with Iran to remove buried enriched uranium, though Iran did not confirm that.
Iranians hold national flags beneath a large billboard reading 'The Strait of Hormuz remains closed' as people gather in Tehran's Revolution Square.ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images
Mr. Trump initially said Iran proposed a “workable” plan that could help end the war that the U.S. and Israel launched on Feb. 28. But when a version in Farsi emerged indicating Iran would be allowed to continue enriching uranium – key to building a nuclear weapon – Mr. Trump called it fraudulent.
Ms. Leavitt said a plan that Iran presented Tuesday could “align with our own” proposal for peace.
The White House said Mr. Vance would lead American negotiators at coming peace talks, which could begin in Pakistan as soon as Friday.
Iran’s demands for ending the war include a withdrawal of U.S. combat forces from the region, the lifting of sanctions and the release of its frozen assets.
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Meanwhile, Israeli Chief of Staff Lieutenant-General Eyal Zamir said Israel will continue to “utilize every operational opportunity” to strike Hezbollah. The Israeli military said it struck more than 100 targets within 10 minutes across Lebanon on Wednesday, the largest wave of strikes since March 1.
Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit accused Israel of “persistently seeking to sabotage” the ceasefire deal.
Hezbollah has not confirmed if it will abide by the ceasefire, although the group has said it was open to giving mediators a chance to secure an agreement. An official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly, said the group would not stop firing at Israel unless Israel agreed to do the same.
A man walks past an anti-U.S. and anti-Israel mural in Tehran.ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images
Iranian attacks and threats deterred many commercial ships from using the strait, through which 20 per cent of all traded oil and natural gas passes in peacetime. That roiled the world economy and raised the pressure on Mr. Trump both at home and abroad to find a way out of the standoff.
The ceasefire may formalize a system of charging fees in the strait that Iran instituted – and give it a new source of revenue.
That would upend decades of precedent treating the strait as an international waterway that was free to transit. Such a shift would likely be unacceptable to the Gulf Arab states, which also need to rebuild after repeated Iranian attacks targeting their oil fields.
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U.S.-Israeli strikes have battered Iran and its leadership, but they have not eliminated the threats posed by Tehran’s nuclear program, its ballistic missiles or its support for regional proxies such as Hezbollah. The U.S. and Israel said addressing those threats was a key justification for going to war.
Mr. Trump said the U.S. would work with Iran to “dig up and remove” enriched uranium. There was no confirmation from Iran.
Mr. Hegseth told a Pentagon briefing Wednesday that the U.S. would do “something like” last June’s joint strikes with Israel on Iranian nuclear sites if Iran refuses to surrender its enriched uranium voluntarily.
Mr. Netanyahu warned in a televised address that Israel was “ready to return to fighting at any time. Our finger is on the trigger.”
Tehran has insisted for years that its nuclear program was peaceful, although it has enriched uranium up to 60-per-cent purity, a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels.
Demonstrators hold signs during a protest against U.S. military action in Iran in the Manhattan borough of New York City on Tuesday.CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP/Getty Images
Shortly after the ceasefire announcement, Bahrain, Israel, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates all issued warnings about incoming missiles from Iran. That fire stopped for a time, then hostilities appeared to restart.
An oil refinery on Iran’s Lavan Island came under attack, according to Iranian state television. A short time later, the UAE’s air defences fired at an incoming Iranian missile barrage.
More than 1,900 people had been killed in Iran as of late March, but the government has not updated the toll for days.
The damage so far to Iran’s power plants, bridges and rail lines
In Lebanon, more than 1,700 people have been killed, and one million people have been displaced. Twelve Israeli soldiers have died.
In Gulf Arab states and the occupied West Bank, more than two dozen people have died, while 23 have been reported dead in Israel, and 13 U.S. service members have been killed.
Prime Minister Mark Carney says Canada will work with allies to help get traffic moving in the Strait of Hormuz. But he says any peace plan or ceasefire must also include Lebanon.
The Canadian Press
Carney, European leaders welcome ceasefire in joint statement
Prime Minister Mark Carney and nine European leaders issued a joint statement on Wednesday welcoming the reported two-week ceasefire.
Speaking to reporters on his way into his office in Ottawa on Wednesday, Mr. Carney said it was a “good day.”
“I think we should recognize the positive developments of the last few hours,” Mr. Carney said, thanking Mr. Trump and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, along with Iranian leaders.
“Canada joins our allies … in supporting these efforts, and that will include efforts to support the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, which is important for re-establishing stability, lowering prices in commodities, prices at the pump even here in Canada, price of fertilizer for farmers, price of aluminum for manufacturers and others.”
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Mr. Carney said there is still much more to do to address “tricky issues” and said peace in the Middle East must include peace in Lebanon.
The statement from Mr. Carney and European leaders encouraged “quick progress toward a substantive negotiated settlement.”
“This will be crucial to protect the civilian population of Iran and ensure security in the region. It can avert a severe global energy crisis,” the statement said.
“We support these diplomatic efforts. To this end, we are in close contact with the United States and other partners.”
With a report from The Canadian Press