Iran has suspended talks with the U.S. to end the war over Israel’s bombing of Lebanon despite President Donald Trump’s claims overnight that Tehran desperately wanted to reach a deal.
The semi-official Iranian news agency Tasnim reported the new setback on Monday.
“Given the continuation of the Israeli regime’s attacks in Lebanon, and considering that Lebanon had been one of the preconditions for a ceasefire—which has now been violated on all fronts, including Lebanon—the Iranian negotiating team is suspending ‘talks and exchanges of texts through mediators,’” Tasnim reported.
Iran has long stated that its willingness to reach a peace deal with the U.S. was also contingent on Israel’s activities in Lebanon and Gaza.
Just after 1 am ET, the president boasted in a Truth Social post: “Iran really wants to make a deal, and it will be a good one for the U.S.A. and those that are with us.”
He went on to attack Democrats and “various seemingly unpatriotic Republicans” for making it harder for him to negotiate an agreement with “negatively ‘chirping,’ at levels never seen before.”
“Just sit back and relax, it will all work out well in the end—It always does!” Trump claimed in his post.
The Israeli government ordered strikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut on Monday after its ground forces advanced further into Lebanon over the weekend.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement that the strikes were against “terrorist targets” in Beirut.
Israel accused Hezbollah of violating the ceasefire in Lebanon with attacks on Israeli cities and said it had instructed the IDF to strike targets in the Dahia Quarter of Beirut in response.
But Iran’s foreign minister said in a post on Monday that the ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran is “unequivocally a ceasefire on all fronts, including in Lebanon.
“Its violation on one front is a violation of the ceasefire on all fronts. The US and Israel are responsible for the consequences of any violation,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X.
Netanyahu is a close ally of Trump, and the two countries initially launched the strikes against Iran at the end of February together, but as the president hopes to wrap up his war with Iran after more than three months, it has put a strain on the relationship with Israel.
In early April, Trump confirmed he had urged Netanyahu to pull back his strikes on Lebanon as the president was attempting to maintain a ceasefire agreement with Iran. He said the prime minister was going to be “a little more low-key” at the time.
According to multiple reports since the war began, Israel has expressed numerous concerns as the U.S. has come close to reaching a “bad” deal with Iran.
In a separate post late on Sunday, Trump raged at the coverage of negotiations and insisted that his deal “actually it states, very clearly, that Iran will not have a Nuclear Weapon” and claimed, “that’s what most of the agreement is about.”
The Daily Beast asked the White House for comment on the latest setback.
Meanwhile, the ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran remains fragile. U.S. Central Command announced it had conducted “self-defense strikes” on Iranian radar and drone sites over the weekend in response to Iranian action, including shooting down a U.S. drone over international waters.
It also announced that late on Sunday, the U.S. successfully intercepted two Iranian ballistic missiles targeting American forces in Kuwait.
“U.S. Central Command remains vigilant and will continue to protect our forces from Iranian aggression while supporting the ongoing ceasefire,” the post stated.
