{"id":545351,"date":"2026-06-20T15:06:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T15:06:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/545351\/"},"modified":"2026-06-20T15:06:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T15:06:13","slug":"strait-of-hormuz-closed-due-to-alleged-us-ceasefire-violations-says-iranian-military-command-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/545351\/","title":{"rendered":"Strait of Hormuz closed due to alleged US ceasefire violations, says Iranian military command \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Iran<\/a>\u2019s \u200ctop joint military command, Khatam \u200cal-Anbiya Central Headquarters, said \u200bon Saturday that the Strait of Hormuz<\/a> would \u200bbe closed to vessel \u2060traffic, citing alleged violations \u200cof \u200ca \u200bceasefire agreement by the \u2060US<\/a> \u200band Israel, Iran\u2019s Mehr \u200bstate news \u200cagency reported.<\/p>\n

It said \u200bthat the closure \u2060was the \u201cfirst \u2060step\u201d \u200bin response to what it described as breaches of commitments and warned \u200cthat further measures \u2060would be taken if \u201caggression\u201d continued.<\/p>\n

Israeli<\/a> strikes killed 16 people in Lebanon on Saturday, hours after a truce took effect, with Israel saying it was responding to attacks from Hizbullah<\/a> and the Iran-backed group saying it would not allow Israel \u201cfreedom of movement\u201d in Lebanon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A halt to fighting in Lebanon \u200bis a condition for starting 60 days of US-Iranian talks on Tehran\u2019s nuclear program and other issues key to forging a more durable deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and stabilise global oil supplies. It was not clear when those talks might begin.<\/p>\n

Wednesday\u2019s interim US-Iran deal requires both countries and their allies to stop military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon.<\/p>\n

But Israel, left out of the talks, says it is not party to the deal, and will keep its forces in the Lebanese territory it occupies.<\/p>\n

\"SmokeSmoke rises from the site of a string of Israeli air strikes that targeted the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh on Saturday. Photograph: Abbas Fakih\/AFP via Getty <\/p>\n

Elsewhere, Israeli strikes and gunfire killed \u200cat least five people, including a child, in the \u200cGaza Strip<\/a> on Saturday, health officials said.<\/p>\n

An Israeli air strike killed four \u200bPalestinians<\/a>, including two women and a child, in an apartment building in Gaza City, health officials said. The attack on \u200bthe building in the Sabra neighbourhood of Gaza City destroyed \u2060the apartment and wounded several other people, medics added.<\/p>\n

In \u200canother \u200cincident, \u200bIsraeli forces shot and killed a woman in Beit Lahiya town further \u2060north, said medics.<\/p>\n

The \u200bIsraeli military did not \u200bimmediately comment on either incident.<\/p>\n

A US official \u200bhad said the truce in Lebanon took effect at 1pm Irish time on Friday, and Israeli and Hizbullah sources confirmed the agreement to Reuters.<\/p>\n

Lebanon\u2019s state news agency NNA said Israeli warplanes and drones struck locations across southern Lebanon and \u2060the Bekaa Valley on Saturday, both Hizbullah strongholds.<\/p>\n

Lebanon\u2019s civil defence service said 16 people were killed in the raids.<\/p>\n

An Israeli military official said Hizbullah fired more than 50 projectiles at Israeli forces \u200cin \u200csouthern \u200bLebanon overnight, and that Israel had attacked what it described as Hizbullah targets in response. A military statement added that Israel was committed to the ceasefire and would continue to act against any threat to Israel or its forces.<\/p>\n

A Hizbullah statement said its fighters had confronted Israeli forces trying to infiltrate the Ali al-Taher hill \u2060area in southern Lebanon overnight, and had inflicted casualties. A senior Hizbullah official told Reuters the \u200bgroup would not allow Israeli forces freedom of movement in Lebanese territory.<\/p>\n

The Hizbullah statement said the group \u200bremained committed to the ceasefire but would respond to any attempt by Israel to seize territory or expand its occupation.<\/p>\n

Lebanon was drawn into the regional war when Hizbullah attacked Israel after the US and Israel began their war \u200con Iran. Israel responded with an offensive against Hizbullah that included invading south Lebanon.<\/p>\n

One \u200bof the deadliest Israeli strikes on Saturday hit a three-storey residential building in the town of Barish in the Tyre district, killing a father, a mother and their two children, a town official said.<\/p>\n

The \u2060Lebanese army said an Israeli strike had also killed a soldier on the Kfarrumman-Nabatieh road.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s \u2060Arabic-language military spokesperson said calm and stability could be achieved \u200bif Hizbullah ceased what she described as hostile activities and violations of agreements.<\/p>\n

She said Israel\u2019s presence in Lebanon was intended to remove threats, not to harm Lebanese civilians.<\/p>\n

Lebanon\u2019s health ministry says 3,912 people have been killed in Israeli attacks since March 2nd, including medics, women and children. It does not say how many combatants are among the dead.<\/p>\n

Israel says at least 32 Israeli soldiers and four civilians have been killed in the conflict with Hizbullah.<\/p>\n

As fighting continued, it was unclear whether substantive talks would begin soon between the US and Iran to turn this week\u2019s interim 14-point pact into a lasting deal to end the war they launched on February 28th.<\/p>\n

Switzerland said it continued to provide a \u201cdiscreet and reliable setting\u201d at the mountaintop resort of Buergenstock to facilitate discussions. Its foreign ministry said no further details would be disclosed about participants and the talks\u2019 content, citing confidentiality.<\/p>\n

US vice-president JD Vance<\/a> cancelled plans this week to travel to Switzerland for talks \u200cwith Iran as tension between Israel and Hizbullah rose.<\/p>\n

On \u2060Friday, Swiss authorities met officials from Qatar, which has also been supporting the negotiations, at Buergenstock.<\/p>\n

Pakistan\u2019s interior minister Mohsin Naqvi, whose country has been mediating, was in Tehran for talks with foreign minister Abbas Araqchi, Iran\u2019s foreign ministry spokesperson said, according to Iran\u2019s ISNA news agency.<\/p>\n

The Iran war has killed at least 8,000 people, mostly in Iran and Lebanon. It has \u200cpushed up energy prices, stoking inflation worldwide. Hizbullah has not disclosed its casualty figures.<\/p>\n

The interim deal includes sanctions relief for Iran, the unfreezing of assets worth tens of billions of dollars and immediate US waivers for its oil exports. It also envisages a $300 billion reconstruction \u200bfund and other incentives.<\/p>\n

Trump again defended the deal after criticism in Washington, including some from Republican allies in Congress who question whether he conceded \u200btoo much to end a war unpopular with most Americans ahead of midterm elections in November.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe War has diminished Iran!\u201d Trump wrote on social media on Friday, adding, \u201cWe didn\u2019t meet out of desperation, Iran did. They are FINISHED! We\u2019ll play out the 60 days. They get no money, not 10 cents!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ChildrenChildren stand along a promontory overlooking shelters for people displaced by war, at the Nuseirat camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip on June 19th. Photograph: Eyad Baba\/AFP via Getty <\/p>\n

An October ceasefire in Gaza may \u200chave halted major fighting between Hamas<\/a> \u200band Israel, but it has failed to \u2060end Israeli attacks.<\/p>\n

Gaza\u2019s \u2060health \u200bministry said more than 1,010 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli fire since the ceasefire. Four Israeli soldiers were killed by militants in Gaza over the same period.<\/p>\n

Israel says its strikes are aimed at thwarting imminent attacks \u200cby Hamas and \u2060other militants. Hamas rarely discloses information about deaths of its fighters.<\/p>\n

Israel and Hamas remain \u200cdeadlocked over how to proceed with the next stage of \u200bUS president Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s Gaza plan, which involves Hamas \u200blaying down its arms and Israeli withdrawals. – Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Iran\u2019s \u200ctop joint military command, Khatam \u200cal-Anbiya Central Headquarters, said \u200bon Saturday that the Strait of Hormuz would…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":545352,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,10,356,18,13,14,69,6,21029,19,18929,17,71,6220,45036,12175,11,12,14407,15,16,5,72,7,8,384],"class_list":["post-545351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-donald-trump","tag-eire","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-hamas","tag-headlines","tag-hizbullah","tag-ie","tag-iran","tag-ireland","tag-israel","tag-israel-defence-forces","tag-israel-iran-conflict","tag-jd-vance","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-lebanon","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-news","tag-palestine","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories","tag-united-states"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116783061280980120","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=545351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545351\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/545352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}