Iran launched missiles at Israel in the first such bombardment since a fragile ceasefire took effect in early April, raising the possibility of a return to heavy fighting and complicating mediation efforts to end the war.<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s state broadcaster confirmed the launches, and Iran closed its western airspace to brace for a possible response. Tehran had warned of retaliation after Israel struck Beirut\u2019s southern suburbs without warning earlier Sunday in defiance of Washington\u2019s request days ago to stand down. Israel said Iranian-backed Hezbollah fired at northern Israel earlier in the day.<\/p>\n
\u201cShould these acts of aggression be repeated, the responses will be broader in scope and will encompass all American and Zionist targets throughout the region,\u201d Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said in a statement that referenced attacks in Lebanon and on Iran\u2019s coast and vessels around the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n
Sirens sounded in several areas of Israel, sending millions running for shelter. Israel\u2019s military said it intercepted the missiles, and multiple explosions were heard in the north. Less than an hour later, the military said people could leave areas reinforced against missile attacks.<\/p>\n
\u201cIran has made a grave mistake,\u201d Israeli military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said. The military\u2019s chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, said it will \u201cstrike the enemy with determination as soon as the order is given.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Israel\u2019s public broadcaster, Kan, said President Trump told it that he doesn\u2019t think Israel needs to respond further.<\/p>\n
Iran had warned that an attack on Beirut would renew full-scale war across the Mideast, even as Pakistan and other mediators try to restart talks between Tehran and Washington.<\/p>\n
\u201cU.S. forces across the Middle East remain vigilant and ready,\u201d the U.S. Central Command posted on X shortly before the missile launches.<\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s attack on Beirut came a few days after the Lebanese and Israeli governments agreed to a ceasefire in U.S.-hosted talks, though Hezbollah rejected the deal. The strike on a residential building killed two people and wounded 20, Lebanon\u2019s Health Ministry said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe army will continue to act in all of Lebanon,\u201d the Israeli military spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s strikes and ground invasion in Lebanon in pursuit of Hezbollah, and the militant group\u2019s resistance to disarming, have complicated an overall deal to end the war in the Middle East.<\/p>\n
Iran says any deal must include an end to fighting in Lebanon.<\/p>\n
Trump told a Fox News Channel reporter that he wanted the Iranians to stop firing missiles and return to the negotiating table. He also said that Israel\u2019s strikes earlier Sunday were not coordinated with the U.S. and \u201cI\u2019m not happy about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Early last week, Israel had announced that it would strike the southern suburbs of Lebanon\u2019s capital, but urgent talks via Washington halted that plan on the condition that Hezbollah stop targeting Israeli border towns.<\/p>\n
Hezbollah, which claimed responsibility for firing at Israel earlier Sunday, wants the direct talks between Lebanon and Israel to end and instead supports Iran\u2019s stance that an overall ceasefire deal between Tehran and Washington must include the situation in Lebanon.<\/p>\n
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces elections this year, wants to press ahead with Israel\u2019s offensive until he believes Hezbollah no longer poses a threat, which has paralyzed life for thousands of residents along Israel\u2019s northern border.<\/p>\n
But Trump has made clear he does not want to see the fighting resume.<\/p>\n
Trump said earlier Sunday in an interview with NBC\u2019s \u201cMeet the Press\u201d that he would like to see a \u201cmore surgical attack on Hezbollah.\u201d He also said he was \u201cnot demanding\u201d that Lebanon be part of an overall ceasefire deal in the Iran war.<\/p>\n
Iran continues to assert its grip on the Strait of Hormuz and the U.S. continues its blockade of Iranian ports, with shipments of oil, natural gas and fertilizer affected and the global economy in pain.<\/p>\n
Since the ceasefire took effect, Iran has launched missiles and drones at Persian Gulf nations and said it was targeting the U.S. military presence. After Iran\u2019s launches against Israel, Iraq\u2019s Civil Aviation Authority announced that Iraq\u2019s airspace would close for 72 hours and Syria\u2019s aviation authority announced a 12-hour airspace closure.<\/p>\n
All flights from Tehran\u2019s main international airport were suspended, the civil aviation authority said, according to the official Mizan news agency.<\/p>\n
Diplomacy continues<\/p>\n
Pakistan\u2019s interior minister, Mohsin Naqvi, was in Tehran on Sunday delivering a message to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei from Pakistan\u2019s army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, according to Iran\u2019s state-run IRNA news agency. There were no details on the message\u2019s contents.<\/p>\n
Khamenei has not been seen in public since he was named the Islamic Republic\u2019s ruler after his father was killed on Feb. 28, the first day of the war.<\/p>\n
Pakistani authorities have said Islamabad, with support from regional countries including Qatar, Turkey and Egypt, is working to help bridge differences between the United States and Iran.<\/p>\n
In Cairo, Egyptian Foreign Minister Bader Abdelatty and Qatari counterpart Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al Thani discussed \u201cproposed elements\u201d of a potential agreement between the U.S. and Iran, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said, without providing details.<\/p>\n
And after Iran\u2019s missile launches at Israel, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi spoke with counterparts in France, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Britain, Egypt and Turkey as well as Pakistan\u2019s army chief of staff, Iranian state TV said.<\/p>\n
Chehayeb, Magdy, Lidman and Anna write for the Associated Press and reported from Beirut, Cairo, Tel Aviv, and Lowville, N.Y., respectively. AP writers Hassan Ammar in Lebanon; Munir Ahmed in Islamabad; Matthew Lee in Washington; Abby Sewell in Beirut and Michelle L. Price in Bridgewater, N.J., contributed to this report. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Iran launched missiles at Israel in the first such bombardment since a fragile ceasefire took effect in early…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":851709,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[8991,51259,1582,276,83116,2385,347876,4783,83,99,2961,13192,224,5337,3775,347875,5399,2053,347874,2058],"class_list":["post-851708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-attack","tag-beirut","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-ceasefire-agreement","tag-day","tag-full-scale-war","tag-hezbollah","tag-iran","tag-israel","tag-la","tag-lebanon","tag-los-angeles","tag-losangeles","tag-pakistan","tag-southern-suburb","tag-talk","tag-tehran","tag-u-s-request","tag-washington"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116711542873329150","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=851708"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851708\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/851709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=851708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=851708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=851708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}