Iran uses cease-fire complaint over Hezbollah to keep Strait of Hormuz closed

Iran is using Israeli attacks against its proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon as a pretext to continue to keep the Straits of Hormuz closed to global shipping and rally world opinion.

Iran has said the Israeli assault on its terror wing in Lebanon is a violation of the cease-fire recently agreed to between the U.S. and Iran.

“There is no room for denial and backtracking,” Iran’s parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said about the Israeli attacks, reported NBC News.

Continued attacks on Lebanon will bring “explicit costs and STRONG responses,” he added in comments on social media.

The Iranian deputy foreign minister later told the BBC the Straits would remain closed until the attacks on Hezbollah cease.

Thursday morning, the AP reported Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu authorized negotiations to begin with Lebanon, though it wasn’t immediately clear what impact this might have on the situation.

However, the White House made clear that Lebanon and Hezbollah were not part of the cease-fire agreement, emphasizing that Israel retains freedom of action against Iranian-backed forces operating there. 

“Lebanon is not part of the cease-fire. That has been relayed to all parties in the cease-fire,” said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, according to the Wall Street Journal.

President Donald Trump took to Truth Social media to warn that American guns would open up again if Iran does not comply with the cease-fire terms soon.

“If for any reason it is not, which is highly unlikely, then the ‘Shootin’ Starts,’ bigger, and better, and stronger than anyone has ever seen before,” said Trump. “It was agreed, a long time ago, and despite all of the fake rhetoric to the contrary – NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS and, the Strait of Hormuz WILL BE OPEN & SAFE.”

The two-week truce, agreed to after weeks of sustained U.S. military pressure on Iran, was intended to pause hostilities and open a path to peace negotiations.

U.S. officials have framed the deal as the product of battlefield leverage, arguing Iran came to the table only after suffering significant military losses.

But from the outset, Iran has treated the cease-fire as an opportunity to release more propaganda, trying to rally opinion around the globe, which depends on the Strait of Hormuz for its supply chain.

That invitation was taken up by two leading European countries, both of which notably declined to help keep the Strait open.

French President Emmanuel Macron told Trump that the inclusion of a cease-fire in Lebanon was “a necessary condition for the ceasefire [between the U.S. and Iran] to be credible and lasting,” according to Reuters.

The UK also largely sided with Iran’s interpretation, pressing Israel to stand down.

“That escalation that we saw from Israel yesterday was deeply damaging, and we want to see an end to hostilities,” said British Foreign Minister Yvette Cooper.

Israel has continued a sustained campaign targeting Hezbollah infrastructure, leadership and weapons systems inside Lebanon, including what officials describe as some of the most extensive strikes of the current conflict.

Israel launched its largest coordinated strike of the war on Wednesday, hitting over 100 Hezbollah military sites across Lebanon within ten minutes. At least five rapid strikes hit Beirut alone, sending plumes of smoke rising over the capital.

Several outlets have noted that Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, a key facilitator in the talks between the U.S. and Iran, said it was his understanding that the truce included Lebanon.

“With the greatest humility, I am pleased to announce that the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States of America, along with their allies, have agreed to an immediate ceasefire everywhere including Lebanon and elsewhere, EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY,” Sharif said via social media in announcing the cease-fire.

The chief U.S. negotiator, Vice President JD Vance, said it may just come down to a simple misunderstanding.

“I think this comes from ​a legitimate misunderstanding. I think the Iranians thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon, and it just didn’t,” Vance told reporters in Budapest.

The vice president noted that cease-fires are always “messy.”