Tehran vows payback after Israel attacks Beirut despite truce

These were the first attacks on the Lebanese capital since Presi­dent Donald Trump announced a truce plan for Lebanon last week. While the latest Israeli strikes cla­i­med two lives, Israel’s continued att­a­cks on Lebanon have killed at least 3,613 people and wounded 11,072 others since Israeli forces along with the US launched the war on Iran. Iran’s chief peace negotiator, parliamentary spe­a­ker Moham­med Bag­her Ghalibaf, said US bases and Israeli assets were legitimate targets beca­use of hostile acts including the “violation of agre­e­ments over Lebanon”. Tehran has long said any peace deal with the United Sta­tes would depend on a ceasefire, also holding in Lebanon. “They showed that they only understand the language of power,” he wrote on X. Ebrahim Rezaei, an influential lawmaker who also serves as spo­k­esperson for parliament’s natio­nal security committee, posted on X that Iran would deliver a “decisive and painful response” to Sunday’s Israeli strikes on Lebanon. Although he has leaned on Israel to scale back its war against Lebanon to allow room for a peace deal with Iran, US Presi­dent Donald Trump called for “more surgical strikes” against Hezbollah in Lebanon, in an interview broadcast on Sunday. “I’d like to see Lebanon have a better life. I’d like to see a more surgical attack on Hezbollah. I think it should be more surgical,” he remarked. Asked whether he was demanding that Lebanon be included in the Iran deal, Trump replied: “No, no.”