JERUSALEM/BEIRUT/ISLAMABAD, April 9 (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday he is seeking direct talks with Beirut, a day after the worst bombardment of the war killed more than 300 people in Lebanon and placed Donald Trump’s U.S.-Iran ceasefire in jeopardy.
Trump announced a ceasefire in the six-week-old Iran conflict late on Tuesday, just hours before a deadline after which he threatened to destroy Iran’s entire civilisation.
In Pakistan, authorities were preparing for the first round of U.S.-Iran talks, locking down parts of the capital Islamabad.
But there was no sign Iran was lifting its near-total blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which has caused the worst disruption to global energy supplies in history, with Israel’s ongoing attacks on Lebanon cited as a key sticking point.
In a defiant statement, Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said on Thursday that Iran would be “resolute in avenging” the deaths of his father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the country’s “martyrs” and “will take management of the Strait of Hormuz into a new phase.”
The statement attributed to Khamenei was read on state TV. He has not been seen in public since he took over from his father, who was killed on the first day of the war.
“…We will certainly not leave unpunished the criminal aggressors who attacked our country. We will undoubtedly demand compensation for every single damage inflicted,” he said in the statement.
FEW SIGNS OF INCREASED TRAFFIC
In the first 24 hours of the ceasefire, just a single oil products tanker and five dry bulk carriers sailed through a strait that typically accommodated 140 ships a day before the war, accounting for around a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas flows.
Netanyahu, whose government rebuffed a historic offer for direct talks with Lebanon last month, said in a statement that he had given instructions to start peace talks as soon as possible, which would also include disarming Iran-aligned militant group Hezbollah.
“The negotiations will focus on disarming Hezbollah and establishing peaceful relations between Israel and Lebanon,” he said.
An hour before Netanyahu’s statement, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said he was working on a diplomatic track on this matter that was starting to be seen “positively” by international actors.
A senior Lebanese official told Reuters that Lebanon had spent the last day pushing for a temporary ceasefire to allow for broader talks with Israel, describing the effort as a “separate track but the same model” as the U.S.-Iran truce.
Israel was preparing to scale down its attacks in Lebanon, a senior Israeli official said on Thursday. Another Israeli official said talks with Lebanon were expected to begin in Washington next week.
Under a November 2024 U.S.-brokered ceasefire accord that halted more than a year of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon agreed that only state security forces should bear arms, which means Hezbollah must be fully disarmed.
But a bid the following year by the Lebanese army to disarm the group fell short, Israel said.
Hezbollah lawmaker Ali Fayyad said in a statement on Thursday that the group rejected direct negotiations with Israel and the Lebanese government should demand a ceasefire as a precondition to further steps. It was the first comment from Hezbollah after Netanyahu said his country would start talks immediately.
Washington, along with Israel, which invaded Lebanon last month in parallel with the war on Iran to root out Hezbollah, say Lebanon is not covered by Trump’s ceasefire.
But Iran and Pakistan, which acted as mediator, say it was explicitly part of the deal. Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, expected to head the Iranian delegation opposite U.S. Vice President JD Vance, tweeted that Lebanon and the rest of Iran’s “axis” of regional allies were inseparable parts of any ceasefire.
A Pakistani source said Pakistan was working on ceasefires for Lebanon as well as Yemen, where Israel has also hit Iran-aligned forces.
LEBANON DECLARES DAY OF MOURNING
Earlier on Thursday, Israel kept up its bombing of Beirut’s southern suburbs and other parts of the country, Lebanese state media said.
Hezbollah announced at least 20 military operations on Thursday, saying it had targeted Israeli vehicles on Lebanese territory as well as firing into northern Israel.
Lebanese officials declared a day of mourning after Wednesday’s attacks on heavily populated areas, which they described as a “massacre”.
Outside Beirut’s Rafik Hariri University Hospital, a steady stream of ambulances arrived throughout Thursday afternoon full of mangled bodies recovered from the sites of Israeli strikes the previous day.
“We’re picking up body parts for the most part. It’s very rare that we find entire bodies intact,” said a rescue worker on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the press.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry said the death toll since March 2 had risen to 1,888 dead and more than 6,000 wounded.
IRAN AND US BOTH DECLARE VICTORY
Both Trump and Iran have declared victory. However,
Washington has not achieved the aims it announced at the war’s outset: to eliminate Iran’s ability to attack its neighbours, destroy its nuclear programme and make it easier for Iranians to topple their government.
Iran still possesses missiles and drones that can hit its neighbours and a stockpile of more than 400 kg (900 pounds) of uranium enriched to near weapons grade. Its rulers survived the superpower onslaught with no sign of organised opposition and demonstrated their ability to exert control of the strait.
In a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Wednesday, Trump expressed frustration with allies for their lack of support and made clear he wanted concrete commitments within the next few days to help secure the strait, according to two European diplomats.
(Reporting by Laila Bassam, Reuters bureausWriting by Peter Graff, Sharon Singleton and Michael MartinaEditing by Gareth Jones, Jan Harvey and Cynthia Osterman)
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