Lebanon’s president refuses to meet Netanyahu until war ends – as it happened

Benjamin Netanyahu instructed the Israeli military to halt preparations for another attack on Iran on Monday, two Israeli military officials told the NY Times, suggesting that the Israeli prime minister is looking to de-escalate attacks, for now, after pressure from the US, Israel’s biggest weapons supplier and most powerful ally.

Israel has struck southern Lebanon, according to its state-run national news agency (NNA). This comes less than an hour after Iran said it suspended military operations against Israel – with the condition of ending attacks, including on Lebanon.

Meanwhile, Israel says that several sirens rang in the country’s north. Earlier today, Iran said that “if aggressions and hostile actions continue, including in southern Lebanon, far more severe and crushing measures than before will follow.”

Iran’s president says his country’s priority is “national security and the peace of our people.”

Posting on X, Masoud Pezeshkian wrote: “We will defend the rights of the nation with authority and will not retreat in the face of any threat.”

“Diplomacy and defense are the two wings of national power; we have neither abandoned the field nor the negotiating table. God willing, with unity and rationality, Iran will emerge triumphant from this trial as well.”

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Israel’s Channel 12 news channel is reporting that Israeli strikes on Iran are being halted per US president Donald Trump’s request.

But the channel also reported that a senior Israel official said that the IDF will attack southern suburbs in Beirut if Hezbollah attacks Israeli towns.

A senior Hezbollah official has said that the group has not had any “direct contact” with US president Donald Trump.

Despite recent statements from the US leader suggesting otherwise, AFP reports that a senior official from the group claims that they did not have any direct contact with the president.

Senior Hezbollah official Mahmud Qomati told the agency in a written response that “there has been no direct contact between President Trump and Hezbollah officials.”

This comes after Trump told reporters last Wednesday that “we actually spoke with Hezbollah for the first time, ever.”

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Two days earlier, after Israel threatened to again bomb Beirut’s southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, Trump said that “through highly placed Representatives, I had a very good call with Hezbollah.”

Qomati said that the president was “perhaps” referring to the fact that parliament speaker Nabih Berri’s adviser “communicates with the US ambassador and passes on messages”.

Washington considers Hezbollah a “terrorist” group, including both its military and political wings.

It has just gone past 14.50 pm in Tel Aviv and Beirut, and 15.20 pm in Tehran. Here is a summary of the key events so far today:

• The US president, Donald Trump, told Iran and Israel to stop “shooting” after the two sides attacked each other’s territory for the first time since a fragile ceasefire took effect in April.

• Trump then said that Israel and Iran were “looking to do an immediate ceasefire”.

• Shortly afterwards, the Iranian military’s joint command said it was halting its offensive operations against Israel, but warned that if attacks continue, “including in southern Lebanon,” Iran will respond in “much more severe and crushing” ways than before.

• The Israeli army said before this statement that it was preparing for at least several days of conflict with Iran and was operating in coordination with the US.

• Iran launched waves of attacks on Israel on Monday, and Israel launched strikes on central and western Iran. Explosions were heard in the Iranian capital of Tehran – there were no immediate reports of casualties.

• Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said on Monday it launched a missile attack on a petrochemical plant in the northern Israeli city of Haifa in retaliation for Israeli strikes on the Karun petrochemical plant in Mahshahr, a city in Iran’s southwestern Khuzestan province.

• Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi rebels also fired at Israel and warned they would target Israeli-affiliated ships in the Red Sea.

• The escalation in conflict, which threatened to drag the region back into war, came after Israel attacked the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital of Beirut on Sunday in what Tehran viewed as a violation of the US-Iran ceasefire.

• Israel claimed it was targeting Hezbollah infrastructure after it said the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group fired rockets at northern Israel.

• The Israeli attack hit two apartments in two separate buildings, Lebanon’s state news agency reported, killing two people, according to a preliminary casualty count.

Iran’s armed forces have announced an end of military of operations against Israel, but have warned of harsher attacks if Israel resumes attacks on Lebanon, according to the Fars news agency. We have not been able to independently verify this report yet and Israel has not issued a comment in response.

The Khatam ol-Anbiya Central Headquarters was quoted as saying that “in support of the oppressed people of Lebanon” Iran gave a “painful response” to Israel after it attacked the southern suburbs of Beirut yesterday.

“Accordingly, a halt to the operations of the armed forces is announced; but it is emphasized that if the aggressions and evils continue, including in southern Lebanon, much more severe and crushing measures will be on the way.”

In a Truth Social post, Donald Trump said Israel and Iran are “looking to do an immediate ceasefire” and that “final negotiations on peace” are under way, without giving any further details.

He said the US blockade of Iranian ports – put in place to counter Iran’s effective closure of the strait of Hormuz – will remain in place until a final deal is secured. “Things should move quickly,” Trump added.

In an earlier Truth Social post, Trump said Israel and Iran must immediately stop “shooting”.

Israel has carried out nearly 3,500 airstrikes on Lebanon and hundreds of controlled explosions since the US announced a ceasefire for the country in mid April, Lebanon’s defence minister, Michel Menassa, said.

During a cabinet meeting, Menassa said that from 17 April to 7 June, Israel had carried out 3,491 airstrikes, 407 controlled demolitions and six “razing” operations, or demolitions – which have left some entire villages in the southernmost strip of Lebanon entirely flattened.

At least 3,613 people have been killed in Israeli attacks on Lebanon since the start of the war on 2 March, according to the country’s health ministry. Israel’s renewed war on Lebanon was triggered in response to Hezbollah firing rockets at northern Israel after the US and Israel killed the former Iranian supreme leader in Tehran on 28 February.

More than 1 million people have already been displaced by the renewed Israeli war on Lebanon, triggering a major refugee and humanitarian crisis.

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Over in the UK, British prime minister Keir Starmer has said it was “really important that all parties get back to a ceasefire” in the Middle East after Israel and Iran attacked each other’s territory for the first time since the April ceasefire came into effect.

The prime minister said:

I am deeply concerned about the resumption of violence. It is really important that all parties get back to a ceasefire.

There are serious negotiations going on, towards a lasting peace. It’s really important that we give them ever chance of success because this conflict is already having a huge impact across the world, including here in the United Kingdom.

So I say to all parties, we all have a responsibility to get back to that ceasefire and it’s really important we’re very clear about that.

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