Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said no progress has been made in talks with the United States, though channels of communication remain open. Defending, Tehran’s attack on the Gulf region as “self-defence”, he warned: “What sanctions and war failed to achieve won’t be won with more war.”
Earlier on Wednesday, he warned that any attack on Beirut would trigger a “full-scale resumption” of the West Asia war, as Israel pressed its campaign against Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Iran has repeatedly insisted that any deal to end the wider West Asia war — which its ally Hezbollah joined on March 2 — must also halt the fighting in Lebanon.
In a blow to the Trump administration, Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives approved a resolution on Wednesday to block President Donald Trump from continuing the war against Iran, reflecting growing concern among members of his party about the three-month-old conflict. With 215 votes the House directed Trump to withdraw U.S. troops from Iran unless Congress declares war or authorizes the use of military force. The vote reflects agitation amongst some Republicans over Trump’s way of handling of the conflict and marks a rare bipartisan effort to curb presidential war powers as the war has entered a fourth month.
US military bases were targeted, and a strike on Kuwait’s international airport killed one person and injured more than 60 others on Wednesday according to Kuwait Ministry.
Elsewhere, under US-led negotiations, Israel and Lebanon agreed to the implementation of a ceasefire. The ceasefire is contingent on the complete cessation of Hezbollah fire and the evacuation of all Hezbollah operatives from the south of the Litani sector. This is not the announcement of a brand-new ceasefire; this is asserting respect for a ceasefire that was actually agreed just last month in May, which was a 45-day extension to an already existing ceasefire that was there before.
Hezbollah reportedly launching 17 separate attacks against Israeli forces in southern Lebanon throughout Wednesday, deploying rockets, artillery, and explosive drones to target troop concentrations, military vehicles, and tanks to halt Israeli advances.
Israel’s ambassador to Washington, Yechiel Leiter, took to X after the US State Department released a statement on a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon.
Leiter described the US-brokered talks as “another important step in the process to facilitate peace between Israel and Lebanon”, but he said that the deal is contingent on the end of Hezbollah.
“This ceasefire is entirely contingent on a complete cessation of fire towards Israel, and the complete dismantling of Hezbollah,” he said.
The two sides, which do not have formal diplomatic relations, also agreed to create “pilot zones” in which the Lebanese armed forces “will take exclusive control of the territory to the exclusion of all non-state actors”.