Iran on Monday announced it would be suspending negotiations with the U.S. in protest over Israel’s actions in Lebanon, which Tehran insists violate the existing ceasefire.
Iranian state media outlet Tasnim News Agency reported that Iran’s negotiating team will halt all diplomatic communications with U.S. negotiators until Israel ceases operations in Lebanon and Gaza.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi added that the existing ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran includes Lebanon.
“The ceasefire between Iran and the U.S. is unequivocally a ceasefire on all fronts, including in Lebanon,” he wrote on X. “The U.S. and Israel are responsible for the consequences of any violation.”
Israel began offensive operations in southern Lebanon in March after Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant organization, launched rockets and drones into Israeli territory.
Meanwhile, U.S. Central Command said Monday that American forces intercepted two Iranian ballistic missiles targeting bases in Kuwait, further testing an already fragile ceasefire.
CENTCOM, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, said in a social media post that U.S. forces intercepted the missiles at 11 p.m. Sunday and no personnel were harmed.
“U.S. Central Command remains vigilant and will continue to protect our forces from Iranian aggression while supporting the ongoing ceasefire,” the military command posted on X.
Iranian authorities did not immediately issue a comment on the attack.
CENTCOM made a similar announcement last week, declaring that Iran had launched ballistic missiles at U.S. bases in Kuwait. No casualties were reported, and neighboring Persian Gulf countries condemned the incident.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said last week in a statement that it launched strikes on an unnamed U.S. base in retaliation for strikes targeting its drone facilities. The statement, aired by Iranian state media, did not disclose the name of the base or its location.
The U.S. operates 19 bases with more than 40,000 troops in the Middle East.
The attacks were an apparent response to U.S. strikes on Iranian drone sites in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas on May 28, marking the second round of U.S. airstrikes that week.
CENTCOM said U.S. forces knocked down five Iranian drones that posed a threat to vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. military also attacked a drone ground control facility in Bandar Abbas to prevent Iran from launching strikes, according to CENTCOM.
