Israel struck the outskirts of Beirut on Sunday for the first time since the U.S. announced a truce plan for Lebanon last week, and Iranian officials threatened to retaliate, casting the talks to end the wider war into new jeopardy, according to Reuters.
Iran has long said any peace deal with the United States would depend on a ceasefire also holding in Lebanon, which Israel invaded in March in pursuit of Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters who fired across the border in solidarity with Tehran.
Iran's chief peace negotiator, parliamentary speaker Mohammed Baqer Qalibaf, said U.S. bases and Israeli assets were legitimate targets because of hostile acts including the "violation of agreements over Lebanon".
"They showed that they only understand the language of power," he wrote on X.
Ebrahim Rezaei, an influential hardline lawmaker who serves as spokesperson for the Iranian parliament's national security committee, posted on X that Iran would deliver a "decisive and painful response" to Sunday's Israeli strikes on Lebanon.
"Look at the sky of the occupied territories tonight," he wrote, an apparent reference to some form of attack on Israel itself. Iran has not targeted Israel directly since a ceasefire in the wider war in April, although Hezbollah has done so.
An Israeli official, responding to the apparent threat, told Reuters that Israel would retaliate against any attacks on its territory from Iran, and consider it "an opportunity to renew the campaign".
Washington and Tehran have shown little progress in reaching a deal to end the war that President Donald Trump launched in February with a campaign of air strikes alongside Israel against Iran. Trump has repeatedly threatened to restart the strikes unless there is an agreement soon.
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