Ceasefire is threatened as Israel expands Lebanon strikes and Iran closes strait again

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — The United States demanded Wednesday that Iran immediately reopen the Strait of Hormuz after the Islamic Republic closed the waterway in response to Israeli attacks against the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon.

Iran's move cast doubt over whether an already precarious ceasefire to end more than a month of war would hold.

The United States and Iran both claimed victory after reaching the agreement, and world leaders expressed relief, even as more drones and missiles hit Iran and Gulf Arab countries.

Israel also intensified its attacks in Lebanon, hitting several commercial and residential areas in Beirut without warning. At least 112 people were killed and hundreds were wounded in one of the deadliest days in the latest Israel-Hezbollah war.

The fresh violence threatened to scuttle what US Vice President JD Vance called a "fragile" deal.

"Aggression towards Lebanon is aggression towards Iran," General Seyed Majid Mousavi, aerospace commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, wrote on X. He warned that Iranian forces were preparing a "heavy response" without revealing details.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi insisted that an end to the war in Lebanon was part of the ceasefire agreement with the US.

"The world sees the massacres in Lebanon," he said in a post on X. "The ball is in the US court, and the world is watching whether it will act on its commitments."

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said American and Israeli forces had achieved a "capital V military victory" and that the Iranian military no longer posed a significant threat to US forces or the region. The Iranian military said the country forced Israel and the US to accept its "proposed conditions and surrender."

Much about the agreement was unclear as the sides presented vastly different visions of the terms.

— Iran said the deal would allow it to formalise its new practice of charging ships passing through the strait, a crucial transit lane for oil. But the details were not clear, nor was it known whether vessels would feel safe using the channel or whether ship traffic had resumed. It also was unclear whether any other country agreed to this condition. The White House said Trump is opposed to tolls for ship passage through the strait.

— Pakistan, which helped to mediate the deal, and others said fighting would pause in Lebanon, where Israel has launched a ground invasion against the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group. Israel said it would not, and strikes hit Beirut on Wednesday.

— The fate of Iran's missile and nuclear programs — the elimination of which were major objectives for the US and Israel in going to war — also remained unclear. Trump said the US would work with Iran to remove buried enriched uranium, though Iran did not confirm that.

In the streets of Tehran, pro-government demonstrators screamed: "Death to America, death to Israel, death to compromisers!" after the ceasefire announcement and burned American and Israeli flags.

The chants underscored the anger animating hard-liners, who have been preparing for what many assumed would be an apocalyptic battle with the United States. Trump warned Tuesday that "a whole civilization will die tonight," if a deal was not reached.

Trump initially said Iran proposed a "workable" 10-point plan that could help end the war the US and Israel launched on February 28. But when a version in Farsi emerged that indicated Iran would be allowed to continue enriching uranium — which is key to building a nuclear weapon — Trump called it fraudulent without elaborating.

Vance later said the deal was being misrepresented within Iran, though he did not offer details. The White House said Vance would lead the American negotiating team in talks in Pakistan aimed at finding a permanent end to the war.

Iran's demands for ending the war include a withdrawal of US combat forces from the region, the lifting of sanctions and the release of its frozen assets.

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres's personal envoy arrived in Iran for talks on "the way forward."

Pakistan said talks to seek a permanent end to the war could begin in Islamabad as soon as Friday.

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