Fresh tensions with Iran rattled global energy markets Monday after Tehran warned that Israeli operations in Lebanon could blow up fragile ceasefire talks with the United States.
Iranian officials said any broader ceasefire with Washington must cover Lebanon, where Israeli forces have continued strikes and ground operations against Hezbollah, Tehran’s most powerful regional proxy.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei accused the United States of sending mixed signals in negotiations and argued that Israel’s campaign in Lebanon could not be treated as separate from the wider conflict.
“The ceasefire between Iran and the US is unequivocally a ceasefire on all fronts, including in Lebanon,” Araghchi wrote. “Its violation on one front is a violation of the ceasefire on all fronts.”
“The US and Israel are responsible for the consequences of any violation.”
The warning added fresh pressure to already-jittery energy markets. Brent crude rose more than 3% to about $93.80 per barrel, while U.S. crude climbed above $90 as traders reacted to renewed fighting and continued uncertainty over the Strait of Hormuz.
The latest flare-up came after U.S. forces struck Iranian radar and drone command facilities following what American officials said was the downing of a U.S. MQ-1 drone over international waters.
Iran responded by launching missiles and drones at U.S. forces in Kuwait, with American forces intercepting two ballistic missiles and reporting no casualties.
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Trump, meanwhile, has continued to insist that Iran wants a deal and that a broader peace agreement remains possible, even as the ceasefire shows signs of strain.
The president also took aim at Democrats and some Republicans, accusing them of making his negotiating position harder.
“Don’t the Dumocrats, and various seemingly unpatriotic Republicans, understand that it is MUCH tougher for me to properly do my job and negotiate, when political hacks keep negatively ‘chirping,’ at levels never seen before, over and over again, that I should move faster, or move slower, or go to war, or not go to war, or whatever,” Trump wrote.
“Just sit back and relax, it will all work out well in the end – It always does!”
Trump’s post came as fears grew that the fragile ceasefire between Washington and Tehran could be unraveling after the latest exchange of strikes.
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Lebanon remains a major flashpoint because Hezbollah continues to threaten Israel from the north while maintaining deep military and political ties to Iran.
Israel has resisted treating Lebanon as part of the U.S.-Iran ceasefire framework, viewing its fight against Hezbollah as a separate front that must be handled on its own terms.
U.S. officials have been pushing for a temporary de-escalation while Trump pursues a longer-term agreement with Tehran. So far, those efforts have produced little visible progress, with Israeli forces continuing operations in southern Lebanon and carrying out strikes on Hezbollah targets.
The broader negotiations between the United States and Iran remain stuck over Trump’s demand that Tehran abandon its nuclear weapons ambitions and surrender its stockpile of enriched uranium.
The administration has been pursuing a temporary understanding that would extend the ceasefire and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the critical Persian Gulf waterway that carries roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil traffic.
With oil prices climbing and military tensions rising again, the standoff with Iran is once more threatening to spill across the region and hit Americans at the pump.
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