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US President Donald Trump today said negotiations over a peace deal to end the Middle East war were in their final stages, after Iran and Israel halted attacks that threatened to reignite the months-long conflict.
Iran fired missiles at Israel on Sunday in response to strikes against Lebanon’s Hezbollah in the southern suburbs of Beirut, before Israel struck back despite Trump’s efforts to dissuade Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from doing so, reports AFP.
The Israeli leader said of Iran that the “fire on that front is contained” hours after Tehran said it had stopped its military action, while both sides warned they could resume hostilities despite diplomatic efforts gathering pace.
Iran and Israel “were going back and forth and now they both agreed through me to stop and we’re in the final throes of what will be a very, very good deal,” the US leader told reporters on his return from an NBA Finals game.
When asked whether a deal would be a matter of days or weeks, he said it would take “two or three days.”
The flare-up came after weeks of negotiations seeking to bring about a definitive end to the regional war sparked by US and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28, with Tehran insisting a halt to the conflict must include a truce in Lebanon.
Trump, who has reportedly grown increasingly exasperated with Netanyahu, had earlier urged both sides to stop “shooting” and said that “final negotiations” towards peace would proceed “subject to ignorance or stupidity getting in its way”.
US Vice President JD Vance told Fox News yesterday that while the United States and Israel shared interests, their positions did not always align.
“The Israelis and the United States, we have a lot of shared interests,” Vance said. “But we also have some situations where our interests diverge.”
– Lebanon city evacuates –
In the recent escalation of attacks, Iran fired nearly 30 missiles at Israel, according to the Israeli military, while Israel struck military sites in the Islamic republic.
Iranian state media reported today that two members of the “Army Air Defence Force” were killed in Israeli strikes a day earlier. No casualties were reported in Israel following the exchange.
And despite Iranian demands, Israel has kept up its attacks on Lebanon, where it is fighting the Iran-backed group Hezbollah.
Today, Lebanese state media reported an Israeli strike on the southern city of Tyre after the Israeli military urged residents to evacuate, the first time it had done so for the entire city and its surrounding areas.
“Enemy warplanes launched a heavy strike on Tyre,” the state-run National News Agency said.
The news sent residents of Tyre including its Christian quarter fleeing for safety, an AFP correspondent said, reporting heavy traffic heading north.
“For your safety, we ask you to immediately evacuate your homes… and move north of the Zahrani River,” the Israeli military’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said on X.
Last week, Israel’s military alleged that Hezbollah members were operating in the Christian quarter and said it would warn people to leave if the group remained there.
Lebanon was drawn into the war when Hezbollah militants fired rockets at Israel on March 2 to avenge the US-Israeli killing of Iran’s supreme leader.
Israel responded with an extensive campaign of airstrikes and a ground invasion that have killed nearly 3,600 people. Exchanges of fire with Hezbollah have not stopped despite an ongoing truce.
The heads of the Pakistani and Lebanese armed forces meanwhile agreed to boost cooperation today as they met in Pakistan with peace talks over the Middle East war dragging on.
On another front of the war, Israel’s military said early today it had intercepted an aerial target from Yemen, but there were no injuries.
– Oil eases –
Fears had grown that the recent flare-up would put at risk a fragile Middle East truce — in place since April 8 — and ruin efforts for talks to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of global oil usually passes.
The conflict has severely disrupted shipping through the Hormuz strait, while Washington has imposed a blockade on Iranian ports.
Trump said today that two pilots were uninjured after reports that a US military helicopter went down near the Strait of Hormuz.
It was not immediately clear whether the Apache helicopter was shot down, experienced mechanical failure or encountered some other problem, the New York Times reported, citing two people briefed on the incident.
In better news for Iranians, local media reported early today that Tehran’s international airport — closed during the missile exchanges — had reopened, allowing flights carrying hajj pilgrims from Saudi Arabia to land.
