Iran hits Gulf, threatens truce as Israel escalates in Lebanon: What to know
Iranian attacks continued in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait hours after a ceasefire between Iran and the US was announced.
Countries in the region have largely welcomed US President Donald Trump’s two-week ceasefire with Iran, but heavy Iranian attacks across Gulf states continued for hours after the apparent breakthrough, threatening the fragile deal, as Israel launched its most intense strikes in Lebanon since the war began.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said his country would abide by the ceasefire as long as no attacks were launched against the Islamic Republic. He said in a post on the X platform on Tuesday at 7:10 p.m. EST that commercial vessels would also be allowed to transit through the Strait of Hormuz via coordination with Iran’s armed forces.
Later Wednesday, Iranian state media reported that traffic through the strait had been halted due to Israeli attacks on Hezbollah, though it's unclear what vessels had been allowed to traverse the waterway.
Crucially, after Trump said Wednesday that the ceasefire did not include Lebanon, Tehran threatened to pull out of the truce.
