Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warned Monday that new fronts could be opened across the region and vowed to maintain restrictions in the Strait of Hormuz, escalating tensions after Israel intensified its military attacks in Lebanon, according to Iranian state media.
“Iran considers crossing the red lines in Lebanon and Gaza to mean direct war,” state TV quoted the Guards’ intelligence organisation as saying, adding: “in return, it is determined to carry out defensive operations by taking meaningful actions and opening new fronts, in addition to preserving the Strait of Hormuz equation.”
Iranian state TV said a cease-fire agreed between Iran and the U.S. was very likely to end if Israeli attacks persisted in Lebanon, where war has raged since Hezbollah entered the regional conflict on Tehran’s side on March 2.
People began fleeing Beirut’s southern suburbs, known as Dahiyeh, in response to news of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s order to attack the southern suburbs of Beirut – the latest wave of displacement in a conflict that has uprooted more than 1 million people in Lebanon.
Having pounded Beirut’s southern suburbs in the early weeks of the war, Israel has carried out only two strikes on the area since U.S. President Donald Trump announced a Lebanon cease-fire on April 16, even as hostilities have raged in southern Lebanon.
Meanwhile, Trump said Monday that he had not heard from Iran that they are suspending talks with the U.S., but he believes there has been too much talking and some silence would be good.
“I think we’ve been talking too much if you want to know the truth. I think going silent would be very good, and that could be that could be for a long time,” Trump said in an interview with NBC News.
