TEHRAN, Iran — Iran on Monday suspended high-stakes negotiations with the United States to protest Israel’s expanding military offensive in Lebanon, according to government-aligned media, complicating efforts to end the three-month war.
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“The Iranian negotiating team will suspend ‘talks and the exchange of texts through mediators,’” semiofficial news agency Tasnim reported.
President Donald Trump told NBC News he had not been informed of the decision ahead of time.
“It’s an appropriate thing to say, because they’re better negotiators than they are fighters,” he said in a brief call. “But they haven’t informed us of that.”
“It doesn’t mean we’re going to go and start dropping bombs all over there,” Trump added. “We’ll keep the blockade.”
Tasnim earlier reported that Tehran would consider a full closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial shipping route that carried a fifth of the world’s oil supply before the war, and choking other waterways including the Bab el-Mandeb Strait with the aim of punishing Israel and its supporters.
The Iranian government did not comment on the report, although earlier Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi posted on X that a “ceasefire between Iran and the U.S. is unequivocally a ceasefire on all fronts, including in Lebanon.”
“The U.S. and Israel are responsible for the consequences of any violation,” he added.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. On Friday, Trump said he would soon decide on a proposed deal to extend an ostensible ceasefire agreed to in early April.
Oil prices surged more than $6 per barrel on after Tasnim’s report.
The U.S. military and Iran exchanged strikes over the weekend and into Monday — the latest outburst of violence amd the truce. .
Despite the truce, Israel has been pressing ahead with an offensive in Lebanon, with its forces marking their deepest incursion into the country in 26 years over the weekend. On Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered attacks on the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut, signalling further escalation of a war.
On Feb. 28, the U.S. and Israel launched the war that has since killed thousands of people, mostly in Iran and Lebanon, as well as 13 U.S. service members. It has also sent global energy prices soaring after Iran responded by effectively shutting down the Strait of Hormuz.
Negotiations over a broader agreement had been ongoing amid disagreements on several issues, including the future of Iran’s nuclear and missile programs.
