Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Thursday that Israeli strikes on Lebanon are violations of the two-week ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran and warned that continued attacks would render negotiations meaningless, as Iranian and U.S. officials prepare for weekend talks in Islamabad.
The death toll from Wednesday's Israeli strikes on Lebanon rose to at least 254 people killed and 1,165 injured, according to the Lebanese General Directorate of Civil Defense. The agency called it the most casualties in a single day since Israel began striking Lebanon.
What the Right Is Saying
Conservative Republicans defended Israel's right to continue operations against Hezbollah, arguing that the Iran-U.S. ceasefire never precluded targeted strikes on Lebanese militant infrastructure. Senator Lindsey Graham and other foreign policy hawks have maintained that Iran cannot use a limited ceasefire to shield its proxy forces.
Vice President Vance suggested Wednesday that the administration never indicated the temporary truce applied to Israeli operations in Lebanon. 'I think this comes from a legitimate misunderstanding,' he told reporters in Budapest. 'The Iranians thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon and it just didn't. We never made that promise.'
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office stated on Tuesday that 'the two-weeks ceasefire does not include Lebanon,' contradicting Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's assertion that all parties, including those with respect to Lebanon, agreed to the pause in hostilities.
What the Left Is Saying
Progressive Democrats and foreign policy analysts said the Israeli strikes demonstrate that a ceasefire limited to Iranian territory cannot produce lasting peace. Senator Bernie Sanders has repeatedly called for comprehensive regional de-escalation, and supporters of his approach said the strikes undermine diplomatic efforts before they can begin.
Progressive advocacy groups emphasized that the civilian death toll in Lebanon raises urgent humanitarian concerns. Several Democratic lawmakers called for international mediation to ensure the ceasefire applies uniformly across the region, arguing that a partial truce is inherently unstable.
Human rights organizations including Amnesty International documented that more than 1,500 people had been killed and over one million displaced even before Wednesday's attack, which the Israeli military referred to as operation 'Eternal Darkness.'
What the Numbers Show
Wednesday's Israeli strikes hit 100 Hezbollah military targets across Lebanon in just one minute, according to Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an IDF spokesperson. The 254 deaths represent the highest single-day casualty count since Israel began its campaign in Lebanon.
The ceasefire agreement did include a provision allowing ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, a channel responsible for transporting roughly 20 percent of the world's oil. However, only six ships crossed through the strait in the last 24 hours, down significantly from the typical daily average of 60 vessels, according to hormuzstraitmonitor.com.
President Trump said on Tuesday that the ceasefire was contingent on Iran fully reopening the Strait of Hormuz. The sharp decline in shipping traffic suggests Iranian authorities have not lifted restrictions, likely due to the ongoing strikes in Lebanon.
The Bottom Line
The weekend talks in Islamabad between Iranian and U.S. officials — including Vice President Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff, and Jared Kushner — will test whether the two-week ceasefire can survive the disagreement over Lebanon. Pezeshkian's statement signals Iran views continued Israeli operations as a deal-breaker, while the U.S. maintains the Lebanon operations were never part of the agreement.
The humanitarian situation in Lebanon continues to deteriorate, with over 1,500 total deaths and more than one million displaced. International observers say the discrepancy between what Iran believes was agreed upon and what the U.S. says was promised creates fundamental uncertainty about the truce's scope.