Iran Warns of No Breakthrough in U.S. Talks as Hezbollah Rejects Lebanon Ceasefire
The diplomatic landscape in the Middle East remains fraught after Iran’s top diplomat declared on Wednesday that no meaningful progress had been made in talks with the United States, even as backchannel communications persist. The admission came hours after Hezbollah formally rejected a renewed ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon, casting doubt on hopes for de-escalation along the northern border.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Lebanon’s Al Mayadeen television that while lines of communication with Washington remain open, the negotiation process has yielded no tangible results. He warned that any Israeli strike on Beirut—part of its ongoing campaign against Hezbollah—would trigger a full-scale resumption of hostilities between Iran and the U.S.-led coalition. “Our armed forces are ready to strike Israel if it attacks Beirut,” Araghchi said, according to Iran’s Tasnim news agency.
The remarks come amid a broader pattern of tit-for-tat military actions that have gripped the region since February. The United States and Israel launched airstrikes against Iran three months ago, prompting Iranian retaliatory attacks on U.S. bases and Gulf allies. On Wednesday, Iran fired drones and ballistic missiles at Kuwait International Airport, killing one person and wounding dozens—an attack the Pentagon has called “deliberate and unjustified.”
Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group, on Thursday rejected the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire deal brokered in Washington, which would have created “pilot” security zones inside southern Lebanon from which Hezbollah operatives would be banned. Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassam called the agreement “an illusion” and “a roadmap for the destruction of part of the Lebanese people.” In a televised statement, he declared: “We will fight the invaders until we expel them and stop their aggression.”
The rejection underscores the fragility of the U.S.-mediated talks, which excluded Hezbollah from the negotiating table. Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said Thursday that the army would begin deploying in the pilot zones as a first phase, but added that the move “does not prejudice our right to a full Israeli withdrawal.” President Joseph Aoun said he was awaiting Hezbollah’s formal response, suggesting the ceasefire could take effect within 24 hours if the group acquiesces.
On Capitol Hill, the House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a war powers resolution that would force President Donald Trump to end U.S. military involvement in Iran without congressional authorization—the first time the lower chamber has defied the White House on the conflict. The measure passed 215–208 with the support of four Republicans. House GOP leaders had initially pulled the vote, fearing they lacked the numbers to block it. The Senate advanced a similar measure in May, though it is unclear when it will vote on the House version.
President Trump, speaking from the Oval Office on Thursday, dismissed the resolution as “unpatriotic” and insisted that negotiations with Iran were nearing completion. He also reiterated his claim that the U.S. has “essentially wiped out” Iran’s military, though he acknowledged Tehran retains a limited number of missiles. Asked whether the ceasefire with Iran remained in effect after the Kuwait airport attack, Trump said: “There’s a reason for everything. We’ve been hitting them pretty hard.”
The conflict’s toll continues to mount. A Serbian UNIFIL peacekeeper was killed by mortar fire in southern Lebanon early Thursday, sparking condemnations from Lebanon, Qatar, and the United Nations. The International Atomic Energy Agency warned in a confidential report that a lack of access to Iranian nuclear sites poses a “proliferation concern.” Meanwhile, Iran’s national soccer team remains unable to obtain U.S. visas ahead of the World Cup, with officials blaming the impasse on players linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
In a sign of the widening diplomatic fallout, Pakistan on Thursday denied reports that it had shared intelligence about Iran with the United States. The denial came as Iran’s foreign minister confirmed that messages between Tehran and Washington are still being exchanged, albeit not through formal channels. “If rationality prevails, war will not resume,” Araghchi said. “We are prepared to continue the war if necessary… but we are not seeking war.”
The standoff leaves the region at a precarious crossroads. Hezbollah’s rejection of the truce, combined with Iran’s hardened stance, suggests that a wider conflagration remains a real possibility—even as exhausted diplomats continue to search for an off-ramp.