Washington: President Donald Trump on Sunday said the United States would resume attacks on Iran unless Tehran restrains its Hezbollah allies in Lebanon.
"Iran must immediately stop their highly paid PROXIES in Lebanon from causing trouble," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "If they don't, we'll hit Iran very hard again, just like we did last week, only harder!!!"
Trump issued the fresh warning as the US and Iran resumed peace talks in Switzerland. According to Reuters, a quadrilateral meeting involving the US, Pakistan, Qatar and Iran, along with peace talks led by US Vice President JD Vance and Iranian chief negotiator Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, took place at the Swiss mountain resort of Buergenstock.
The talks were the first to be held under the terms of a memorandum of understanding agreed upon a week ago, which calls for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and a halt to all hostilities, including in Lebanon, which US ally Israel invaded in March.
However, with little sign of an end to the fighting there, Iran said on Saturday that it had once again shut the strait, whose closure for nearly four months caused the biggest disruption to global energy supplies in history.
Amid the peace talks, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said Israeli soldiers were free to act without restriction to eliminate threats in Lebanon.
Iranian officials have said Lebanon is the focal point of Sunday's peace talks with the United States in Switzerland after Washington and Tehran signed a framework agreement to halt the war between them that began at the end of February, escalating tensions across the region.
The Israeli military invaded parts of southern Lebanon. Hezbollah maintains that it has the right to fight Israeli forces in Lebanon but would halt attacks on northern Israel.