Iran questions US commitment to peace moves as Israel strikes Lebanon

DUBAI/WASHINGTON, June 14: Iran's top negotiator questioned the United States' commitment to peace efforts after Israel carried out new attacks on Lebanon, dimming prospects of Tehran and Washington signing a framework agreement on Sunday on ending their war.

U.S. President Donald Trump and mediator Pakistan said on Saturday they expected the deal would be signed on Sunday, but Tehran cast doubt over the timing and hardline protesters in Iran voiced opposition.

Qatari negotiators flew to Tehran on Sunday morning as part of an effort to finalise the agreement, a source with knowledge of the situation told Reuters.

But Iranian negotiator Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said Israel's attack on Sunday on the southern suburbs of Beirut, which Israel said targeted Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants, showed the U.S. lacked the will or ability to fulfil its commitments.

"If you lack the will and ability to fulfil your commitments, speaking of continuing the path is not possible," he wrote on X, in an apparent reference to peace moves.

Mohammad Jafar Assadi, deputy commander of Iran's top joint military command, was quoted by state media as saying Israeli "crimes" in Beirut's southern suburbs would not go unanswered.

Iran's Fars news agency said on Sunday that Tehran has not made a final decision on signing the agreement under discussion with the United States to end the Middle East war.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran has not yet taken or announced its final decision concerning the memorandum of understanding proposed during negotiations," reported Fars, which is close to Iranian conservative circles, citing "a well-informed source close to the Iranian negotiating team".

The prospective agreement has faced opposition from hardline Iranian figures, who argue that it does not serve Iran's interests and would deprive Tehran of leverage over the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

The U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, launched on February 28, has stoked conflict between Israel and Iran-aligned Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Israel has said it is not party to the planned U.S.-Iran deal.

The Israeli military said on Sunday that Hezbollah had launched three projectiles towards communities in northern Israel in violation of a ceasefire in Lebanon.

Israel then fired at what it called Hezbollah targets in the Dahiyeh neighbourhood of Beirut in an attack that Lebanon's civil defence said killed three people.

Fox News quoted an unidentified diplomat involved in the talks as saying the Israeli strikes were complicating efforts to finalise the U.S.-Iran deal, and describing them as an attempt to sabotage those efforts.

Israel did not immediately respond to the assertion.

Israel has said it will retain freedom of operations in Lebanon, while Tehran has made a full ceasefire there an important component of its demands.    �"AGENCIES