Tehran said it fired “warning missiles” and drones at U.S. navy vessels in the Gulf of Oman on Friday, on the 59th day of the tenuous ceasefire to the Iran War.
U.S. Central Command called reports that Iranian forces attacked or fired at U.S. Navy warships “false,” adding that “doing so would be a gross violation of the ceasefire.”
Iran’s Quds Force and IRGC military apparatus issued separate statements Thursday tying the end of the Iran War to a full Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon. Iran has said that it would suspend indirect peace negotiations with the U.S. over the issue.
In an interview with CNN Friday, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun criticized Iran for conditioning an end to the Iran War on the cessation of Israel’s military occupation of Lebanon, saying that Iran was “using Lebanon as a bargaining chip in their negotiations with the United States.”
Lebanon’s Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri—leader of the Shia Amal movement and considered to be a close political ally of the militant group Hezbollah—on Friday rejected the U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal, Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reported. In a statement, Berri said that the deal “was booby-trapped by adding a complete ceasefire by Hezbollah, as well as the evacuation of all its elements from south of the Litani [River].” Berri said that he would agree with a complete ceasefire that included a withdrawal by Israel from Lebanese territory south of the Litani River, lands that Israel now occupies.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry reported that Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 3,558 people in Lebanon since March 2. Hezbollah attacks have killed at least 29 Israeli soldiers and three Israeli civilians over that same period. At least eight people were killed in Israeli attacks across southern Lebanon on Friday while three IDF soldiers were injured.
The price of Brent Crude oil was $93.30 on Friday morning while gas prices remained elevated, though below recent peaks. AAA reported the national average price of regular gas at $4.22.
Read the full article here
