Trump Says Iran Did Not Notify U.S. Before Suspending Talks as Lebanon Conflict Escalates – NBC
President Trump told NBC News he was not informed in advance of Iran’s decision to suspend high-stakes negotiations with the United States in protest of Israel’s expanding military offensive in Lebanon.
“It’s an appropriate thing to say, because they’re better negotiators than they are fighters,” Trump said in a brief phone call. “But they haven’t informed us of that.”
“It doesn’t mean we’re going to go and start dropping bombs all over there,” he added. “We’ll keep the blockade.”
Earlier, Iran’s Tasnim News Agency reported that Tehran was considering fully closing the Strait of Hormuz, which carried about a fifth of the world’s oil supply before the war, as well as disrupting other waterways, including the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, to punish Israel and its supporters.
The Iranian government did not comment on the report, though Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi wrote on X that a “ceasefire between Iran and the U.S. is unequivocally a ceasefire on all fronts, including in Lebanon.”
“The U.S. and Israel are responsible for the consequences of any violation,” he added.
Meanwhile, Israel continued its offensive in Lebanon, carrying out its deepest incursion into the country in 26 years over the weekend. On Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered strikes on Hezbollah-controlled southern Beirut suburbs, signaling further escalation.
