Middle East crisis live: Iran says Israeli attack on Beirut show lack of US willing after Trump says peace deal will be signed today - The Guardian

A precarious Middle East peace initiative teeters on the brink today after Israel launched retaliatory airstrikes on Hezbollah targets in Beirut southern suburbs, Dahieh, killing at least three people and injuring 15. The aggressive move by Israel military comes precisely as a landmark peace deal between the United States and Iran was slated for signing, drawing immediate condemnation from US President Donald Trump and a threat from Iran to derail negotiations. The strikes, which Israel justified as a response to Hezbollah drone and rocket attacks on northern Israeli communities, have ignited a dangerous new escalation in a conflict already months in the making since the US-Israeli offensive against Iran and its allies began in February 2026. Iran top negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, publicly castigated Washington, asserting the Beirut attack exposes the US's lack of commitment or capability to rein in its Israeli ally, echoing Tehran's consistent stance that Israel acts in coordination with the US. This latest flare-up threatens to unravel a proposed Memorandum of Understanding aimed at extending a fragile ceasefire, reopening the critical Strait of Hormuz, and addressing Iran nuclear ambitions. With Iranian media already signaling a delay in the peace deal signing despite Trump's push for an immediate agreement, Qatari negotiators are reportedly in Tehran in a last-ditch effort to salvage the diplomatic process. However, the IDF Chief of Staff has put Israel on high alert for an 'imminent' Iranian ballistic missile response, indicating that the region remains perilously close to a full-blown conflagration. The credibility of US mediation and the prospects for a lasting de-escalation hang by a thread.