TEHRAN, Iran (AP) 鈥� A ceasefire deal to pause appeared to hang by a thread Wednesday after the Islamic Republic closed the again in response to Israeli attacks in Lebanon. The White House demanded that the channel be reopened and sought to keep peace talks on track.
The U.S. and Iran both claimed victory after , and world leaders expressed relief, even as more drones and missiles hit Iran and Gulf Arab countries. At the same time, Israel on the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon, hitting commercial and residential areas in . At least 182 people were killed Wednesday in the deadliest day of fighting there.
The fresh violence threatened to scuttle what U.S. Vice President JD Vance called a 鈥渇ragile鈥� deal.
Parliament speaker accuses US of breaking Iran’s conditions
The Iranian parliament speaker said planned talks were 鈥渦nreasonable鈥� because Washington broke three of Tehran鈥檚 10 conditions for an end to the fighting. In a social media post, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf objected to Israeli attacks on Hezbollah, an alleged drone incursion into Iranian airspace after the ceasefire took effect and U.S. refusal to accept any Iranian enrichment capabilities in a final agreement.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi insisted that an end to the war in Lebanon was part of the ceasefire deal, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump said the truce Lebanon. When the deal was announced, Pakistan’s prime minister, whose country served as a mediator, said in a social media post that it applied to 鈥渆verywhere including Lebanon and elsewhere.鈥�
Lebanon鈥檚 health ministry said Israeli strikes killed 182 people on Wednesday, the highest single-day death toll in the Israel-Hezbollah war.
鈥淭he world sees the massacres in Lebanon,鈥� Iran’s Araghchi said in a post on X. 鈥淭he ball is in the U.S. court, and the world is watching whether it will act on its commitments.鈥�
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the closing of the Strait of Hormuz, reported in Iranian state media, was 鈥渃ompletely unacceptable.鈥� She repeated Trump鈥檚 鈥渆xpectation and demand鈥� that the channel be reopened.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said American and Israeli forces had achieved a 鈥渃apital V military victory鈥� and that the Iranian military no longer posed a significant threat to U.S. forces or the region. The Iranian military said the country forced Israel and the U.S. to accept its “proposed conditions and surrender.鈥�
Much about the agreement was unclear as the sides of the terms.
Iran said the deal would allow it to formalize its passing through the strait, a . The White House said Trump is opposed to tolls for ship passage through the strait.
Only 11 vessels moved through the strait Wednesday, roughly the same as in prior days, according to Windward, a maritime intelligence firm. Iran was requiring shippers to pay tolls of up to $1 a barrel for outbound oil, it said. The largest supertankers carry up to 3 million barrels of crude.
The fate of Iran’s missile and nuclear programs 鈥� the elimination of which were major objectives for the U.S. and Israel in going to war 鈥� also remained unclear. Trump said the U.S. would work with Iran to remove buried enriched uranium, though Iran did not confirm that.
White House looks ahead to peace talks
Trump initially said Iran proposed a 鈥渨orkable鈥� plan that could help end the war that the U.S. and Israel launched on Feb. 28. But when a version in Farsi emerged indicating Iran would be allowed to continue enriching uranium 鈥� key to building a nuclear weapon 鈥� Trump called it fraudulent.
Leavitt said a plan that Iran presented Tuesday could 鈥渁lign with our own鈥� proposal for peace.
The White House said Vance would lead American negotiators at upcoming peace talks, which could begin in Pakistan as soon as Friday.
Iran鈥檚 demands for ending the war include a withdrawal of U.S. combat forces from the region, the lifting of sanctions and the release of its frozen assets.
Meanwhile, Israeli Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said Israel will continue to 鈥渦tilize every operational opportunity鈥� to strike Hezbollah. The Israeli military said it within 10 minutes Wednesday across Lebanon, the largest wave of strikes since March 1.
Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit accused Israel of 鈥減ersistently seeking to sabotage鈥� the ceasefire deal.
Hezbollah has not confirmed if it will abide by the ceasefire, though the group has said it was open to giving mediators a chance to secure an agreement.
Early on Thursday Hezbollah said it had fired rockets at northern Israel and would continue doing so 鈥渦ntil the Israeli-American aggression against our country and our people ceases.”
Iran and Oman could collect shipping fees in Strait of Hormuz
Iranian attacks and threats deterred many commercial ships from using the strait, through which 20% of all traded oil and natural gas passes in peacetime. That roiled the world economy and both at home and abroad to find a way out of the standoff.
The ceasefire may formalize a in the strait that Iran instituted 鈥� and give it a new source of revenue.
That would upend decades of precedent treating the strait as an international waterway that was free to transit. Such a shift would likely be unacceptable to the Gulf Arab states, which also need to rebuild after repeated Iranian attacks targeting their oil fields.
Iran鈥檚 nuclear and missile threats survive
U.S.-Israeli strikes have battered Iran and , but they have not eliminated the threats posed by Tehran’s nuclear program, its ballistic missiles or its support for regional proxies, like Hezbollah. The U.S. and Israel said addressing those threats was a key justification for going to war.
Trump said the U.S. would work with Iran to 鈥渄ig up and remove鈥� enriched uranium. There was no confirmation from Iran.
Hegseth told a Pentagon briefing Wednesday that the U.S. would do 鈥渟omething like鈥� last June’s joint strikes with Israel on Iranian nuclear sites if Iran refuses to surrender its enriched uranium voluntarily.
Netanyahu warned in a televised address that Israel was 鈥渞eady to return to fighting at any time. Our finger is on the trigger.鈥�
Tehran has insisted for years that its nuclear program was peaceful, although it has enriched uranium up to 60% purity, a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels.
Airstrikes reported despite ceasefire announcement
Shortly after the ceasefire announcement, Bahrain, Israel, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates all issued warnings about incoming missiles from Iran. That fire stopped for a time, then hostilities appeared to restart.
An oil refinery on Iran鈥檚 Lavan Island came under attack, according to Iranian state television. A short time later, the UAE’s air defenses fired at an incoming Iranian missile barrage.
More than 1,900 people had been killed in Iran as of late March, but the government has not updated the toll for days.
In Lebanon, more than 1,700 people , and 1 million people . Twelve Israeli soldiers have died.
In Gulf Arab states and the occupied West Bank, more than two dozen people have died, while 23 have been reported dead in Israel, and 13 U.S. have been killed.
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Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Magdy from Cairo and Metz from Ramallah, West Bank. Associated Press writers Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations, Natalie Melzer in Jerusalem, Abby Sewell and Sarah El Deeb in Beirut, Mike Catalini in Trenton, N.J., and Michelle L. Price, Aamer Madhani, Zeke Miller, Michael Biesecker and Josh Boak in Washington contributed to this report.
鈥斺赌�
This story corrects overall death toll in Lebanon on Wednesday to 182.
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