US president Donald Trump has warned Israel and Hizbullah to “stand down” after an Israeli air strike on southern Beirut threatened to complicate the US president’s plans to finalise a deal with Iran.
Trump said Israel’s strike on the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital on Sunday “should not have happened”, adding that while Israel has a right to defend itself, the attack it was responding to “was very small and meaningless”.
“We are very close to a Deal that will bring peace to the region, including Lebanon, and all sides should stand down,” he posted on his Truth Social platform. “This could be the beginning of a long and beautiful peace — Let’s not blow it!”
The US president also said there should be no more attacks by Israel “anywhere in Lebanon”. Despite his calls for restraint, Iran warned on Sunday evening that a response to the Israeli attack on Lebanon was " imminent."
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Trump had said on Saturday that he expected the US and Iran to sign a deal on Sunday that would extend the April 8 ceasefire, reopen the Strait of Hormuz and lay the framework for talks on the Islamic republic’s nuclear programme.
But Israel launched the strike on the southern suburbs of Beirut, a Hizbullah stronghold, on Sunday after accusing the Iranian-backed group of firing drones at northern Israel.
The Israeli-Hizbullah conflict has become a complicating factor for the diplomatic push for a US-Iran deal, with Tehran insisting it be part of the agreement. Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu has resisted those demands.
After the strike, Iran’s chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf wrote on X: “If you lack the will and ability to fulfil your commitments, speaking of continuing the path is not possible.”
The Iranians have cautioned that the deal could come in the coming days rather than Sunday.
When Israel struck Beirut last weekend, Iran responded by firing missiles at northern Israel for the first time since the April ceasefire took hold, threatening to derail the talks and forcing Trump to intervene and urge Netanyahu to de-escalate.
Israel has continued to strike southern Lebanon since the call, launching more than 300 attacks in the past week, according to the Israeli military. But Sunday’s attack was the first on Lebanon’s capital since Trump’s intervention.
The strike came as Qatari negotiators were in Tehran on Sunday, in co-ordination with the US, to help finalise the agreement, a person briefed on the matter said.
Pakistani prime minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Saturday that an “electronic signing” of a memorandum of understanding was expected within 24 hours.
Mike Waltz, the US ambassador to the UN, told ABC News on Sunday that Trump still had “every intent” to sign the deal with Iran that day, but said the Iranians were “incredibly difficult negotiators” and were “having a very hard time getting guidance from their supreme leader”.
The push follows a week of frantic diplomatic activity by regional mediators amid clashes between the US and Iran that threatened to plunge the adversaries back into full-blown war.
Reopening the Strait of Hormuz has been a priority for Trump after the war triggered the worst global energy crisis in decades and pushed up US fuel prices ahead of November’s midterm elections.
Under the terms of the deal, the Strait of Hormuz — which Iran has in effect closed since the US and Israel launched their war more than 100 days ago on February 28 — would be reopened, with Iranian forces clearing mines during the first 30 days.
Iran would not charge tolls on vessels transiting the chokepoint during the 60-day period, according to a person briefed on the deal. Meanwhile, the US would lift its naval blockade on Iranian ports.
Iran would also reaffirm that it would not procure or develop nuclear weapons. Tehran and Washington would agree to resolve during nuclear talks the disposal of Iran’s stockpile of more than 9,000kg of enriched uranium under a mechanism both agreed to, a person briefed on the matter said.
The minimum commitment would be for all uranium to be diluted on site under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Most of Iran’s uranium is at low levels, but 440kg is enriched to near weapons-grade levels. Tehran has always insisted its programme is for peaceful civilian purposes.
People briefed on the talks have said any sanctions relief for Iran, including the unfreezing of its assets held overseas, would be phased and dependent on the progress on nuclear talks that would begin once the memorandum of understanding had been signed.
But the US would grant Iran a waiver to allow it to sell oil for the duration of the 60-day ceasefire extension, one person briefed on the talks said.
A senior Trump administration official told reporters the agreement being discussed was “a great deal and a very strong deal”.
Trump has repeatedly said the US and Iran were nearing a deal, but the warring parties have not previously been as explicit about reaching the final stages of an agreement. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2026
