'Let's not blow it!' Trump says after Israel strikes Beirut | BBC News

Hello, I'm Rajini Vaidyanathan and this is the Iran War Today.It's our daily briefing where we bring you up to date with all you need to know on day 107 of the U .S.-Israel war with Iran.We'll bring you the latest from our correspondents who are following the latest developments from the U .S.

and from Israel.But let's start with some of today's key developments.President Trump says Israeli strikes on a suburb of Beirut should not have happened because they are, in his words, so close to a peace deal with Iran.Iranian officials condemn Israel's attacks on Beirut, saying they jeopardise potential peace.Israel says it was targeting a Hezbollah command centre in the Lebanese capital.At least three people were killed and 15 were injured.

On Saturday, President Trump said the US -Iran peace deal was due to be signed on Sunday, but that's now possibly in doubt after Israel struck southern Beirut.President Trump says Israeli strikes on a suburb of the Lebanese capital earlier should not have happened.Writing on Truth Social, he said on a day when America was so close to a peace deal with Iran, it was important not to blow it.Well, Iran's chief negotiator with the US, Mohammad Ghalibaf, said the fresh Israeli attacks Beirut showed that America was not fulfilling its commitments and that there was no point in continuing discussions.Well, Iran has long insisted that any agreement with the United States must also cover Lebanon.So we'll be looking at how that's playing out in more detail shortly.

But mediators from Qatar have been in Tehran, and Iranian media says the visitors from the mediating state will review diplomatic moves.It's unclear still whether any deal will move forward.Well, joining me now is our North America correspondent, Peter Brown.BBC Persians Shada Husmandi who is monitoring Iran from Washington and our correspondent Sebastian Usher who is in Jerusalem in Israel.Well let's start with you Peter.We've seen that President Trump has taken to the airwaves again.

What is the latest that we're hearing from the administration?

Well, we are indeed halfway through Sunday on the American East Coast, and there hasn't been a signing of a deal yet, at least that we're aware of.And we did have this post from the president a few hours ago saying that they were, he believed, very close to a deal.Now, that is slightly different to what he was saying in a quite long post yesterday, saying particularly that there would be a deal signing on Sunday.on Sunday.He, in his latest post, condemned the Israeli attack on Beirut and called on all sides to stand down.And then he finishes this post by saying, let's not blow it, which suggests to me that at least it's going through his mind that the events of the last few hours in Lebanon have the potential to blow it, to use the president's expression, that it could jeopardise that agreement.

And it wouldn't be a final deal.It would be an agreement to take the process forward, opening the Strait of Hormuz and getting at least shipping moving again and extending the ceasefire and opening up a period for further negotiation.And I think that hasn't been blown.I think that is still very much on the table from the signs that we've been getting from the Pakistan mediators, from Iran and from the White House over the last few days but we're not there yet we're not over that hurdle that gets to what would be a remote signing.

Yeah and the president has just spoken to Fox News where you are as well Peter and Fox News are saying that the presidenttold the Israeli Prime Minister that they had another call after those strikes on Beirut, and he told Ms. Netanyahu not to conduct additional strikes against Hezbollah so it doesn't affect this deal from moving forward.There's been quite a lot of frustration, hasn't there, from the US administration towards Israel's actions recently.

Yes, and especially directed at the Israeli Prime Minister.And he and Donald Trump have a very complicated relationship.It is generally a close relationship.It's just a few days, in fact, since Donald Trump told the BBC, he said, if I tell him to do something, he does it.Well, the evidence, certainly from the last few hours, indeed the last few weeks, doesn't support that statement.And I think that is crucial to the next step.

step.What happens in Lebanon, I don't think it is the ultimate hurdle, but it is proving extremely difficult, I think, for President Trump to get beyond that, to get to the point where he is willing to sign a deal.I think it is still a distinct possibility.And as you say, Rajini, Fox News reporting that the president has told them that potentially in the next two or three hours that this deal could still be signed.He's also spoken to the U .S.

news outlet Axios.saying similar things and also saying that he has expressed his feelings towards the Israeli Prime Minister in some pretty, using some pretty choice language, expressing his anger about what's happened in Beirut.

OK, Peter, thank you very much.Let's go now to Shehida Husmandi from BBC Persian, who is monitoring developments in Iran for us.How has Iran reacted to these latest strikes in Lebanon?For the Iranian government, a ceasefire in Lebanon is key to all of this, isn't it?

Absolutely.And Iran's reaction has been negative.Iranian officials really see this as a major setback for the current talks that were supposed to bring the peace and end the wars.But also we can hear different voices from inside Iran as well.So one reaction was from Ebrahim Azizi, who is the head of Security Council in the Parliament, and he said these strikes will be responded strongly.And he said that this shows that the U .

S.is either unwilling or is incapable of restraining Israel.And a similar point was made by Mohammad Bagher Ghaliba, the head of Parliament, and also one of the major negotiators with Washington, D .C., and he mentioned that This actually ruins the trust that Tehran had in the U .S.

, and it shows that even negotiating with Washington cannot be continued.But then, at the same time, we see a figure like Ali Mutahari, who is not as, you know, he's not as opposing the deal with the U .S., and he says if Iran misses this opportunity, and if things go back to the days of tensions, then there might not be a better way for Iran to get out of this.I should say, really, this strike has also shown and made the division even more visible to the outside world.

And Shoida, I mean, President Trump saying that a deal could be reached in the coming hours.

Is that a similar sentiment from Tehran?Well, we've heard from the Iranian officials that this isgoing to happen.Even the IRGC announced that this is not going to happen on Sunday.It doesn't mean that they are saying no to the deal, or the deal is not going to happen.But, ultimately, what we heard from the president, President Persehkian, is that the ultimate decision is by the supreme leader, Moshavah Khamenei.

He is the person and also the national security who decide on the potentials of of signing this deal with the U .S.So even though that we are hearing opposition and the voices of opponents of the deals even stronger now because of these strikes, like today in Mashhad there were protests against a foreign office because of negotiating with the U .S., even though we are hearing that, ultimately, it's a decision to be made by the Supreme Leader and National Security Council.

OK, Shader, thank you very much.Let's move now to Jerusalem and join my colleague Sebastian Usher.Sebastian, Peter saying just then about the phone conversation between President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu.Despite all that pressure that the US is putting on Israel, they struck Beirut today.

They did.I mean, as far as the Israeli Prime Minister is concerned, this is following through on what his government, his military have said, that if rockets, missiles, drones from Hezbollah come over the border into northern Israel, into the communities there, and they say that three projectiles did so early today, then they will strike, essentially, the southern suburbs of Beirut, an escalation on top of what they see as an escalation from Hezbollah.There is an issue to some extent with those missiles that are coming or said to be coming.over the border, in that Hezbollah is certainly firing missiles, and drones in particular, at Israeli forces right close to the border, where they're fighting.And there have been a number of what are called false identifications, when sirens have gone off in northern Israel, in the prospect of a rocket coming across, and it's actually been inside southern Lebanon.So this is quite tenuous.

This is something that Mr Trump made a point of in his social media post, saying that this was not that big a deal, what happened with the drones, the rockets, whatever came into northern Israel earlier today, and that Mr Netanyahu should not therefore have responded by carrying out a strike on the southern suburbs of Beirut, which was very likely to cause a reaction as we had last week from Iran, which could reignite the conflict between Israel and Iran.And that's what people are expecting here potentially in the coming hours.The Israeli military has told people to be on the alert, has said that they've made preparations, both defensive and offensive, for anything that might happen.

OK, Sebastian, do stay with us.We'll be back with you in a short moment.But thank you to Peter and Shaida for the moment.Well, we've already touched on how the conflict in Lebanon is key to all of this, but let's look at that in a bit more detail and see what's been happening in the last couple of weeks.On the 1st of June, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered attacks on the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital, Beirut.He said it was in response to rocket and drone attacks by Iran -backed Hezbollah on Israeli civilians.

Tehran responded by threatening to suspend ongoing talks with the US.On the very same day, President Trump went on Truth Social to announce that there would be no troopsgoing to Beirut after a call with the Israeli Prime Minister.The US informed Qatar, which had been working to broker de -escalation, that it had instructed the Israelis to stand down.We then later found out that Mr Trump had called Prime Minister Netanyahu crazy in a phone conversation.Well, on the 3rd of June, Israel and Lebanon agreed to renew their fragile ceasefire, but Hezbollah rejected the terms.

Then, on the 7th of June, Israel hit southern Beirut again, which they said was in response to Hezbollah's firing at Israeli territory.Iran followed through on its threat to resume firing at Israel if Beirut was hit.And in turn, Israel responded with heavy strikes against Iran.They later agreed to pause strikes, but warned of retaliation if the ceasefire was breached.Moving to the 8th of June and President Trump's asked by the BBC how he persuaded Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stop attacking Iran.Mr. Trump said that he told him we have to use sense.

While we are very close to signing a powerful deal he went on to say a very good deal adding if I tell him Netanyahu to do something he does it.Well that leads us on to today and despite the president's previous warnings Israel has struck the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital Beirut.He says today it was targeting a Hezbollah command center and was responding to Hezbollah firing into Israeli territory.President Trump has said the Israeli strike shouldn't have happened.At least three people have been killed and 15 others injured.Well, our Middle East correspondent Hugo Besheger has been to the scene in Beirut to take a look at the damage.

This is the site of the attack here in Beirut's southern suburbs, an area known as Dahir.This is the building that was hit, and the Israeli military has described this as being a command centre building.used by Hezbollah and described this as a precise attack and we're seeing a lot of activity here with a lot of work to remove the rubble from this area here in Beirut and what the Israeli authorities are saying is that this was in response following those attacks by Hezbollah against Israel.We've seen that in the last few days.been the US and Iran and there has been the speculation that this deal could also include the end of the war here in Lebanon where Israel has been fighting Hezbollah and we've seen that Israeli officials have been against any kind of inclusion of Lebanon in this deal.They say that the war here against Hezbollah must continue but obviously there is the concern in Israel that if there is a deal involving Lebanon that the military here could be forced to stop its military activities against Hezbollah.

Let's return to our correspondent Sebastian Usher who is in Jerusalem for us.Sebastian, we have been in this situation before.How likely is it that there can actually be a long -term ceasefire in Lebanon?

I think we are at a moment, and we have been here before, but I think particularly now where a decision really has to be made,the Iranian side, definitely, also by the US side, of whether they are going to allow flare -ups.We had flare -ups between the US and Iran, which nearly toppled the deal just a few days ago.And we had almost just over a week ago now, we had a similar flare -up involving Israel's offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon.Now we have a potential again on Iran striking in response to that, which would almost certainly, 100 % certainly, lead to an Israeli strike and potential escalation of that.So this is a moment to decide, is this a process that all sides are happy just to continue like this?

It's not quite a war, but it's certainly not peace.There will be moments when it looks like a deal is about to be done, but then those moments will be snatched away by events on the ground.Is this something It's clear that President Trump doesn't want to continue like this, but he hasn't been able so far to exert the influence necessary to ensure that the Israeli government, the Israeli Prime Minister, doesn't carry out attacks which might put this at risk.Iran has to make the decision.Is it putting its defence, its protection of Hezbollah?Because that's what it is.

It may say that it's protecting Lebanon, but it's essentially about protecting Hezbollah.The Lebanese Prime Minister, the Lebanese President have said they don't want their country used as a bargaining chip.They don't want Iran to be doing this.So I don't think they can say in all honesty that this is about Lebanon, although it may be about part of Lebanon, but it's mainly about Hezbollah.The Iranian leadership has to decide, is the deal that appears to be on the table now one that they really should take, the best that they're going to get, and that they can move forward on that, and that they will actually, quite possibly have real benefits from both this deal now and the one that they could be negotiating after that.If they carry out strikes tonight, they may feel that they have to do that, but they will do it in the knowledge that this could easily derail the process that seems so close to fruition now after all the false starts.

President Trump, of course, being President Trump is talking it up to the very last moment, still saying in his latest comments it could be in the next two or three hours that this deal would be signed.I think that is too optimistic, but you never know in this situation.But really, it is a moment of clarity on all sides.What do they want?

OK, Sebastian Usher, thank you very much for that update.Well, whether you're joining us on YouTube, TikTok, BBC Sounds, on radio or on TV, thanks very much for your time.We'll of course be back at the same time tomorrow with the Iran War Today.Thanks for watching.