Israel Bombs Lebanon as Cabinet Vows to Block Trump-Iran Deal
Get the Geopolitics newsletter
Daily geopolitics — wars, elections, sanctions, the diplomatic moves that move markets. Free.
- Itamar Ben-Gvir said the entire Israeli Cabinet opposes a US-Iran deal, declaring: "the government of Israel cannot allow this to happen. This is an agreement that can harm the state of Israel, and we will not allow this to happen."
- Israel launched 120+ airstrikes across southern Lebanon and the eastern Bekaa Valley on Tuesday, killing at least 31 people and wounding 40, including 14 killed in the southern town of Burj al-Shamali (2 children, 3 women among them)
- Bezalel Smotrich said Israel should destroy 10 buildings in Beirut for each Hezbollah drone, and "if there are no buildings left in Beirut" expand demolitions to Tyre, Sidon and the Bekaa Valley
- Netanyahu said Israel would "intensify" its military campaign, as Israeli forces ordered residents of dozens of Lebanese villages not to return to homes inside an expanded occupation zone 5–10 km inside Lebanon
- Iran received an unofficial US framework (per Iranian state TV, disputed by the US) offering restored pre-war commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz for one month in exchange for US troop withdrawal from Iran's vicinity and lifting the naval blockade
- Iran has not pulled out of negotiations despite its foreign ministry condemning recent US attacks as "bad faith" and "definitive violations" of the ceasefire, and still considers ending Israel's Lebanon assault essential to a durable peace
- Former Israeli Foreign Ministry diplomat Shaiel Ben-Ephraim said Israel was "moving to bury not only the supposed ceasefire in Lebanon but also talks on Iran" because its policy is "an endless and wide regional war"
Why it matters: Israel's most powerful cabinet ministers are publicly working to kill a Trump-Iran deal even as Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon killed 31 people in a single day — and over 3,200 since March, with 600+ dying even after the April truce. Iran has not yet walked away from the table, but the diplomatic window narrows each time Netanyahu's coalition escalates the war Iran says must end for any deal to hold.
Ask SkimNews
