Iran Threatens Retaliation for U.S. Attack After Trump Said Peace Was at Hand, Israel Hits Lebanon
Iran has said it will retaliate against the United States after U.S. attacks on Monday, which trespassed the ceasefire in the increasingly senseless war.
Despite President Trump’s claim early yesterday that negotiations to end the war against Iran were “proceeding nicely,” U.S. forces struck again and sank Iranian Revolutionary Guard boats attempting to plant mines in the Strait of Hormuz.
When Iran fired at U.S. aircraft, it invited an attack on missile launchers in Bandar Abbas.
The latest hostilities likely explain the president’s calling a Cabinet meeting for tomorrow at Camp David.
Peace Ahead?
On Saturday, Trump announced on Truth Social that he met in the Oval Office with the leaders of Qatar, Egypt, Bahrain, Jordan, Pakistan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates, and that a peace deal “has been largely negotiated.”
“Final aspects and details are being discussed” by the countries involved, Trump wrote.
Three Iranian officials told The New York Times that Iran “had agreed to a memorandum of understanding that would stop the fighting and reopen the Strait of Hormuz,” the newspaper reported.
As part of that memo, “Iran would allow ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway crucial to the world’s oil and gas trade, without tolls or fees — for now. In turn, they said, the United States would lift its naval blockade on Iran. The agreement would also halt fighting on all fronts, they added, including in Lebanon, where Israel has continued to clash with the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.”
Abraham Accords
At 8:23 a.m. on Memorial Day, Trump explained that he expects more Middle East nations to sign the Abraham Accords, which are, as Trump explained, the greatest agreement ever signed anywhere in the universe in the annals of agreements. Trump negotiated those accords during his first term. Bahrain and United Arab Emirates were the first to sign them.
Peace talks with Iran “are proceeding nicely,” Trump wrote, noting that anything inked by the two countries will be “a Great Deal or no Deal at all — Back to the Battlefront and shooting, but bigger and stronger than ever before — And nobody wants that!”
In fact, Israel and its Amen Corner in the United States want that, but in any event, Trump said the United States is assembling a “complex puzzle,” and that it should be mandatory that all of these Countries, at a minimum, simultaneously, sign onto the Abraham Accords,” Trump told the Middle East potentates on Saturday:
Those Countries discussed are Saudi Arabia, The United Arab Emirates (already a Member!), Qatar, Pakistan, Türkiye, Egypt, Jordan, and Bahrain (already a Member!). It may be possible that one or two have a reason for not doing so, and that will be accepted, but most should be ready, willing, and able to make this Settlement with Iran a far more Historic Event than it would, otherwise, be. The Abraham Accords have proven to be, for the Countries involved (The United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan, and Kazakhstan), a Financial, Economic, and Social BOOM, even during this time of Conflict and War, with the current Members never even suggesting leaving, or taking so much as even a pause.
Peace had never been achieved in the Middle East for “5,000 years,” Trump wrote, and so for the new signatories, “It will be a Document respected like no other that has ever been signed, anywhere in the World. Its level of Importance and Prestige will be unparalleled! It should start with the immediate signing by Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and everybody else should follow suit.”
Iran to Sign?
If those leaders sign, “they would be honored, as soon as our Document is signed, to have the Islamic Republic of Iran as part of the Abraham Accords,” Trump averred:
Wow, now that would be something special! This will be the most important Deal that any of these Great, but always in Conflict Countries, will ever sign. Nothing in the past, or in the future, will surpass it. Therefore, I am mandatorily requesting that all Countries immediately sign the Abraham Accords, and that, if Iran signs its Agreement with me, as President of the United States of America, it would be an Honor to have them also be part of this unparalleled World Coalition. The Middle East would be United, Powerful, and Economically Strong, like perhaps no other area, anywhere in the World! By copy of this TRUTH, I am asking my Representatives to begin, and successfully complete, the process of signing these Countries into the already Historic Abraham Accords.
Israel-First GOP Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina was tickled pink with Trump’s proposal, calling it “simply brilliant.”
And, he wrote on X, he expects “our Arab allies to embrace this, as well as our friends in Israel, focusing on this task as failure is not an option — which would be a correct analysis.”
Fighting Starts
But new fighting in the Gulf apparently upended that remarkable statement.
“Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps vowed to retaliate against violations of the cease-fire after a renewed bout of fighting in which the U.S. struck missile launchers in southern Iran,” The Wall Street Journal reported today:
In Monday’s exchange of fire, the U.S. sank two Revolutionary Guard ships it said were attempting to lay mines in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran responded by launching surface-to-air missiles at U.S. planes, prompting American attacks on missile launchers, a U.S. official said.
The U.S. Central Command called the missile strikes “self defense,” and that American forces were “using restraint” to maintain the ceasefire with Iran.
During the last several days, Israel-First voices fretted that peace might be ahead.
“If a deal is struck to end the Iranian conflict because it is believed that the Strait of Hormuz cannot be protected from Iranian terrorism and Iran still possesses the capability to destroy major Gulf oil infrastructure, then Iran will be perceived as being a dominate force requiring a diplomatic solution,” Graham.
As well, Graham wondered “why the war started to begin with,” for he does not believe “Iran cannot be denied the ability to terrorize the Strait and the region cannot protect itself against Iranian military capability.”
Lebanon Not Part of It?
On May 24, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seemingly praised Trump and the deal to reopen the strait. Yet he also made clear that Israel would continue bombing Lebanon.
“President Trump and I agreed that any final agreement with Iran must eliminate the nuclear danger. That means dismantling Iran’s nuclear enrichment sites and removing its enriched nuclear material from its territory,” Netanyahu wrote:
President Trump also reaffirmed Israel’s right to defend itself against threats on every front, including Lebanon.
Israel began bombing southern Lebanon again as Trump was announcing progress in talks. Today, L’Orient Today reported that Israel has intensified its attacks.
“The Israeli army confirmed Tuesday that it had expanded its ground operations in Lebanon beyond the ‘yellow line’ it established in southern Lebanon in attempts to establish a buffer zone,” the website reported:
It said in a statement that it was “conducting targeted operations beyond the forward defense line (…) in accordance with directives from the political leadership,” following earlier media reports.
Trump meets with his Cabinet tomorrow at Camp David. Though she has announced her resignation as director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard will attend, The Hill reported.
