AILSA CHANG, HOST:
We are three months into the war launched by the U.S. and Israel, and now Iran says it is suspending all talks with the U.S. That is, until Israel stops its, quote, "aggression" against Lebanon and Gaza. President Trump followed up hours later. He said that he has spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and secured a pledge to stop the fighting in Lebanon. Trump insists that talks with Iran will continue at a rapid pace. NPR's Hadeel Al-Shalchi joins us now with more. Hi, Hadeel.
HADEEL AL-SHALCHI, BYLINE: Hello.
CHANG: OK, so let's start with Lebanon. Tell us more about what's been happening there that's prompted this whole new development from Iran.
AL-SHALCHI: Right. So Israel ordered new evacuation orders of the southern suburbs of Beirut today ahead of possible airstrikes. Now, those are considered Hezbollah strongholds. And this comes a day after Israeli ground forces reached the deepest point in Lebanon in 26 years. Now, Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, also fired rockets into northern Israel. President Trump this afternoon said on his social media site that he had spoken to both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and, via mediators, to Hezbollah, and that both had agreed to stop attacking each other, but there's been no confirmation yet by either side.
CHANG: OK. Well, where had the talks gotten to before today's whiplash developments?
AL-SHALCHI: Well, President Trump had actually seemed like he was confident about talks with Iran. Just this morning, he posted on Truth Social also that, quote, "Iran really wants to make a deal, and it will be a good one for the USA." He went on to say, just sit back and relax. It will all work out well in the end. It always does. But then the semiofficial Iranian news agency Tasnim - that has ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps - said that Iran was going to hold off those talks. From the beginning, Iran has said Israel has to end its invasion of southern Lebanon, where it's occupied large swaths of land.
And the U.S. and Iran said last week they were actually close to a tentative 60-day ceasefire extension and framework to sort of start talks to the end of the war, but the agreement is still waiting on President Trump's approval. And then this morning, the two countries exchanged fire, with the U.S, striking Iranian radar sites. Now, Ailsa, it's worth remembering that these are preliminary talks aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
CHANG: Right.
AL-SHALCHI: And, of course, the more contentious issues like restarting nuclear negotiations, those would come later. And there was no immediate confirmation from any senior Iranian officials that the messages, mostly relayed via Pakistan, between the two parties were being suspended. And meanwhile, Iran said that the Strait of Hormuz would continue to be closed, putting even more pressure on Trump as these oil prices rise higher ahead of the midterm elections.
CHANG: OK, well, what about Gaza? Because the two sides declared a ceasefire back in October, which is, like, more than seven months ago. But there is still fighting there, right?
AL-SHALCHI: That's right. So Netanyahu said on Thursday that the Israeli military would be claiming 70% of Gaza. It already has occupied 60% so far. And even though a ceasefire was declared with Hamas last fall, Israel has been systematically bombing the strip. It says it's targeting Hamas militants who attacked Israel in October 2023, but these airstrikes have also claimed scores of civilian lives. Hamas says these strikes are a clear violation of the ceasefire, and it's one reason that it is refusing to disarm. And that move to lay down its weapons itself is a key condition to moving forward with Trump's plan to rebuild Gaza, which is still in ruins.
CHANG: That is NPR's Hadeel Al-Shalchi. Thank you so much, Hadeel.
AL-SHALCHI: You're very welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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