US President Donald Trump insisted on Sunday that a deal to end the Middle East war was just "hours" away, angrily blaming Israel for delaying its signing with an airstrike on Beirut that drew threats of retaliation from Iran.Trump has pledged that the agreement will be signed Sunday -- his 80th birthday -- while Tehran has declined to offer a clear timeline, though both sides have signalled that diplomatic channels remained open.Tehran has long demanded that any agreement to halt the war must include the parallel conflict in Lebanon, where Israel has been pursuing a campaign against Iran-backed Hezbollah.But after days of momentum building towards a deal, Israel's strike on Sunday in Beirut's southern suburbs -- a Hezbollah stronghold -- prompted Iran's chief negotiator to question the point of continuing peace talks.The attack "showed that the United States either lacks the will to implement its commitments or lacks the ability to do so", Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on X."If you do not have the will or the ability to fulfil your commitments, then there is no point in talking about continuing down this path," he added.
Trump -- who over weeks of negotiations has repeatedly declared an accord with Iran was all but concluded -- told the US news outlet Axios that the strike "delayed the signing"."It was supposed to be now. Now it is scheduled for a few hours from now," Trump said in a phone call, while fuming at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu."Why did Bibi have to do a fucking attack?" he told Axios. "I was so pissed off. I let him know. He has no fucking judgement."-Iran response 'imminent' -In an earlier social media post, Trump decried the strike, saying the Iran deal would "bring peace to the region, including to Lebanon, and all sides should stand down".The Iranian Fars news agency quoted "a source close to Iran's negotiating team" as saying just before the Israeli strike that even if Tehran's position was incorporated into the deal, "no agreement will be signed within the timeframe announced by Trump".The last time Israel hit the Beirut suburbs, it sparked one of the strongest jolts yet to a ceasefire that has largely held since April, with Iran firing off a retaliatory missile barrage and Israel responding with strikes.
