U.S. President Donald Trump (file photo) said on social media: “Iran must immediately stop their highly paid PROXIES in Lebanon from causing trouble...If they don’t, we’ll hit Iran very hard again, just like we did last week, only harder!!!”
| Photo Credit:
REUTERS/KEN CEDENO
Negotiators expected to work through the night after high-level US-Iran talks on their interim deal to end the war had a tense start Sunday in Switzerland, when Tehran took offence at US President Donald Trump's threat to attack and his warning that Iran's president should watch what he says.The comments from afar – on social media and to news outlets – complicated efforts by Vice President J D Vance and mediators Pakistan and Qatar to keep Iran engaged in discussions meant to address thorny issues like Tehran's nuclear programme, the Strait of Hormuz and the unfreezing of billions of dollars in Iranian assets.Before anything, however, Iran wants to discuss Lebanon, where Israel's military has been fighting the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group, since the deal halts conflict on all fronts.“Iran must immediately stop their highly paid PROXIES in Lebanon from causing trouble,” Trump said on social media. “If they don't, we'll hit Iran very hard again, just like we did last week, only harder!!!” “They would do better to be careful about their statements," Iran's lead negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, said on X after Trump's comments.
