Tehran suspended negotiations via mediators with US, Iranian media says

Iran has suspended all indirect talks with the US and announced it would pursue “complete closure of Strait of Hormuz”, accusing Israel of "continuing crimes" in Lebanon and stating that any ceasefire breach on one front breaks the truce in general. Iran has suspended all exchanges with the US via mediators on Monday, IRGC-affiliated news agency Tasnim reported, as the two sides remained apart on a deal to extend the ceasefire and end the war. The decision was made over what the news agency said were "continuing crimes" of Israel in Lebanon. "Considering that Lebanon was one of the preconditions for the ceasefire and that this ceasefire has now been violated on all fronts, including Lebanon, the Iranian negotiating team is suspending dialogues and exchange of texts through mediators," Tasnim reported. "Furthermore, Iran and the Axis of Resistance have resolved to pursue the complete closure of the Strait of Hormuz and activate other fronts, including the Bab al-Mandab Strait, as part of efforts to punish Israel and its supporters," Tasnim said in a separate post on X. Tehran has also demanded a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon, according to the news agency. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said earlier on Monday that a violation on one front of the ceasefire is a violation “on all fronts” and that the US-Iran ceasefire is “unequivocally a ceasefire on all fronts, including in Lebanon”. “Its violation on one front is a violation of the ceasefire on all fronts. The US and Israel are responsible for the consequences of any violation,” Araghchi wrote on X. The Lebanese Shia militant group Hezbollah is the most powerful component of what Iran calls the Axis of Resistance — a network of armed groups across the Middle East, including Hamas in Gaza, Houthis in Yemen and Shia militias in Iraq — that Tehran finances, arms and directs. The network was built over decades by the IRGC's Quds Force and functions as Iran's primary instrument of regional influence. Israel has been involved in a military intervention against Hezbollah since the early days of the Iran war, which began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran in late February that resulted in the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Hezbollah launched a series of missile attacks against Israel in response to his killing, triggering the ongoing conflict. A ceasefire in the war took effect on 8 April, with Pakistan serving as the primary mediator between Washington and Tehran. Talks have since covered the Strait of Hormuz, which has been largely closed to international shipping since the war began, Iran's enriched uranium stockpiles, sanctions relief and the terms of a lasting settlement. The two sides had been working toward a 60-day memorandum of understanding that would extend the ceasefire and open nuclear talks. Draft terms reported by US sources included unrestricted Hormuz shipping, Iran removing mines from the strait within 30 days, proportional lifting of the US naval blockade, and sanctions waivers allowing Iran to sell oil. The deal was awaiting final approval from both US President Donald Trump and Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei. Trump expressed optimism about the talks in a post on his Truth Social platform early Monday in Washington. “Iran really wants to make a deal, and it will be a good one for the USA and those that are with us,” he wrote. “Just sit back and relax, it will all work out well in the end — it always does." Trump also said last week that Iran had to make a deal happen or "we'll have to finish the job," after the White House dismissed an Iranian state-run television report of a draft agreement as a "complete fabrication". The US president has previously described the ceasefire as having a "one percent chance" of surviving. The ceasefire has been repeatedly tested by military incidents. US CENTCOM and the IRGC have shared conflicting accounts of multiple exchanges of fire in the Persian Gulf, including strikes near Bandar Abbas and competing claims over drones, tankers and an Iranian retaliatory strike on a US airbase. Iran's newly established Persian Gulf Strait Authority, which had been charging vessels $2 million per passage, was sanctioned by the US Treasury Department last week. This is a developing story and our journalists are working on further updates.