Iran and US trade strikes, Israel pushes deeper into Lebanon

Iran and the United States said they had both carried out strikes on military targets, and each accused the other of acting aggressively as diplomatic efforts to end three months of war drag on.

The US military said it had at the weekend struck Iranian air defenses, a ground control station and two drones that were threatening ships after "aggressive Iranian actions", including shooting down a US drone over international waters.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Monday it had targeted an air base used by the US in response to an attack on southern Iran.

It did not identify the base, but Kuwait activated air defenses on Monday and denounced Iranian missile and drone attacks, which it said were undermining efforts to reduce tensions in the region.

Israel pushes deeper into Lebanon 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered attacks on the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut on Monday, fueling tensions between Tehran and Washington. 

Iran's foreign ministry says that Israeli attacks in Lebanon were among factors causing a delay to the diplomatic process to end the wider war, reiterating that a Lebanon ceasefire was an integral part of any deal.

Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered the Israeli military to attack "terrorist targets" in the southern suburbs of Beirut, known as Dahiyeh, following Hezbollah's "repeated violations" of a ceasefire and "attacks against our cities and citizens", a statement from Netanyahu's office said.

Having pounded Dahiyeh in the early weeks of the war, Israel has carried out only two strikes on the area since US President Donald Trump announced a Lebanon ceasefire on April 16, even as hostilities have raged in southern Lebanon.

Israel has carved out a self-declared security zone in southern Lebanon where it has been razing villages, saying it aims to shield northern Israel from Hezbollah militants embedded in civilian areas.

Netanyahu on Sunday ordered the Israeli military to expand "its ground maneuver in Lebanon", aiming to "deepen and expand our grip on the places that were under Hezbollah's control".

Accusing Israel of ceasefire violations and declaring the right to resist Israeli occupation, Hezbollah said it carried out 21 operations on Sunday, including firing a rocket salvo at what it described as Israeli military infrastructure in the Israeli city of Nahariya.

Lebanese authorities say more than 3,370 people have been killed in the country as a result of Israeli attacks since March 2, when Hezbollah opened fire at Israel in support of Iran as it came under US-Israeli attack. Israel says 24 of its soldiers ​and four civilians have been killed over the same period.

Citing the escalating violence in Lebanon, France called on Monday for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council.

Iran says diplomacy delayed by US contrariness, Israeli attacks on Lebanon 

Iran on Monday blamed the slow pace of efforts to end the US-Iran conflict on contradictory positions from Washington and continued Israeli attacks in the region, notably Lebanon.

"Negotiations have started amid severe suspicion and mistrust, and the exchange of messages is taking place in this atmosphere," foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said, adding that the two countries had not yet reached a final conclusion.

"The other party is constantly changing its views and putting forward new or contradictory demands (...) it is natural that this situation will prolong negotiations," he said.

Baghaei said Tehran viewed Israeli actions in the region, including in Lebanon, as inseparable from those of the US, reasserting that any agreement to end the regional conflict would have to include implementation of the Lebanon ceasefire.

Baghaei added there had not yet been any negotiations over the details of the nuclear file, and said Tehran is pursuing its core demand for the release of its frozen funds.

He accused the US of violating the ceasefire through attacks on Iran's southern provinces, saying such conduct deepened mistrust and entitled Iran to take reciprocal defensive measures under the principle of self-defense.

"Learn from the past and do not let the US and Israel use your capabilities against Iran," Baghaei warned regional countries.