Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh said the country was close to retaliating over a ceasefire breach on Thursday night, shortly after the two-week truce between the United States, Israel and Iran was announced, but stepped back following intervention by mediator Pakistan.
This comes after Islamabad said Lebanon Prime Minister Nawaf Salam had requested its support to secure an immediate halt to the attacks on Lebanon and its people, during a phone conversation with Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Meanwhile, Iran said it would limit traffic through the Strait of Hormuz to a maximum of 15 vessels per day under its ceasefire agreement with the United States, according to a report by Russia’s TASS news agency.
The report quoted an unnamed senior Iranian source on Thursday.
The fragile two-week ceasefire between Washington and Tehran is already under its most serious strain, less than 48 hours after it began. Tensions have escalated sharply after Iran moved to shut the Strait of Hormuz again, following a large-scale Israeli air campaign in Lebanon that killed over 100 people on Wednesday.
Earlier on Thursday, Iran’s deputy foreign minister said his country will allow ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz in accordance with “international norms and international law” once the United States ends its “aggression” in the Middle East and Israel stops attacking Lebanon.
Saeed Khatibzadeh told the BBC on Thursday that Iran had closed the strait after US ally Israel committed an “intentional grave violation of the ceasefire.”
He said, “You cannot have a cake and eat it at the same time. That was the message that Iran sent quite clearly, crystal-clearly, to Washington and to the Oval Office last night.”
Khatibzadeh added, “Definitely, we are going to provide security for safe passage, and it is going to happen after the United States actually withdraws this aggression. Does it mean that Iran is going to control the Strait of Hormuz in terms of letting ship by ship to go through that?"
“I think that we have shown to everybody that energy security is pivotal for Iran, is pivotal for this body of water in the Persian Gulf, and we are going to be abided by the international norms and international law.”
Meanwhile, Pakistan praised "restraint" in the Middle East war on Thursday, but condemned ongoing Israeli attacks on Lebanon as Islamabad prepared to host expected talks between Iran and the United States.
Both Washington and Tehran have confirmed their participation in peace talks brokered by Pakistan, although the schedule is still to be confirmed.
Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met Thursday with the country's army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, who jointly "appreciated the restraint demonstrated by all sides", according to the premier's office.
The pair "expressed satisfaction over the de-escalation achieved so far", the statement said.
Pakistan also beefed up security in the national capital as it prepares for high-stakes talks between the US and Iran this weekend with anxiety, amid a warning from top Iranian leadership that Israeli strikes on Lebanon would render negotiations meaningless.
The US and Iran agreed to a two-week conditional ceasefire on Wednesday, followed by a face-to-face meeting in Islamabad to settle the differences and convert the ongoing truce into a lasting peace.
(With inputs from The Associated Press)
