Summary According to Qalibaf, Hezbollah’s intelligence chief was killed along with members of his family in the latest Israeli attack on the Dahiyeh area of southern Beirut
TEHRAN (Web Desk) - Iranian Parliament Speaker and chief negotiator for talks with the United States, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, has said negotiations with Washington were suspended following an Israeli strike in southern Beirut that killed a senior Hezbollah commander.
According to Iranian media, Qalibaf said Hezbollah’s intelligence chief was killed along with members of his family in the latest Israeli attack on the Dahiyeh area of southern Beirut.
“After that, we stopped everything right there,” Qalibaf said.
He said Iran had made clear that it would respond to the attack that same night and warned that if Israel retaliated, Iran would target the entire region.
Qalibaf also described a dispute over a reported agreement concerning the Strait of Hormuz.
He said that after the blockade was lifted, US President Donald Trump posted on social media that the blockade was being lifted that night, while adding that Iran would open the Strait of Hormuz in return.
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“When I saw this, I stopped it and said that no such agreement had been reached,” Qalibaf said.
He added that he told mediators the post’s reference to the Strait of Hormuz had to be removed.
Otherwise, he warned, Iran would carry out an attack with the same intensity he had previously announced.
According to Qalibaf, 58 minutes later Trump removed the second part of the post and said the Strait of Hormuz would be opened on Saturday under the agreement.
Qalibaf described the negotiations with the United States as “a form of struggle,” rather than conventional diplomacy.
