Israeli attacks on Lebanon 'grave violation' of US-Iran ceasefire, says Iranian minister — BBC News

[0:00] Iran's deputy foreign minister has hit out at Israel in the United States for what he is calling [0:05] a grave violation of the ceasefire deal. Saeed Hatib Zadeh told the BBC that Israel's continued [0:12] attacks in Lebanon are a massacre and that a clear message had been sent to Washington that [0:17] they were not compliant with the agreement. Lebanon's health ministry says now at least [0:23] 203 people were killed on Wednesday and more than a thousand wounded in the heaviest wave of attacks [0:29] since hostilities against the Iran-backed group Hezbollah resumed last month. And meanwhile the [0:36] U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance he is repeating Washington's stance that Lebanon was never [0:41] included in the ceasefire. And in the last few hours President Trump has been posting and he said [0:46] all U.S. ships aircraft and military personnel will remain in place in and around Iran until real [0:53] agreement is reached and is fully complied with. He also added that the Straits of Hormuz should be [0:59] open and safe but that it is currently in doubt with Iran giving conflicting signals about whether [1:05] ships can resume passing through. So back to that interview with Iran's deputy foreign minister [1:10] speaking to the BBC saying his country will provide security for safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz [1:16] but only after the U.S. actually ends its aggression. He's been speaking to my colleague Nick Robinson [1:22] on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme. [1:24] It was a grave violation, intentional grave violation of the ceasefire. You cannot have a cake and eat it at [1:32] the same time. That was the message that Iran sent quite clearly, crystal clearly to Washington and to [1:38] the Oval Office last night. And our foreign minister also said that you cannot ask for a ceasefire and then [1:46] accept terms and conditions, accept, you know, the areas that, you know, ceasefire is applied to and name Lebanon, [1:53] exactly Lebanon in that, and then your ally just start a massacre. Actually, it was a sort of genocide, [2:01] you know, by the regime of Israel in Lebanon, just immediately after the ceasefire was accepted. [2:06] It is a, it is a type of, you know, practice that Israeli regime has always done, accepting ceasefire, [2:13] then surprise attack, massacring, and, and that was a very, you know, a bold message that we sent [2:19] last night to Washington. Well, the message said, just to spell it out if you could, the message said [2:24] the United States must choose. What must they choose? Between war and ceasefire. You know, they cannot [2:35] have it both at the same time. They are exclusively, mutually exclusive, you know, it is quite clear. [2:40] And, and, and if, if President Trump, as he tweeted, is interested in peace for the whole Middle East, [2:46] and since Iran is committed to that, we ask everybody in the Middle East to, to, to, to be [2:53] abided by this agreement that we, and this ceasefire that we reach to with Americans, and we expect the [2:58] Americans do the same with its ally, the Israeli regime. But, but, but what happened yesterday was grave [3:05] violation, and everybody was watched. I'm sure that you are aware that foreign minister of Belgium was [3:10] in Beirut, few hundred meters from this massacre, and he just tweeted that it was a surprise attack, [3:17] and we were not, you know, informed, we were not, you know, you know, actually detailed about that [3:23] before the attack, and it was a catastrophe. It could actually end in more catastrophe, and this is the [3:28] nature of this rogue behavior that we are seeing from Israel in the whole Middle East. [3:33] Will you tell Iran's allies Hezbollah, who get their weapons, training, and support from Iran, [3:40] to stop firing rockets into Israel? [3:42] I think that it is quite clear that Hezbollah is, is, is, is pure Lebanese, uh, free, freedom [3:51] movement. Are you denying that there are Iranian officers, members of the IRGC, advising, training, [3:58] arming Hezbollah, because the rest of the world believes that to be true? [4:01] Look, I'm, I'm not denying that, and I, I believe that, you know, the rest of the world has no [4:07] actually saying, you know, in BBC. Let me tell you something, I'm not denying anything. I'm not shy [4:12] to say that it provides support to this, you know, freedom movement and resistance movement. [4:17] I'm telling you that they are not, you know, I'm not, I'm not, this is not true that they are acting on, [4:22] on, on, on behalf of us. [4:23] So while this fragile ceasefire between the US and Iran is actually holding for now, [4:30] there's this massive disagreement over whether Lebanon is included in the agreement. [4:35] On Wednesday, we saw a barrage of IDF missiles fired across Lebanon. This was the heaviest bombardment [4:42] of the conflict so far. Israel saying it launched 100 airstrikes in just 10 minutes. [4:48] The Israeli military also saying it was aiming for Hezbollah targets. But many of these airstrikes [4:54] hit densely populated residential areas where there is a high risk of civilian casualties. [5:00] And you can see live pictures coming to us now from Beirut, absolutely devastating. [5:06] Some of the scenes in Beirut today, people continuing to dig through the rubble as well. [5:12] The Lebanese government announcing it would be a public holiday today that they needed a day to [5:18] mourn all of those who have been killed. And there are new figures coming to us actually from the [5:23] government just saying over 200 people were killed and 1,000 injured in those strikes yesterday. [5:31] Overnight, Hezbollah says it fired rockets at northern Israel, it says in response to ceasefire violations. [5:37] They've also threatened to continue attacks until Israeli-American aggression, as they call it, [5:42] against Lebanon has stopped. Let's bring you more now with our Middle East correspondent, [5:46] Lena Sinjab. She's in Beirut. [5:49] It's fair to say that this is a country in trauma. There's a collective shock that the Lebanese have [5:55] lived, even if they were not directly affected by the strikes, even if they survived these strikes. [6:02] Many people are looking for family members, friends who've been affected by this. You know, [6:08] the scale is huge. And you know, the images speak for themselves. The numbers are, you know, [6:16] the government says almost 200 people died. And that number is likely to rise because there are [6:22] hundreds more are in hospital. Hospitals are drained. Yesterday, there were calls for, [6:27] you know, aid, for doctors to volunteers, for nurses, for blood donation. It's a chaotic, [6:34] catastrophic scene that, you know, controlled the situation all over Lebanon yesterday. [6:39] But it did not stop at the strikes that happened within 10 minutes. It continued throughout the day [6:46] and after midnight as well. So Israel seems to be determined in its mission to attack Hezbollah. [6:54] They say these strikes are targeted against Hezbollah. Today, we've heard an announcement that [7:01] one member, you know, the secretary of the general secretary, Naeem Qasem, his assistant has been [7:07] assassinated in those in those strikes. But look at the scale, look at the number of civilians, [7:12] the children, the families that split apart, the pictures of buildings destroyed and families are [7:18] still hanging, not knowing what to do in half an apartment after half of their apartments, you know, [7:25] was destroyed. And the search is ongoing for possibly survivals under rubble. So it's really a terrible [7:34] situation for the country. And the Lebanese feel that they're left alone to face this war without [7:40] anyone able to stop it. That's the picture in Lebanon today, particularly in Beirut. I've been [7:50] speaking to Dr. Sultan Barakat. He joined me here in Doha. He's a professor at the College of Public Policy [7:55] at Hamid Ban Khalifa University. When Netanyahu chosen to attack Lebanon, he said publicly, [8:03] this is because of the war with Iran. And he went on attacking Hezbollah and they've had that bombing [8:09] and so on. So if that is already included in your war against Iran, then the ceasefire should also [8:15] include Lebanon. Now, that's if you think that maybe they misread whatever they agreed on in writing, [8:21] and maybe there's been miscommunication because of the nature of the mediation that took place. [8:26] It wasn't face to face. They were passing messages to each other and so on. Then still, [8:30] I think Israel should have stopped. But the problem, I think, in this region, [8:34] we have got to understand that Netanyahu is always very determined to get his way. [8:40] And he doesn't mind even if the U.S. pays the price for anything. We had the same episode, [8:45] if you remember, back on the 24th of June last year, when even after the U.S. had reached an agreement [8:51] with Iran, he decided to send out his bombers. And Trump then had to order him to send them back. [8:59] So there is a pattern there where Netanyahu is probably unlikely to listen to. [9:03] But arriving here in Doha yesterday, there was a sense of relief that the ceasefire had been [9:09] agreed. And now today, it seems the fragility of it has already been exposed. [9:12] Absolutely. I mean, we went to bed thinking, yes, things are heading in the right direction. [9:18] But this shows that there is very little good faith, really, in underpinning these talks. [9:25] And also, it doesn't help the statements that came out from Trump recently. You know, [9:29] to talk about the forces are just resting and reloading means that you did not really engage [9:37] in a ceasefire in the hope that you reach an end to this war. You are still using this, [9:43] again, for the third time, as a possibility to reload and launch even stronger attacks on Iran. [9:50] Now, of course, the Iranians may be using it the same way, because they have suffered a lot. [9:54] But I think, for the Americans, it must have been extremely difficult [9:58] to continue attacking Iran from the sea, the way they have been doing, for a continuous six weeks plus. [10:04] So, [10:11] I think it's a great question for you. [10:17] I would like to acknowledge the Maverick and the people of the Peace Free [10:17] and the people of the Peace Free and the One of the States in the great relationship. [10:22] And I would like to thank the President and the President and the President and the President [10:25] of the United States who are in the home of France.