The fragile two-week truce between Iran and the United States was hanging in the balance on Wednesday, with Tehran threatening to resume hostilities as Israel launched a major bombardment of Lebanon.

Washington and Tehran both claimed victory after agreeing to a two-week ceasefire and negotiations aimed at ending a war that has killed thousands across the Middle East and sparked global economic upheaval.

But the deal's fractures have emerged as Israel carried out its heaviest strikes on Lebanon since Iran-backed group Hezbollah joined the war in early March, killing at least 254 people and wounding hundreds on Wednesday, authorities said.

Israel said its battle against Hezbollah in Lebanon is not part of the US-Iran truce agreed late on Tuesday, but Iran's parliament speaker appeared to threaten the ceasefire over what he called "repeated violations" of Iran's framework for talks.

"The very 'workable basis on which to negotiate' has been openly and clearly violated, even before the negotiations began. In such a situation, a bilateral ceasefire or negotiations is unreasonable," Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf posted on X.

Adding to the fragility of the truce agreed hours before a deadline set by US President Donald Trump, a senior US official said Iran's 10-point plan was not the same set of conditions agreed by the White House to pause the war.

In Lebanon, where the UN rights chief Volker Turk called the scale of killing "horrific," strikes across the capital Beirut, without warning, triggered scenes of horror and panic.

"People started running left and right, and smoke was billowing," said Ali Younes, who was waiting for his wife near Corniche al-Mazraa, one of the areas targeted.

More than 1,500 people have been killed in Lebanon in the last six weeks, including 130 children, and more than a million people have been displaced, local officials said.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards warned they would "fulfil our duty and deliver a response" if Israel did not cease its strikes there, while Hezbollah said it had a "right" to respond despite appearing to have halted its attacks after the truce.

For Israel's part, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country remains prepared to confront Iran if necessary as it still had "objectives to complete," with the military saying it continued to pursue the goal of "disarming" Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, whose country mediated the ceasefire, said on Wednesday that violations between the United States and Iran "have been reported" and pressed countries to respect the truce.

Further underscoring the precarious nature of the truce, Iranian state media announced fresh "missile and drone attacks" on Wednesday on US-allied Gulf states the UAE and Kuwait in retaliation for air strikes against its oil facilities. (Agencies)



Edited by Azam Khan