Tehran. The United States demanded Wednesday that Iran reopen the Strait of Hormuz after the Islamic Republic closed the waterway in response to Israeli attacks against the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon. Iran’s move cast doubt over whether an already precarious ceasefire to end more than a month of war would hold.

The United States and Iran both claimed victory after reaching the agreement, and world leaders expressed relief, even as more drones and missiles hit Iran and Gulf Arab countries. Israel intensified its attacks in Lebanon, hitting several commercial and residential areas in Beirut without warning. At least 112 people were killed, and hundreds were wounded in one of the deadliest days in the latest Israel-Hezbollah war.

“Aggression towards Lebanon is aggression towards Iran,” Gen. Seyed Majid Mousavi, aerospace commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, wrote on X. He warned that Iranian forces were preparing a “heavy response” without revealing details.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi insisted that an end to the war in Lebanon was part of the ceasefire agreement with the US. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump said the truce did not cover Lebanon.

“The world sees the massacres in Lebanon,” he said in a post on X. “The ball is in the US court, and the world is watching whether it will act on its commitments.”

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said American and Israeli forces had achieved a “capital V military victory” and that the Iranian military no longer posed a significant threat to US forces or the region. The Iranian military said the country forced Israel and the US to accept its "proposed conditions and surrender.”

Ceasefire Terms Are Murky
Much about the agreement was unclear as the sides presented vastly different visions of the terms.

Trump initially said Iran proposed a “workable” 10-point plan that could help end the war the US and Israel launched on Feb. 28. But when a version in Farsi emerged that indicated Iran would be allowed to continue enriching uranium — which is key to building a nuclear weapon — Trump called it fraudulent without elaborating.

Iran said the deal would allow it to formalize its new practice of charging ships passing through the strait, a crucial transit lane for oil. But the details were not clear, nor was it known whether vessels would feel safe using the channel or whether ship traffic had resumed. It was also unclear whether any other country agreed to this condition. The White House said Trump is opposed to tolls for ship passage through the strait.

Pakistan, which helped to mediate the deal, and others said fighting would pause in Lebanon, where Israel has launched a ground invasion against the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group. Israel said it would not, and strikes hit Beirut on Wednesday.

Iran’s demands for ending the war include a withdrawal of US combat forces from the region, the lifting of sanctions, and the release of its frozen assets.

Iran and Oman Will Collect Shipping Fees in Strait of Hormuz
Iranian attacks and threats deterred many commercial ships from using the strait, through which 20% of all traded oil and natural gas passes in peacetime. That roiled the world economy and raised the pressure on Trump both at home and abroad to find a way out of the standoff.

The ceasefire may formalize a system of charging fees in the strait that Iran instituted — and give it a new source of revenue.

The plan allows for both Iran and Oman to charge ships, according to a regional official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss negotiations they were directly involved in. The official said Iran would use the money it raised for reconstruction.

That would upend decades of precedent treating the strait as an international waterway that was free to transit and will likely not be acceptable to the Gulf Arab states, which also need to rebuild after repeated Iranian attacks targeting their oil fields.

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