NBC News - Iran said Saturday that the Strait of Hormuz is closed, according to Iranian state media, citing ceasefire violations after Israel continued deadly strikes in southern Lebanon overnight.
Iran’s top joint military command said that the Strait of Hormuz, which was reopening as part of the U.S.-Iran deal signed this week, would remain closed for commercial vessels, the semiofficial Mehr news agency said.
It said the closure was the “first step” in response to what were described as breaches of commitments by the U.S. and Israel.
In a statement on X that did not acknowledge the apparent closure, U.S. Central Command said that 55 merchant ships transited on Saturday, “moving large amounts of cargo and more than 17 million barrels of oil to global markets.”
U.S. forces “remain present and vigilant to ensure all aspects of the agreement with Iran are adhered to, obeyed, and in full force and effect,” the statement said.
Early Saturday, Israeli strikes killed at least 16 people, including two children, according to Lebanese civil defense and media, one day after the U.S. said Israel and Hezbollah had implemented a fresh ceasefire at President Donald Trump’s request.
Israel hit a series of towns across Lebanon’s south early Saturday, Lebanese news agency NNA reported. An airstrike on the town of Arabsalim reportedly killed three people, the agency reported, and a drone strike on the town of Deir al-Zahrani reportedly killed one person. At least seven people remain trapped under the rubble, it said. Lebanon’s army said a soldier was killed between Kfar Rumman and Nabatieh in southern Lebanon.
Time - The reported contents of the agreement have drawn fire from multiple directions simultaneously. In Washington, Iran hawks have read it as a lopsided arrangement, more generous to Tehran than even the 2015 nuclear deal. In Israel, the agreement is seen across the political spectrum as a bad bargain struck by the U.S. while deliberately keeping the Israeli government outside the room and away from the text.
Inside Iran, skepticism about the agreement runs deeper than the rhetoric of the Stability Front, an ultra-hardline faction influential within parts of the state and society, and reflects a broader, pragmatic unease rooted in profound distrust of the U.S.—a feeling sharpened by the trauma of two American-Israeli wars against Iran within a year, both launched while negotiations were underway.
Alernet America - For years, the Republican Party had one unshakable foreign policy consensus: no deals with Iran...
Now Trump has signed his own memorandum of understanding with Tehran, and the backlash isn’t just coming from Democrats. The call is coming from inside the house.
The 14-point MOU, signed electronically on Sunday by Trump, JD Vance, and Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, commits both sides to an immediate end to military operations on all fronts, including Lebanon. Iran agreed to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and the U.S. pledged to terminate all sanctions against Iran.
The centerpiece drew the most fire: a commitment to develop a plan providing $300 billion for Iran’s reconstruction and economic development...
Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana didn’t mince words. He called the MOU “the worst foreign policy blunder in decades” and said Ronald Reagan was rolling over in his grave. His core complaint was blunt: Iran’s nuclear ambitions weren’t curbed, and Tehran just learned that threatening a critical shipping lane works, creating every incentive to do it again.
Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, another Republican who lost a Trump-backed primary, pointed out that the $300 billion reconstruction figure is five times what Congress spends annually on American roads and bridges.
But it’s not just the exiled critics. Sen. Rick Scott, a Florida Republican on the Armed Services Committee, said he couldn’t imagine supporting $300 billion in funding for Iran. Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina said the deal falls short given what the conflict actually cost: 13 American service members killed and more than $100 billion spent on a war that lasted over 100 days.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, the party’s top leader, told reporters he still hadn’t seen the final text and had “a bunch of things” he’d have questions about. Even Lindsey Graham, typically one of Trump’s most reliable defenders, offered only conditional support, saying the deal sounded good “if the Iranians will agree to it.”
Former Vice President Mike Pence broke with Trump publicly, arguing the U.S. should have demanded Iran dismantle its nuclear program, end its missile development, and cut ties with proxy forces. John Bolton, Trump’s own former national security adviser, called it a “big defeat for the United States” and said the whole negotiation was driven by fear of high gas prices.
“He’s swearing a lot about it,” one close Trump adviser told Zeteo. Another Trump administration official said: “[R]ight now, he’s definitely madder at the Israelis than the Iranians.”
The sources who’ve spoken to Trump over the past several days say Israel’s “continued attacks in Lebanon and Israeli leaders’ efforts to pressure the Americans into abandoning the memorandum of understanding with Iran have, in fact, further driven Trump in the opposite direction,” according to Zeteo, adding that “the president keeps venting to advisers how angry he is at Netanyahu and other political and media figures – in the U.S. and in Israel – for transparently trying to drag him back into war, or for suggesting that Trump is surrendering to Iran.”
But Trump is surrendering wholly to Iran, according to critics on both the Republican and Democratic side of the political spectrum.
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