Iran launched several missile barrages toward Israel, threatening to disrupt a fragile ceasefire in the ongoing conflict between the United States and Tehran. The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) reported that they intercepted all missiles in the initial rounds and that no casualties had been reported yet.
Missile Attack Details
The Israeli Air Force is actively intercepting and striking threats where necessary, the IDF stated, warning of an additional volley of missiles. Air raid sirens sounded across Israel as the military worked to intercept incoming Iranian projectiles for the first time since an April ceasefire took hold in the Middle East war.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps confirmed that a new wave of missiles was fired toward Israel, citing attacks on southern Lebanon. The semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted a statement that also warned against retaliation.
Escalating Tensions
The fresh attack comes amid skirmishes between Israel and Hezbollah, and as the U.S. and Iran appear to be making little progress toward an interim deal to end the war. The past week saw the worst flare-up in tensions since the truce started around April 8. Negotiations between Washington and Tehran are bogged down over the fate of billions of dollars of frozen Iranian assets and a parallel conflict between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Fighting between Israeli troops and Hezbollah continued over the weekend. The IDF said they had intercepted two projectiles launched from Lebanon into Israel on Sunday. Israel retaliated with a strike on two apartment buildings in Beirut's southern suburbs, killing two and injuring 11.
Diplomatic Stalemate
Hezbollah last week rejected a U.S.-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon announced by the State Department just hours before. Iran has demanded a ceasefire in Lebanon before an accord can be reached with the U.S. A military adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei told CNN that "the ball is in Trump's court" when it comes to a deal.
In Washington, President Donald Trump's administration is floating a plan to steer Iranian assets frozen in the U.S. toward helping Persian Gulf allies rebuild from damage inflicted by the Islamic Republic. Trump said in an interview broadcast Sunday that he would not unfreeze any Iranian assets or lift any sanctions against Iran as part of an initial deal. "If they behave, if they do a good job, we start talking" about releasing the assets, Trump told Kristen Welker in the interview taped Friday for NBC's Meet the Press.
Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi poured cold water on the idea, saying in a post on X that his country's assets "are neither Washington's war spoils nor a fund for paying its allies." He also noted that Iran is still demanding "full compensation" for its own damages from the war Israel and the U.S. started on Feb. 28.
The dispute risks derailing the discussions on a truce extension, reopening the Strait of Hormuz and future talks over Iran's nuclear program.
