US President Donald Trump has threatened to strike Iran if it does not stop its 'highly paid PROXIES in Lebanon' from causing trouble, in a post on his Truth Social platform. 'Iran must immediately stop their highly paid PROXIES in Lebanon from causing trouble. If they don’t, we’ll hit Iran very hard again, just like we did last week, only harder!!!' Trump wrote.
Context of the threat
The threat comes just after US Vice-President JD Vance hailed 'great progress' in the last few hours as he gave an update on US-Iran peace talks taking place in Switzerland. Trump was referring to Hezbollah, which joined the Middle East war with attacks on Israel. Clashes in recent days between the two have threatened to derail the US-Iran preliminary peace deal.
Casualties in Lebanon
Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon on Saturday killed at least 16 people, local authorities said, despite reports of a renewed ceasefire aiming to end the continuing clashes. Lebanon’s civil defence agency said its personnel transported '16 dead and 12 wounded' to hospital, adding that they had been working 'since the early morning hours' in the Nabatieh district.
