Trump, Iran warn of war escalation; Hezbollah-IDF battle in Lebanon leads to strike hitting convent
President Donald Trump warned Saturday that he could order fresh military strikes against Iran if Tehran “misbehaves,” even as both governments exchanged competing proposals to end a war that has severed a fifth of the world’s oil and gas supplies for more than two months.
Meanwhile, in Lebanon, Israeli military forces struck a convent during a battle with Hezbollah, drawing swift condemnation.
Trump told reporters before boarding a flight to Miami from West Palm Beach, Florida, that he had been briefed on the concept of Iran’s latest offer but was waiting for the exact wording, according to Axios.
Hours later, he wrote on Truth Social that he could not imagine the proposal would be acceptable and that Iran had not paid a “big enough price” for what it has done to the world over the last 47 years.
Iran delivered a 14-point framework proposal to Washington through mediators last week, setting a one-month deadline for negotiations on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, ending the U.S. naval blockade and permanently ending the war in both Iran and Lebanon.
Only after such a deal is reached would a second round of talks, also lasting one month, begin on Iran’s nuclear program, two sources briefed on the proposal told Axios.
A senior Iranian official told Reuters that the sequencing was intentional.
Under the framework, Iran would open the strait and the U.S. would lift its blockade, with a guarantee from Israel and Washington against further attacks. Subsequent talks would address limits on Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for lifting sanctions, with Tehran demanding the U.S. recognize its right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes.
“Negotiations over the more complicated nuclear issue have been moved to the final stage to create a more conducive atmosphere,” the official said.
Iran’s proposal also calls for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from areas surrounding Iran, the release of frozen Iranian assets, the payment of compensation and a new control mechanism for the strait, according to Iranian media.
Washington has made clear it will not end the war without a deal preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon — the justification Trump cited when he launched strikes in February during ongoing nuclear talks. Iran claims its nuclear program is peaceful.
Trump said Friday he was not satisfied with Iran’s latest offer and also told congressional leaders he did not need their permission to extend the war past a legally mandated deadline because the ceasefire had already “terminated” hostilities.
On Saturday, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned that U.S. and Israeli forces may resume the war and said Iranian forces remained “fully prepared” to counter any “adventures or foolishness” from Washington.
Also on Saturday, the top U.S. military commander for the region, Central Command chief Adm. Brad Cooper, met with sailors aboard the USS Tripoli in the Arabian Sea, having left Washington a day after briefing Trump on new plans for military strikes against Iran.
The war has choked off roughly 20% of global oil and gas supplies since Iran began blocking nearly all non-Iranian shipping through the Gulf more than two months ago. Last month, the U.S. imposed its own blockade on ships from Iranian ports. The disruption has raised U.S. gasoline prices and exposed the Republican Party to potential voter backlash ahead of midterm congressional elections in November.
The U.S. and Israel suspended their bombing campaign against Iran four weeks ago but haven't reached a deal to end the conflict.
In Lebanon, Israeli military forces struck a compound in the border village of Yaroun on Saturday, damaging what the Israel Defense Forces described as a structure with “no external signs indicating it was a religious building,” The Times of Israel reported.
A Catholic charity identified the site as a convent belonging to the Basilian Salvatorian Sisters, a Catholic religious order, and condemned the strike as deliberate. Gladys Sabbagh, the order’s superior general, said the compound had housed just two nuns, who had left because of the war, and that she had heard it “was destroyed with bulldozers.”
Israel’s Foreign Ministry denied that the structure had been demolished, saying it remains intact and safe.
The Israel Defense Forces said Hezbollah had used the compound to fire rockets “multiple times” during the war. The Catholic Church in Lebanon rejected that claim, with Rev. Abdo Abou Kassm, director of the Catholic Center for Information, stating that places of worship “are not military bases.”
