Donald Trump promised Tuesday to 'retaliate' against Iran, accusing it of shooting down a US helicopter over the Strait of Hormuz, a sudden rise in tensions while the US president had previously claimed that an agreement to end the war in the Middle East was near.
'The Iranians last night shot down one of our very sophisticated Apache helicopters while it was flying over the Strait of Hormuz,' the US president wrote on his Truth Social network, specifying that the two pilots were unharmed.
'Nevertheless, the United States must necessarily retaliate for this attack,' he added.
'We prefer the language of diplomacy, but we speak other languages much more fluently. Break your commitments, and we will switch to the one we master best,' said Iran's chief negotiator, the powerful Speaker of Parliament Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, on X.
Change of tone
This is a notable change of tone as Donald Trump had stated a few hours earlier that US diplomacy was 'in the final efforts of what is going to be a very, very good agreement' to end hostilities, mentioning a deadline of 'two to three days' for it to be concluded.
After 100 days of war and the entry into force on April 8 of a fragile ceasefire, reciprocal attacks between Iran and Israel resumed Sunday and Monday, killing three people including two soldiers and wounding 15 people in Iran, according to a new toll from state television on Tuesday.
Mr. Trump, who is seeking a way out of this unpopular conflict in the United States ahead of the midterm elections, had urged the two countries to 'immediately' cease hostilities.
Tehran first announced the end of its military operation against Israel, which then imitated it.
Before this latest rise in tensions on Tuesday, oil prices, which had soared in recent weeks due to the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, crucial for hydrocarbon transport, had fallen, boosted by hopes of an agreement: around 12:30 p.m. (Eastern Time), the price of a barrel of Brent North Sea crude for delivery in August was down 4.27% at $90.23.
In less than 24 hours, Iran had fired about thirty missiles at Israel according to an Israeli military official, in response to an Israeli strike on the southern suburbs of Beirut, a stronghold of the pro-Iranian Hezbollah, in which two people died and 20 were wounded.
If the Iranian armed forces announced 'the cessation of the operation' on Monday at midday, they also warned that in case 'of continued aggression and hostilities, including in southern Lebanon, much more severe and repressive actions than before [would] be undertaken.'
Tehran continues to demand that Lebanon be part of an agreement to end the war with Israel and the United States that began on February 28, which Washington rejects, wanting to address the Lebanese issue at a later stage.
Tyre deserted
Meanwhile, in Lebanon, Israeli strikes and Hezbollah attacks continue, the pro-Iranian group continuing to refuse a ceasefire under conditions between Lebanon and Israel.
In the south of the country, Tyre, relentlessly pounded by the Israeli army, was hit Tuesday by a 'heavy strike' after an Israeli call to evacuate, according to the Lebanese National News Agency (NNA).
For the first time since the start of the war between Israel and the Shiite movement on March 2, the evacuation call concerned the entire city, including the Christian neighborhood where residents of Tyre and nearby localities had taken refuge.
'The Christian neighborhood is now 99% empty,' Walid al-Tawil of the municipal council reported to AFP.
Before this warning, at least eight people had been killed and 32 wounded in another Israeli strike on this ancient city, according to a provisional toll from the Ministry of Health.
Hezbollah, for its part, claimed new attacks against Israeli forces in southern Lebanon – which did not cause any injuries according to the Israeli army. Meanwhile, in northern Israel, a man, accused of firing at soldiers after crossing the border from Lebanon, was shot dead, according to the army.
The head of the Lebanese army, Rodolphe Haykal, discussed 'the regional security situation' on Tuesday with Asim Munir, his counterpart in Pakistan – the main mediator country in the talks aimed at a lasting end to the war.
According to its Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, a US-Iranian agreement to end the war was 'on the verge of being concluded' when new fighting between Iran and Israel broke out on Sunday.
