Peace talks between the United States and Iran collapsed on Monday after Israel’s military offensive in Lebanon violated an existing ceasefire, prompting Tehran to suspend all further contacts with Washington through intermediaries.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the Israeli operation constituted an “unequivocal violation of the ceasefire on one front” that amounted to “a violation of the ceasefire on all fronts.” Araghchi said the United States and Israel would be held responsible. A news agency aligned with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps reported that Tehran was suspending its participation in talks designed to end the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
The collapse followed US strikes on Iranian radar and drone sites over the weekend. Iran said Monday that it had responded by targeting a military base in Kuwait that Tehran claimed was involved in the US operation.
Trump spent part of Monday mediating between Netanyahu and Hezbollah representatives. The president said in a social media post that both sides agreed “all shooting will stop.” According to a statement from Lebanon’s presidency, the proposed arrangement called for Israel to refrain from striking Beirut’s southern suburbs if Hezbollah did not launch attacks against Israel.
The Israeli military said later Monday that it had intercepted two rockets launched from Lebanon into Israeli territory, casting doubt on whether the ceasefire arrangement would hold.
The apparent collapse of the Iran talks came as several other significant developments unfolded across the Trump administration.
Former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell warned that a single act of political interference in monetary policy could permanently destroy public trust in the central bank. Powell said in a Sunday night speech that the institution was in the midst of a “stress test” as the Trump administration continued to test the Fed’s longstanding independence.
Democrats in the US Senate said they would force Republicans to vote on a $1.8 billion fund established as part of a resolution of Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service. Trump has described the secretive “anti-weaponization fund” as a means of paying victims of politicized prosecutions. Members of his own party have expressed alarm over the fund.
Tina Peters, the former Colorado county clerk convicted of participating in a scheme to pursue election conspiracy theories promulgated by Trump, was released from prison on Monday after the president successfully pressured Colorado’s Democratic governor into commuting her sentence.
An appeals court ruled Monday that transgender troops can remain in the US military but that the armed services can continue to block their enlistment. The split decision carries potentially significant consequences for the Trump administration’s policy on diversity in the military.
In New Jersey, several protesters were arrested overnight for defying a curfew at Delaney Hall, the Newark immigration detention center that has been the site of more than a week of clashes. Protesters outside the state legislature in Trenton condemned Democratic Governor Mikie Sherrill’s decision to send state police to the facility.
Going deeper: Read MSI’s analysis of ceasefire violations and mediation architecture →