Ceasefire Unravels Within Hours
Israel launched its largest strike package on Lebanon since the war began. Iran responded by reclosing the Strait of Hormuz. The two-week truce brokered by Pakistan is now in serious jeopardy.
The US-Iran ceasefire lasted less than a day. On the evening of April 8, Israel launched Operation Eternal Darkness across Lebanon, hitting more than 100 Hezbollah targets in Beirut and the south. The Lebanese Red Cross reported over 300 dead and 700 wounded. Within hours, Iran announced it was shutting the Strait of Hormuz again, and Tehran warned it would skip the Islamabad talks entirely.
What began as a fragile diplomatic opening has turned into the most dangerous 24 hours of the 40-day war.
What was Operation Eternal Darkness?
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) called it the largest coordinated wave of strikes on Lebanon since the conflict began. More than 100 targets were hit in roughly 30 minutes. Dozens of buildings in Beirut were leveled. The strikes hit during evening hours, when streets were full.
The IDF said it was targeting Hezbollah command centers, weapons depots, and intelligence infrastructure. Israeli officials claimed the strikes killed Hezbollah intelligence chief Hussain Makled. Early reports suggested the operation also targeted Hezbollah Secretary General Naim Qassem, but Israeli sources later confirmed Qassem was not in the targeted building.
The Lebanese Red Cross put the death toll above 300, with more than 700 wounded. Rescue crews were still pulling bodies from collapsed structures late into the night.
Israel has destroyed Iran’s capacity for missile production. The two-week ceasefire does not include Lebanon.
Why did Trump say Lebanon is not part of the deal?
In an ABC interview on April 8, US President Donald Trump said bluntly: “Lebanon is not part of the deal.” The comment confirmed what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had signaled for days. Washington and Tel Aviv view the US-Iran truce and the Lebanon conflict as separate tracks.
That distinction infuriated Tehran.
Iranian state media immediately framed the Israeli strikes as a violation of the ceasefire’s spirit, even if Lebanon was technically excluded from the text. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) vowed to punish Israel. And Iran’s next move came fast.
Why did Iran reclose the Strait of Hormuz?
Fars News Agency reported that Iran ordered the Strait of Hormuz shut again on the evening of April 8, citing the Israeli strikes on Lebanon as justification. The Iranian navy began broadcasting closure warnings to commercial vessels transiting the waterway.
The strait had been reopened just hours earlier as part of the ceasefire agreement. About 800 ships were already waiting on both sides from the previous closure. The White House demanded immediate reopening.
The reclosure wiped out whatever calm the morning’s truce had brought to oil markets. It also raised a pointed question: if Iran can reclose Hormuz over an Israeli action in Lebanon, what does the ceasefire actually guarantee?
How were Gulf states hit?
Four Gulf nations reported Iranian strikes on the same day the ceasefire was supposed to hold.
Kuwait took the heaviest blow. Iranian drones struck a power station and desalination facilities, according to Kuwait’s defense ministry. In Saudi Arabia, the East-West pipeline running to the Red Sea port of Yanbu was hit by Iranian drones, the Financial Times reported. The pipeline carries crude oil that bypasses the Strait of Hormuz entirely, making it a strategically critical target.
The UAE intercepted 17 ballistic missiles and 35 drones. Qatar reported seven incoming missiles. Saudi Arabia shot down seven ballistic missiles and nine drones targeting its eastern provinces.
Iran said the Gulf strikes were retaliation for earlier attacks on Iranian energy facilities and were launched before the ceasefire’s effective time.
What is Iran saying about the ceasefire now?
Tehran’s tone shifted from cautious optimism to open hostility within hours.
Iranian Speaker of Parliament Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said three points of the ceasefire agreement had been violated. He called further negotiations with Washington “unreasonable” under current conditions. Tasnim News Agency reported Iran was preparing a military response and warned that Tehran would cancel the agreement and skip the Islamabad talks scheduled for April 10.
The ball is in America’s court. The United States must choose between a real ceasefire or the continuation of war.
Al Jazeera reported that Iranian military officials were planning retaliatory strikes against Israeli assets. The IRGC separately confirmed it had shot down an Israeli Hermes-900 drone over Fars Province in southern Iran.
Who will lead the US team in Islamabad?
US Vice President JD Vance will lead the American delegation at the Islamabad talks, if they happen. Pakistan brokered the ceasefire and invited both sides to begin formal negotiations on April 10.
But Iran’s willingness to attend is now in serious doubt. Tehran has conditioned its participation on a Lebanon ceasefire, which neither Washington nor Tel Aviv appears willing to offer.
The gap between what the ceasefire promised and what happened on the ground is vast. In the space of a single day, Israel flattened neighborhoods in Beirut, Iran reclosed the world’s most important oil chokepoint, and four Gulf states came under fire. The war’s 40th day was supposed to mark a pause. Instead it became an escalation.
Vice President Vance may arrive in Islamabad to find an empty seat across the table.