Uncertain ceasefire in Iran
After five weeks of war, the US and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire on April 8. Its basic details, however, and to what extent it will be implemented, are surrounded by uncertainty. A main sticking point is the question of whether Lebanon was included in the deal. Iranian and Pakistani officials are insisting it was, but the US and Israel say that it wasn't. Meanwhile, Israel is continuing to carry out devastating attacks on Beirut and other parts of Lebanon.
The shaky ceasefire is based on a 10-point plan to end the war sent by Iran to Washington in the final hours before a deadline set by US President Donald Trump. If Iran did not reopen the Strait of Hormuz, Trump threatened on April 7 that a "whole civilization will die tonight." Since the ceasefire began, some vessels have begun to trickle through the strait, but Iran is maintaining a chokehold on passage. The fate of the ceasefire could be decided in the coming days as US and Iranian officials head to Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, for peace talks.
Israel’s position on the question of whether Lebanon was part of the US-Iran ceasefire was made painfully clear on April 8, as Israel unleashed a massive series of attacks on Beirut and throughout the country. Many of the strikes targeted densely-populated civilian neighborhoods, killing at least 303 people, by the latest count. Hospitals were struggling to deal with the influx of casualties, already working on power supplied by generators and with supplies dwindling.
On April 9, Israel issued an evacuation order for the Beirut neighbourhood of Jnah, which includes two hospitals, Rafik Hariri University Hospital and Al-Zahraa, that are treating the injured. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said there is nowhere to evacuate patients to, and urged Israel to reverse the order. While various aid groups and leaders urge for the inclusion of Lebanon in the truce, and issue conflicting statements, Lebanese civilians are once again left to wait, search for survivors, and mourn the dead.
From The New Humanitarian, April 10
Russia, China block UN resolution on Strait of Hormuz
China and Russia on April 7 vetoed a UN Security Council resolution aimed at allowing the free passage of vessels through the Strait of Hormuz amid the ongoing conflict in the region.
Both China and Russia rejected the resolution for similar reasons. Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia claimed that the resolution wrongly pointed at Iranian actions as the only source of the conflict, disregarding the illegal attacks committed by Israel and the US. Chinese Ambassador Fu Cong presented a like argument, stating that the resolution "failed to capture the root causes and the full picture of the conflict in a comprehensive and balanced manner."
The US Ambassador Mike Waltz strongly condemned the vetoes, claiming that China and Russia "sided with a regime that seeks to intimidate the Gulf into submission, even as it brutalizes its own people during a national internet blackout for daring to imagine dignity or freedom." Waltz also raised several global issues connected with the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz:
The resolution was proposed by Bahrain, which currently holds the Council’s presidency, together with Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. (Jurist)
Russia and China last month abstained from a similar resolution.