US President Donald Trump stated that its military ships and aircraft will remain around Iran and threatened that the US will start “shooting” again unless Tehran fully complies with the deal reached with Washington.“All US Ships, Aircraft, and Military Personnel, with additional Ammunition, Weaponry will remain in place in, and around, Iran, until the REAL AGREEMENT ?reached is fully complied with,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.

“If for any reason it is not, which is highly unlikely, then the ‘Shootin’ Starts,’ bigger, and better, and stronger than anyone has ever seen before,” the president added.Iran had said earlier on Wednesday that it would be “unreasonable” to proceed with talks to forge a permanent peace deal with the United States after Israel pounded ?Lebanon with its heaviest strikes yet on Wednesday, killing hundreds of people.

The two sides appeared to be far apart on Iran’s nuclear program, with Trump saying Iran had agreed to stop enriching ?uranium, and Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammed Bager Qalibaf, saying it was allowed to continue enriching uranium under the terms of the ceasefire.The statement comes as the White House confirmed that US President Donald Trump is dispatching his Iran negotiating team, led by Vice President JD Vance, to Pakistan for talks, adding that the first round of negotiations would take place on Saturday.

With several of Iran's veteran political leaders killed in the war, Iran's delegation is expected to be led by parliament speaker and former Revolutionary Guards commander Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, with Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi.The confirmation of the talks came after relief over a truce between the United States and Iran gave way to alarm that fighting was still raging across the region, ?as Israel launched its biggest attacks yet on Lebanon, and Iran struck Gulf neighbours' oil facilities.

Israel pounded Lebanon with its heaviest strikes yet on Wednesday, killing hundreds of people and drawing a threat of retaliation from Iran, which suggested it would be "unreasonable" to proceed with talks to forge a permanent peace deal with the United States. The warning from Iran's lead negotiator, parliament speaker Mohammed Bager Qalibaf, laid bare the continued volatility in the region following Tuesday's ceasefire announcement by President Donald Trump.

The two sides have laid out sharply contrasting agendas for peace talks set to start on Saturday, but it was unclear whether the two-week ceasefire would hold until then. Qalibaf said Israel had already violated several conditions of that ceasefire by ramping up its parallel war against the Iran-aligned militia Hezbollah, while the U.S had violated the agreement by insisting that Iran abandon its nuclear ambitions. "In such a situation, a bilateral ceasefire or negotiations were unreasonable," he said in a statement.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)