Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he told US President Donald Trump that Israel would strike “terror targets” in Beirut if Hezbollah does not stop attacking Israeli cities and civilians.
He also said in a post on X that the Israeli military will continue operations in southern Lebanon as planned.
Iran’s conservative establishment appears to be pushing back against its own ultra-radical fringe after a hardline lawmaker accused President Masoud Pezeshkian of bypassing the Supreme Leader over the April ceasefire with the United States.
Some Iranian hardliners now appear to be distancing themselves from the “extremist” ultraconservatives who have spent recent weeks attacking the president and the nuclear negotiating team.
Two prominent conservative figures with longstanding ties to Iran’s security establishment have publicly condemned hardline MP Kamran Ghazanfari after he accused Pezeshkian of undermining the authority of Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei.
The fallout from these interventions, and from the incident itself, points to a visible fracture inside Iran’s right wing. It highlights the growing fragmentation of the hardline camp and the marginalization of its far-right fringe, a dynamic that may inadvertently provide the embattled president with some political breathing room.
In a video clip that went viral last week, Ghazanfari accused the president of bypassing the Supreme Leader, demanding: “Why did you accept the ceasefire without Khamenei’s permission?”
He claimed that the Leader’s silence in public messages signaled disapproval and alleged that Pezeshkian had similarly accepted an unauthorized ceasefire during a previous 12-day conflict.
Ghazanfari argued that by halting military operations, Pezeshkian had effectively “saved America and Israel from the crushing blows of Iran’s missiles and drones” just as they were facing destruction.
Ghazanfari's remarks were criticized by hardline commentator Abbas Salimi Namin in an interview with the pro-reform Rouydad 24 website, and by Abdollah Ganji in an editorial in the IRGC-linked Javan newspaper.
The reactions represented unusually sharp internal pushback from within the broader conservative, or principlist, spectrum.
Their target is the extreme and destabilizing fringe of their own camp.
Salimi Namin warned that “extremism damages the system from within.” He argued that the presence of ultra-radicals like Ghazanfari in the parliament is a disaster that alienates the public and degrades political discourse. He also accused radical hardliners of weakening the Supreme Leader’s authority rather than defending it.
“The presence of people like Ghazanfari in the Majles is a disaster,” Salimi Namin said, adding that such statements, “before being an accusation against Pezeshkian, are an insult to the leadership and the armed forces.”
Ganji, who previously served as managing editor of Javan before moving to Hamshahri, made a similar argument in an editorial titled “The Reckless Ghazanfar(s).” The headline used “Ghazanfar,” a colloquial Persian term for a clumsy teammate who scores an own goal, as a pointed play on the MP’s name.
Ganji reminded the “rogue” ultraconservative lawmaker that under Article 110 of the Constitution, decisions on war, peace and major strategic shifts rest with the Supreme Leader and the Supreme National Security Council, not the president.
He described Ghazanfari’s outbursts as “a psychological pathology rather than legitimate political criticism.” He also accused him of exploiting parliamentary questioning as a legal loophole to smear opponents with labels such as “spy,” “Bahai” or “secular.”
Ganji urged “revolutionary youth and elites” to break their silence and “push back against these reckless figures who drive people away from the revolution.”
He characterized Ghazanfari’s accusations as “so disgusting, illogical, insulting, and slanderous… that at first, I thought it was generated by artificial intelligence.”
Both articles unequivocally condemned Ghazanfari’s conspiratorial attacks on Pezeshkian. They argued that although Ghazanfari claims to defend the Revolution and the Leader, his logic ultimately insults the Leader by implying that a president could easily bypass his authority on matters such as striking Israel or agreeing to a ceasefire.
Both warned against mistaking such toxic behavior for revolutionary zeal.
Together, these interventions expose a major structural tension in Iranian politics: how the system manages a reformist or moderate president operating within a conservative-dominated state.
Pezeshkian entered office on a platform of consensus-building, direct engagement with the West to ease sanctions, and domestic de-escalation. The recent criticism of Ghazanfari suggests that mainstream institutional conservatives recognize that, for the system to function, the president must retain at least a basic level of legitimacy.
By attacking the president over core security decisions, the ultra-radicals disrupt the carefully calibrated systemic harmony engineered by the leadership.
The fact that high-profile conservatives are publicly rebuking an ultra-hardline MP indicates that, at this moment, the establishment is prioritizing state stability over factional purity.
US President Donald Trump said on Monday he had held talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hezbollah representatives, and that both sides had agreed to halt attacks.
"I had a very productive call with Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, of Israel, and there will be no Troops going to Beirut, and any Troops that are on their way, have already been turned back," Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
"Likewise, through highly placed Representatives, I had a very good call with Hezbollah, and they agreed that all shooting will stop — That Israel will not attack them, and they will not attack Israel," he added.
Pakistan's Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar held a call with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi to discuss the current regional situation and developments of mutual interest, Pakistan's foreign ministry said on Monday.
Araghchi expressed serious concern over recent regional developments, including what he described as Israeli ceasefire violations in Lebanon and Israeli orders regarding a potential attack on parts of Beirut, according to the statement.
"Araghchi also appreciated Pakistan's constructive role in regional diplomacy and requested Pakistan to continue using its good offices to help facilitate de-escalation in the current situation and support efforts to maintain the ceasefire," the ministry said.
Dar conveyed Pakistan's serious concern and stressed the need to sustain the ceasefire to prevent any breakdown of existing understandings, the ministry added.
Donald Trump said on Monday he did not care if peace negotiations with Iran were over, CNBC reported, citing a phone interview with the US president.
"I don't care if they're over, honestly," Trump told CNBC when asked about reports that Iranian negotiators would stop communications with the United States over Israel's military operations in Lebanon.
"I really don't care. I couldn't care less," he added.
Trump said he was "going to ask" Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "what's going on with Lebanon," according to CNBC.
He also said he was not worried about oil prices after Iranian state media reported that Tehran was vowing to "completely block" the Strait of Hormuz.
"I think the oil will be dropping like a rock in the very near, you know, the very near distance," Trump said.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Monday accused the United States and Israel of repeatedly violating an April ceasefire, saying attacks on Iranian commercial shipping and Israeli strikes in Lebanon amount to breaches across all fronts.
In a statement, the ministry said the April 8 agreement was supposed to end the US and Israeli war against the Islamic Republic “on all fronts, including Lebanon.”
Washington had since “repeatedly” violated the ceasefire, including through continued actions against Iran’s commercial shipping, it said, apparently referring to the US enforcement of a naval blockade on Iranian ports.
The ministry also accused Israel of a “flagrant” breach of the truce in Lebanon, saying "a ceasefire violation on any one front constitutes a violation on all fronts."
The ministry said the United States bears direct responsibility both for what it described as violations against Iran and for Israel’s actions in Lebanon, despite what it called early US efforts after the ceasefire to pressure Israel to halt its attacks.
Iran has repeatedly warned about the “dangerous consequences” of ceasefire violations for regional peace and security, the statement added, saying Tehran would use “all capacities” to defend its interests wherever it deems necessary.
