A French UNIFIL soldier, Master Sergeant Florian Montorio, was killed and three other French soldiers were injured in an attack on peacekeepers in southern Lebanon on Saturday. Two of the injured are in serious condition. French President Emmanuel Macron stated on X that “everything suggests” Hezbollah was responsible for the attack.
Meanwhile, tensions escalated in the Strait of Hormuz as Iran announced it was resuming “strict control” of the vital waterway. This decision, reversing its earlier commitment to reopen the route, was presented as a reaction to the ongoing American blockade of Iranian ports. U.S. President Trump swiftly condemned Iran’s move as “blackmail,” asserting, “They can’t blackmail us.” Earlier, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh had stated that the United States cannot “impose a siege” on the Strait.
Further complicating the situation, British maritime security agency UKMTO reported that Iranian launches fired upon an oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday. The tanker’s captain reported being approached by two Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launches 37 kilometers northeast of Oman, following Iran’s reneging on its promise to keep the route open for navigation.
In a separate development, Naim Qassem, the leader of the Lebanese pro-Iranian Hezbollah movement, vowed retaliation against Israeli attacks in Lebanon. Despite an official truce being in effect, Qassem declared that “a ceasefire means a complete cessation of all hostilities,” and since they do not trust the enemy, “the resistance fighters will remain on the ground, their finger on the trigger, and they will respond to violations,” emphasizing that a truce cannot be “unilateral.”
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