Iran launched multiple barrages of missiles toward Israel on Sunday, according to the Israeli military, after Israeli warplanes struck the southern suburbs of Beirut in retaliation for alleged Hezbollah attacks, threatening to unravel a recently renewed ceasefire. The Israel Defense Forces said it had detected missiles launched from Iran and activated air defense systems to intercept them. The U.S. military is monitoring the “active situation” between Iran and Israel, one U.S. official said. Thus far there has been no U.S. involvement in defending against this round of Iranian missiles, the official said. The latest action came as the U.S. administration presses Iran to make a deal to end the war in the Middle East, which has strained the global economy and threatened a hunger crisis in some of the world’s most vulnerable countries. The heaviest fighting ended with a preliminary ceasefire on April 8, but the sides have not been able to agree on a long-term end to the war. President Donald Trump, who is at his private golf club in New Jersey, was briefed on the Iranian strikes on Sunday, according to a senior administration official. These are the first strikes Iran has launched toward Israel since a ceasefire was reached in April. Trump has urged both sides to avoid further escalation and ensure negotiations with Iran continue. Speaking to Fox News after the strikes, Trump said the Iranian missiles were “certainly not going to help negotiations” and called on Iran to return to the talks. “You’ve shot your missiles, that’s enough. Get back to the table and make a deal,” Trump told Fox News. Earlier Sunday, Israel struck what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office described as Hezbollah “command centers” in Beirut’s southern suburbs, saying these attacks were in response to rocket fire toward northern Israel. Hezbollah did not immediately claim responsibility for the earlier attack. There was no immediate word of casualties. The strikes come after the Lebanese and Israeli governments in Washington renewed a ceasefire agreement in ongoing talks that Beirut hopes will bring an end to the war across the country. Iran’s foreign ministry defended the strikes saying its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps “exercised their inherent right of self defense” in striking “several military targets in the northern occupied Palestinian territories” Sunday evening. The foreign ministry cited ceasefire agreement violations and Israel’s aggression against Lebanon and Iran, as well as the U.S. targeting of ships as reasons for the strikes. The foreign ministry warned that any further “adventurism” by Israel against Lebanon or Iran “will be met with a crushing and comprehensive response.” Trump told Axios on Sunday he planned to speak with Netanyahu and discouraged a military response. “Each of them had their fun,” he said. “If Bibi strikes them back it’s just gonna keep going like the last 47 years, or the last 3,000 years.” He went on to say he does not want this to “blow up” a final deal with Iran. Israeli strikes in Lebanon Israel had already struck the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital twice since the first agreement between Lebanon and Israel went into effect on April 17. Strikes over southern Lebanon continue daily, meanwhile, and Hezbollah fighters and Israeli troops have also clashed. Israel announced on Monday that it would strike the southern suburbs after Hezbollah claimed attacks in northern Israel, but last-gasp talks via Washington halted the attacks, on the condition that Hezbollah stop targeting Israel border towns. Iran had warned that an attack on the Lebanese capital would trigger renewed full-scale war across the Mideast, amid ongoing efforts by Pakistan to restart talks between Tehran and Washington. The Iranian-backed Hezbollah has rejected the U.S.-brokered deal and instead endorsed Iran’s demand that ending the war in Lebanon be part of the negotiations with the U.S. The fighting in Lebanon, where Israeli forces have seized large swaths of the south in its latest ground invasion, threatens efforts to end the Iran war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a key transit point for oil and gas. Its closure has jolted the world economy. Iran has demanded that any lasting truce extend to Lebanon. Netanyahu, who faces elections later this year, wants to press ahead with Israel’s offensive until he considers Hezbollah no longer poses a threat. Diplomacy efforts continue Lebanon’s army commander, Gen. Rodolphe Haikal, headed to Pakistan on Saturday at the invitation of Pakistan’s army chief. The Lebanese army gave no further details and did not say whether it is related to Pakistan’s mediation between Iran and the U.S. Meanwhile, Pakistan’s interior minister was in Tehran on Sunday in a fresh bid to restart negotiations between Iran and the U.S., as the American military said it shot down two more Iranian drones over the Strait of Hormuz that threatened international maritime traffic. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi was there to deliver a message to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei from Pakistan’s army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, according to Iranian state-run IRNA news agency. Khamenei has not been seen in public since he was named the Islamic Republic’s ruler after his father was killed on the first day of the war on Feb. 28 when the U.S. and Israel launched a bombardment campaign against Iran. Naqvi met with Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni late Saturday, and held talks Sunday morning with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, according to official Iranian media. There were no details on the contents of the message. Pakistani authorities have said Islamabad, with support from regional countries including Qatar, Turkey and Egypt, has been working to help bridge differences between the United States and Iran and encourage efforts aimed at reducing tensions and ensuring the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. Araghchi also held separate phone conversations with the foreign ministers of the U.K. and Turkey and the commander of Pakistan’s army to discuss the latest regional developments, according to Iran’s semi-official Mehr News Agency. Drone attacks The U.S. military said Saturday that it had shot down several Iranian missiles and drones launched toward the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf Arab allies, and struck some of the Islamic Republic’s coastal surveillance radar sites in response. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it had targeted the Ali Al Salem air base, which hosts U.S. forces in Kuwait, and the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet in Bahrain, according to the state-run IRNA news agency. The U.S. military said there were no reports of harm to U.S. personnel. Earlier in the month, Iranian drones heavily damaged a passenger terminal at Kuwait’s main airport, killing one person and wounding dozens. The U.S. military has kept up its blockade on Iranian ports in response to Tehran’s grip on the strait, a crucial corridor for global oil and natural gas shipments. Energy prices have spiked, posing political problems for the Republican Party ahead of midterm congressional elections in November. Courtney Kube, Jean-Nicholas Fievet and Garrett Haake contributed. This is a developing story. Please check back for updates. ...read more read less