Iran claims Hormuz closure, U.S. says ships still passing

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Iran says it has closed the Strait of Hormuz again. The U.S. military says traffic is still flowing. NPR's Jane Arraf reports from Beirut.

PIEN HUANG, HOST:

Iran says it has again closed the Strait of Hormuz, just as U.S. and Iranian officials are gathering in Switzerland for potential talks. Iran says Israeli attacks in Lebanon have violated a ceasefire there, breaching a key part of its tentative agreement with the U.S. NPR's Jane Arraf joins us from Beirut. Hey, Jane.

JANE ARRAF, BYLINE: Hi there.

HUANG: So, Jane, this agreement between the U.S. and Iran - a Memorandum of Understanding, really - was signed just this week, and one of the key parts was opening the Strait of Hormuz, which seemed to have been done. What's the latest?

ARRAF: Well, for Iran, another key part was a ceasefire in Lebanon. That was part of the original tentative agreement with the U.S.. So Iran now says the Strait of Hormuz is closed because the U.S. didn't hold up its part of the deal. There's a bit of dispute about that too, though, because the U.S. military says 55 ships transited that strait today. To be completely honest, it's not clear what's happening there and whether the ships transited before or after the Iranian announcement.

So just a bit of background. Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah have been fighting since early March, but Israeli attacks have intensified, and Israeli troops have tried to push deeper into Lebanon in the past two days. Israel wasn't part of that agreement between the U.S. and Iran, and despite a lot of criticism from Trump, it has made clear that it's not bound by it. According to Iran, though, it was the U.S. job to make sure that Israel adhered to that ceasefire.

HUANG: And what has been happening on the ground in Lebanon?

ARRAF: Well, there were waves of Israeli attacks Friday that killed 83 people, including women, children and first responders, according to Lebanon's health ministry. The Israeli military says Hezbollah killed four Israeli soldiers Friday. Hezbollah said it was targeting Israeli tanks and troops, which were trying to capture a strategic kill in Southern Lebanon.

HUANG: A ceasefire was supposed to take effect yesterday, but that clearly hasn't taken hold.

ARRAF: It has not. It intensified again today with Israeli airstrikes killing at least 32 people, including women, children, and a Lebanese army soldier. The Lebanese army is supposed to eventually replace Hezbollah. And Israel says an Israeli soldier was killed today within Lebanon. The Lebanese government issued a grim milestone of at least 4,000 people, including hundreds of women and children, killed in Israeli attacks since March 2, when the war began. Israel says 35 soldiers and a military contractor, along with two civilians, have been killed in Hezbollah attacks at the same time. Almost all the soldiers were killed in Lebanon.

HUANG: Can you explain for us what this fighting is about and why it's so hard to stop?

ARRAF: Well, Hezbollah was created to counter an Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, and it grew stronger than the Lebanese Army. So now Lebanon has agreed with Israel and the U.S. to disarm Hezbollah. But Hezbollah's position is, it won't lay down weapons while Israeli troops are occupying Lebanon. Here is Hezbollah member of parliament Hassan Fadlallah today.

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HASSAN FADLALLAH: (Through interpreter) Whenever the enemy attempts to advance into any area, the resistance will confront it. Of course, a ceasefire does not mean allowing the occupation to remain on Lebanese territory.

ARRAF: Israel's defense minister says, Israel is destroying border villages, including infrastructure, to prevent 200,000 Lebanese from going home.

HUANG: A lot of the fighting in Southern Lebanon is taking place in the Nabatieh District, where you were this week. Tell us what you saw.

ARRAF: A lot of destruction - you know, pretty much everywhere we went, we were walking through rubble. You can hear the broken glass and the concrete.

(SOUNDBITE OF GLASS CRACKING)

ARRAF: That damage included the historic Ottoman-era covered market, which was almost destroyed in some places, and a lot of residential buildings. We could see smoke rising and hear artillery. And from the balcony of one damaged apartment building, you could see the Crusader-era castle that's now occupied by Israeli forces. Near the market, we met Hanan Hamadi. She had repaired and reopened her little shop, and she was selling food and batteries, birthday candles.

HANAN HAMADI: (Non-English language spoken).

ARRAF: She said the town that she grew up in had suffered so much damage, she literally didn't recognize it. "I find myself telling my mother, no, that can't be that neighborhood, or that can't be that corner," she said. People were coming back to assess the damage, but the mayor's office was advising them not to stay. There is no running water, no electricity and certainly no safety.

HUANG: That's NPR's Jane Arraf joining us from Beirut, Lebanon. Thank you, Jane.

ARRAF: Thank you.

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