The White House strongly criticized Iran's claim that it had closed the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for Israel's attack on Iranian proxy terrorist organizations in Lebanon.

Iran had reportedly reopened the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday in retaliation for Israel’s attacks on the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah, raising questions about whether an already fragile cease-fire could hold to end a war that has lasted for more than a month.

“Regarding the initial reports from Iranian state media, the President was aware of them before I even came out to the podium. These are absolutely unacceptable remarks,” White House spokesperson Caroline Levitt said Wednesday.

“And again, this is a case of saying one thing publicly and another thing privately. We have seen increased traffic in the Strait of Hormuz today. And I want to reiterate again that the President expects and demands that the Strait of Hormuz be immediately, quickly, and safely reopened. That is the President’s expectation. Based on what has been conveyed to him privately, that is how things are proceeding. The reports publicly are not true,” she added.

Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency had reported that two oil tankers were able to pass through the strait this morning as a two-week cease-fire went into effect, but it later corrected itself, saying traffic had been halted simultaneously with Israeli attacks in Lebanon.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that the U.S.-Iran cease-fire deal announced by President Trump did not apply to Lebanon.

Indeed, Israel has escalated its attacks on Lebanon, striking multiple commercial and residential areas in Beirut without warning. The Israeli Air Force announced Wednesday that it had “completed a series of airstrikes targeting about 100 command centers and military infrastructure of the Hezbollah terrorist organization, spread across Beirut, the Bekaa Valley and southern Lebanon.”

“The conditions of the cease-fire between Iran and the United States are clear and explicit,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said before the White House press conference. “The United States must choose between the cease-fire and continuing the war through Israel. You cannot have both.”

“The world is watching the massacres in Lebanon,” Araghchi added. “Now the ball is in the court of the United States, and the world is watching to see if the United States will fulfill its promises.”

“The Iranians thought that the cease-fire included Lebanon, and it does not. We never made such a promise. We never indicated anything that would lead to that,” Vice President JD Vance told reporters at Budapest Airport in Hungary.

“We are seeing signs of the strait beginning to reopen,” he added. “This deal is a cease-fire, and it’s a negotiation. This is what we are providing, and what they are providing is the reopening of the strait.”

“If we don’t see that happen, if the Iranians do not live up to their end of the bargain, then the president of the United States will not live up to ours,” Vance added.

Meanwhile, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) reported new attacks from Iran using dozens of drones on Wednesday.

United States NNP=Reporter Hong Seong-gu / Special Correspondent for this paper NNP info@newsandpost.com