Iran says peace talks would be 'unreasonable' following Israeli strikes

DUBAI/TEL AVIV/BEIRUT/BUDAPEST — Israel pounded Lebanon with its heaviest strikes yet on Wednesday, killing hundreds of people and drawing a threat of retaliation from Iran, which suggested it would be "unreasonable" to proceed with talks to forge a permanent peace deal with the United States. The warning from Iran's lead negotiator, parliament speaker Mohammed Bager Qalibaf, laid bare the continued volatility in the region following Tuesday's ceasefire announcement by President Donald Trump. The two sides have laid out sharply contrasting agendas for peace talks set to start on Saturday, but it was unclear whether the two-week ceasefire would hold until then. Qalibaf said Israel had already violated several conditions of that ceasefire by ramping up its parallel war against the Iran-aligned militia Hezbollah, while the United States had violated the agreement by insisting that Iran abandon its nuclear ambitions. "In such a situation, a bilateral ceasefire or negotiations were unreasonable," he said in a statement. Israel and the United States both said the two-week ceasefire did not c

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