Iran stops talking to mediators over Israel fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon, reports say

Dubai: Iran stopped communicating with mediators after Israel threatened to bomb Beirut as it continues fighting the Iranian-backed Lebanese militia Hezbollah, two semiofficial Iranian news agencies reported.

The reports by the Fars and Tasnim news agencies, both believed to be close to Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, come as Iran insists the fighting in Lebanon is part of the wider ceasefire talks with the United States over the war. Israel and the US maintain the fighting in Lebanon is separate from the Iran war talks.

A regional official involved in the mediation, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the talks, said Iran has not communicated at all on Tuesday after saying that a ceasefire needed to be enforced in Lebanon for negotiations to continue.