West Jerusalems escalation in Lebanon has undermined diplomatic efforts between Washington and Tehran, Mohammad Marandi has said

Israel has a clear interest in prolonging US hostilities with Iran and has been successfully sabotaging efforts to reach a peace agreement, Tehran-based Professor Seyed Mohammad Marandi has told RT.

The political analyst was commenting on the latest escalation of Israeli military operations against Lebanon, includingstrikeson Beirut, which have triggered a new surge in tensions between Washington and Tehran and could bring negotiations to apermanenthalt.

Tehran has said that continued Israeli violence effectively voids the fragile ceasefire with the US, which was announced in early April. US President Donald Trump later pushed Israel to declare a similar halt to hostilities in Lebanon.

Accordingto Axios, Trump lashed out at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during their most recent call for undermining his attempt to find an off-ramp from the conflict.

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"Netanyahu is the boss. And not Netanyahu as an individual, but Netanyahu and the Zionists who support him, whether in Washington or in the Israeli regime," Marandi said, describing how Tehran views the power balance between Iran's two adversaries.

"Every time the negotiations seem to be getting somewhere, we see the Israeli regime and the Zionist lobby in the United States pushing back and forcing Trump to change his position and to flip-flop," he added.

READ MORE: Israel moves deeper into Lebanon, captures medieval castle (VIDEOS)

Iran's strategy in fighting the US has involved using economic pressure against Washington's Arab allies in the region, as well as broader international trade. Given that the cost of the conflict is growing, Israel "is basically sacrificing the global economy" for its own interests, Marandi argued.

In addition to the escalation in Lebanon, the US-Iranian truce was also undermined bysporadicmilitary operations by both sides, most of them related to American attempts to lift the Iranian blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian officials have threatened to expand the disruption of traffic to the Bab al-Mandab Strait, another strategic waterway that could be threatened by Houthi forces in Yemen.

Watch the entire interview.

(RT.com)