Photo: Alamy
Iran reportedly helped Qatar and the United States to broker the new ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, as the Middle East wrestles with establishing a long-term peace deal in the region.
According to Fox News, the ceasefire, which went into effect on June 19, was indeed brokered with help from Iran. However, Israel has not yet withdrawn from Lebanon – the key point of this sticky geopolitical situation.
Israel has relentlessly pursued its interests in Lebanon as it purportedly has attacked Hezbollah, but the ongoing violence in the region has, much to President Trump’s chagrin, also caused many deaths in places like Beirut.
The president said this week that Israel had been fighting Hezbollah “for too long, and too many people are being killed.”
Vice President J.D. Vance has also ramped up his rhetoric regarding Israeli aggression toward Lebanon, noting that the continued pattern of IDF strikes in the region has repeatedly stalled negotiations with Iran.
“Israel has the right to defend itself but…[what] the president has grown frustrated with is sometimes we seem to be right on the cusp of a major breakthrough in the agreement, and then all of a sudden there’s a major explosion that goes off in a civilian population center in Beirut and a lot of people who have nothing to do with Hezbollah lose their lives,” said VP Vance during a Thursday press briefing.
He added, “That’s not acceptable. That’s the sort of thing that we’ve asked for closer coordination, so we ensure that doesn’t happen.”
As reported by RSBN, Iran has demanded that Israeli military hostilities in Lebanon cease. This has become an important point in the negotiations between the United States and Iran, amid a newly signed memorandum of understanding between the two nations.
Now, the U.S. and Iran will negotiate the finer details of a long-term agreement over the next 60 days.
“The United States is committed to PEACE, and we encourage everyone in the Middle East Region to maintain their commitment to allowing our negotiations to beautifully unfold,” President Trump said in a strong statement on Thursday.
He added, “…We expect a complete Ceasefire on all fronts, including Lebanon, Hezbollah, and Israel.”
