Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.
Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in
Swipe for next article
Negotiations between the US and Iran in Switzerland were cancelled after clashes between Israel and Hezbollah – before a renewed ceasefire was announced in Lebanon
Removed from bookmarks
I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice
Donald Trump reportedly told Israel to agree to a ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon, as reports suggest US intelligence is concerned about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu undermining his deal with Iran.
The US president instructed Israel to accept the ceasefire on Friday, he told NBC News in a call with a reporter, adding: “You just gotta calm down sometimes and use your head”.
It comes as Washington Post reports suggest US intelligence officials are concerned Netanyahu will try to undermine the US peace deal with Iran in a bid to continue its own conflict in Lebanon.
The officials, who spoke anonymously, said Netanyahu’s political survival is linked to showing his domestic audience that he will not withdraw troops from Lebanon.
Earlier, Trump rushed to defend his record after Iran’s supreme leader claimed he had forced through an agreement to end the war out of “desperation”, amid a pile-on of criticism over the deal.
“We didn’t meet out of desperation, Iran did”, the US president wrote on Truth Social. “They are FINISHED! We’ll play out the 60 days. They get no money, not ten cents!”
Anticipated talks between the US and Iran in Switzerland were abruptly called off on Friday.
Vice president JD Vance will not be joining the senior officials from the US and Iran gathering in Switzerland today to hammer out the final points on peace deal.
The announcement came after Wednesday’s signing of the memorandum of understanding, when preparations for technical talks at the Swiss mountaintop resort of Buergenstock were well advanced.
The broad interim deal requires the United States, Iran and their allies to declare an immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon. Israel, left out of the talks, says it is not party to the deal.
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araqchi in a telephone call with his Pakistani counterpart on Friday, said the United States would be responsible for any violation of its commitments under the deal, including ending the fighting in Lebanon, his ministry said.
US envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araqchi were both headed to Switzerland for talks, Axios reported, as a ceasefire in Lebanon appeared to revive efforts to turn an interim Iran war pact into a lasting regional deal.
US vice president JD Vance canceled plans on Thursday to travel to Switzerland for the talks, however, amid rising tension in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah, a militant group backed by Iran.
With the ceasefire in place, Witkoff is heading to Switzerland to join Jared Kushner, president Donald Trump’s son-in-law, who is already there, Axios said. Araqchi plans to travel there on Saturday, it added.
The development may signal that both sides intend to begin technical negotiations aimed at securing a permanent truce. The White House did not respond to questions about Witkoff’s travel.
Diplomatic niceties broke down at the United Nations on Friday when Israel’s ambassador and the UN secretary-general’s special representative for children and armed conflict became embroiled in a furious shouting match at a public hearing.
At a meeting in New York to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, the Israeli envoy, Danny Danon, demanded the resignation of Pramila Patten, who produced a report that blacklisted Israel for such alleged abuses for the first time, accusing her of bias.
“You caved to the secretary-general’s obsession with targeting Israel,” Danon said, referring to UN chief Antonio Guterres.
Another UN official, Vanessa Frazier, Guterres’ representative for children and armed conflict and compiler of a separate report that also blacklists Israel, interjected by shouting a point of order.
She demanded that Danon refrain from “personal attacks” and added that she had “verified evidence.”
Danon said Frazier should be quiet. “We are a member state, and you work for the UN, and you will be quiet now. You will be quiet… you and your shameful report,” he said.
Frazier, Malta’s former UN ambassador, issued her report this week on behalf of Guterres warning that Israeli settler groups could be added to a global blacklist for violations against children as the UN chief voiced alarm at what he called a “staggering” rise in violations against Palestinian children.
Israel itself already features in that report’s so-called list of shame annexes for alleged violations. When Patten’s report was issued last month, Danon called it “a new low” and Israel’s foreign ministry vowed to sever all ties with Guterres, who leaves office after 10 years at the year-end.
Pakistan’s interior minister Mohsin Naqvi has departed for Tehran today for meetings with senior Iranian officials, Iran’s state news agency IRNA reported.
IRNA said Naqvi would discuss the progress of negotiations between Iran and the United States during his visit, without providing further details.
Working at sea was a dream for 28-year-old Rex Pereira. But after witnessing the outbreak of the US-Iran war from the deck of his stranded ship in southern Iraq, he tells Maroosha Muzaffar he is a changed man:
At least five people were killed in Israeli air strikes and drone attacks in southern Lebanon today, Lebanese state media reported, just hours after a ceasefire between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah group took effect.
A senior Israeli official and two Hezbollah sources confirmed the agreement to Reuters. The US official said the truce was to begin at 4pm yesterday.
State news agency NNA said Israeli warplanes and drones carried out a series of strikes across the Nabatieh area overnight and into Saturday morning, destroying residential buildings and homes, while Israeli artillery shelled Nabatieh and its outskirts before dawn.
Israel and Hezbollah agreed to the ceasefire on Friday following an escalation in hostilities in Lebanon, according to a US official.
US President Donald Trump couldn’t help but boast about his hand-picked color scheme of the $400 million jet gifted by Qatar as he unveiled America’s new Air Force One.
On Friday, the president traveled to Joint Base Andrews and delivered remarks to service members while standing in a hangar in front of the massive jet. The red, white and blue paint scheme is similar to Trump’s private plane and a departure from the light blue of the old Air Force One that was recently retired.
Trump’s acquisition of the jet – which he will keep after his term – was met with outrage over security concerns and conflict of interest claims.
Read on…
US President Donald Trump has praised Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, calling him a “natural born warrior”.
“I also want to thank, I think a natural born warrior, his name is Pete Hegseth”, Trump said at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Friday. “So far, we’ve been winning all the time.”.
US President Donald Trump has insisted the interim peace deal signed by the US and Iran is “very popular,” despite pushback from his own party.
“Very popular agreement, except for the Fake News and their partner, the Dumocrats!” Trump wrote on Truth Social Friday.
But some Republicans have spoken out against the deal, with one calling it the “worst foreign policy blunder in decades”. Read more from James C. Reynolds:
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in
Leave a Reply