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Israel continued operations in Lebanon despite Iran and Pakistan’s insistence the deal included Lebanon
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Donald Trump’s newly announced deal to end the war with Iran was already under strain on Monday as Israel announced plans to stay in Lebanon, despite a reported agreement to end the conflict on all fronts.
Israeli defence minister Israel Katz, whose country is not a part to the US-Iran deal unveiled yesterday, said the military would not withdraw from security zones in southern Lebanon and would retaliate if Iran attacked.
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and I are leading a clear policy that determines that the IDF will remain in the security zones in Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza, without any time limit, to protect, from there, the border and Israeli communities against jihadist elements,” he said in a statement.
Lebanon has suffered the deadliest spillover of the conflict between the US and Iran, with thousands of people killed and some 1.2 million people uprooted by an Israeli offensive against Iran-backed Hezbollah.
Pakistani prime minister Shehbaz Sharif, a key mediator between Tehran and Washington, said a deal called for “the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all front, including in Lebanon”.
The issue threatens to divide the US and Israel, after Trump last week warned Netanyahu that Israel could find itself fighting alone if it reopened hostilities with Iran, following Iranian strikes over Israel’s conduct in Lebanon.
Donald Trump has made important concessions to Iran to recover the status quo that existed before the war, a former Biden administration official said as the US announced a deal to end the war.
Former State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told Reuters: “We have no assurances the nuclear program will ever be addressed, but Iran has shown the world it can take the global economy hostage and get something from the US in return.”
In a post on X he added: “We’re about to have a week of the Trump admin and the Iranians making conflicting claims about the deal to satisfy their respective hardliners, with both hoping no one will study the actual details if and when they emerge.”
Iran and the US are set to sign a memorandum of understanding to end the war in Switzerland on Friday.
Both sides have declared an immediate and permanent end to all military operations, and say the Strait of Hormuz will start to reopen this week.
Thorny issues like Iran’s nuclear programme and sanctions on Iran will be conducted over the following 60 days. These issues were already the focal point of talks in February, before the US launched the war.
Strait of Hormuz
Donald Trump said the Strait will be reopened on Friday and he had ordered a lifting of the blockade on Iranian ports. He said the Strait would be ‘toll free’.
But Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency reported that under the memorandum, marine traffic through the Strait would be regulated by Iran in coordination with Oman.
Nuclear weapons
Both sides have said that Iran agrees that it will neither produce nor acquire nuclear weapons – a promise Tehran has been making repeatedly for decades.
A senior Iranian official said pending a final agreement Iran would freeze its nuclear activity, refraining from further uranium enrichment. They said the US had agreed Iran could dilute its stockpile of HEU under a future agreement.
Sanctions
The senior Iranian official said the US had agreed not to impose any new sanctions on Iran until a final deal was reached.
They also said the US had agreed to release $25 billion of Iran’s frozen assets, including via direct cash transfers, cooperation among regional countries, and financial credit lines.
Washington, in coordination with its regional allies, would prepare a reconstruction and development plan for Iran, to be negotiated and agreed with Tehran within 60 days, they added.
Israeli defence minister Israel Katz said on Monday that Israeli forces would look to stay in Lebanon indefinitely, despite the US-Iran deal reportedly stipulating the conflict must end on all fronts.
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and I are leading a clear policy that determines that the IDF will remain in the security zones in Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza, without any time limit, to protect, from there, the border and Israeli communities against jihadist elements,” Katz said in a statement.
He said they “oppose an IDF withdrawal from Lebanon, despite all the existing pressures and those that will still come”.
Why it matters
The comments threaten to undermine the tentative framework agreement hashed out between Iran and the US after more than three months of conflict.
Iran and mediator Pakistan have said the deal depends on the war ending on all fronts, explicitly including Lebanon.
Donald Trump clashed with Israeli PM Netanyahu last week after Iran struck Israel over its continued operations in Lebanon. Trump told Netanyahu not to retaliate and warned Israel could find itself fighting alone if it reopened hostilities. Israel subsequently retaliated.
The EU’s foreign policy chief said on Monday the deal between the US and Iran marks a ‘potential breakthrough’ in the conflict, and the bloc will now consider how it can be involved in the next phase.
Kaja Kallas said in a post on X: “From economic leverage to nuclear expertise and longstanding relationships with Gulf partners, the EU stands ready to contribute to a sustainable resolution.”
Her comments came ahead of a meeting of foreign affairs ministers from the 27 EU member states in Brussels.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said separately that the deal should allow for the ‘immediate reopening’ of the Strait of Hormuz.
“The priority now is its swift and full implementation by all parties,” von der Leyen said about the announced deal.
“Freedom of navigation must be restored toll-free. This is essential for regional stability and the global economy. It opens the door to broader negotiations on peace and security in the Middle East,” she added.
Von der Leyen also said that peace in the Middle East was impossible “while Lebanon is in flames.”
Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Monday the US deal with Iran is “bad for Israel” amid growing skepticism in Israel and a push to continue operations in Lebanon.
“The joint campaign had many achievements in weakening Iran, and they will not go to waste,” he wrote on social media, adding: “We will have to continue the campaign to topple the regime ourselves and in creative ways, and ensure that Iran will never have nuclear weapons.”
He continued: “I will continue to act so that we continue to stand firm on ours and allow the IDF full freedom of action to continue pushing Hezbollah away.”
The United Arab Emirates called for full implementation of the US-Iran deal to end the war, including an immediate halt to hostilities and ensuring freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.
The foreign ministry on Monday stressed the importance of dialogue, diplomacy and adherence to international law following the US-Iran memorandum of understanding.
The UAE was affected by the conflict, with Iranian strikes hitting shipping and energy infrastructure linked to the country during the war.
Authorities in southern Lebanon warned displaced people against rushing home on Monday despite a US-Iran deal to end the wider conflict, as Israel said it would not withdraw troops from the south.
Israeli defence minister Israel Katz said the security zone in southern Lebanon would be cleared of local residents, and “all terrorist infrastructure, including houses in contact villages”, in reference to Hezbollah.
Mona Mazeh, a displaced woman sheltering in Beirut’s Hamra district, said she had no immediate plans to return to her village near the southern city of Tyre.
“Frankly, we are hesitant; Israel cannot be trusted,” she said.
The Israeli military has been razing villages in southern Lebanon for weeks, saying it is acting against Hezbollah militants embedded in civilian areas of the predominantly Shi’ite Muslim region.
In Nabatieh, a devastated city in the south, Mohammed Daqdouq said he had returned on Monday morning to check on his home.
“We’ll need a lifetime to rebuild – to rebuild it again and bring Nabatieh back to how it was,” he said.
US and Iranian officials said on Sunday that they have agreed on a framework to end the war, lift the US blockade of Iranian ports and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
The announcement came as a relief to world leaders anticipating lower energy prices once free trade resumes in the Gulf.
Allies in Europe, who have faced pointed criticism from Donald Trump over their perceived lack of support for the US, said they were ready to support Washington’s goals.
But within hours of the announcement, the deal was already under strain as Israeli officials vowed to continue operations in Lebanon, while Tehran said the agreement must cease the fighting in all regions.
Here’s how the world reacted to Donald Trump’s peace deal announcement:
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations received a report on Monday that a container vessel was approached and fired upon by a small boat 14 nautical miles south off the coast of Yemen, with an attempted boarding.
Authorities are investigating, and vessels are advised to transit with caution and report any suspicious activity to UKMTO, it said.
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