Top Iranian and Lebanese officials have rejected a US-brokered agreement between Israel and Lebanon.
On Friday, the State Department announced an agreement between the governments of Lebanon and Israel that was framed as a ceasefire. Israel has been at war in Lebanon with Hezbollah for several years. Israeli forces are occupying Lebanon, and Tel Aviv has declared a large portion of the country’s south as a “security zone.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu celebrated the deal as a “historic achievement for Israel.” He added that it will allow for a future “peace agreement between the two nations,” but that Israel would continue to attack and occupy Lebanon.
Israeli officials say their forces will remain in Lebanon until Hezbollah is disarmed. “Speaking about regional developments, I reiterated Israel’s desire for peace with Lebanon as reflected in the framework agreement signed this weekend,” Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar wrote on X. “I stressed that peace and security can only be achieved by the disarmament of Hezbollah.”
Some Lebanese officials closest to Hezbollah rejected the US-brokered agreement. Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament Nabih Berri said the deal was “a conspiracy and sedition,” adding that it undermined Lebanon’s sovereignty.
Tehran also objected to the agreement. Under the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by the US and Iran earlier this month, the ceasefire extended to Lebanon. Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said that any agreement involving Lebanon must include “the return of displaced people to their homes, the removal of occupation, and the exit of the Zionist regime from Lebanese territory”
The Lebanon agreement was driven by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who held multiple conversations with Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun multiple times last week. Meanwhile, Vice President JD Vance, who is leading negotiations with Iran, only spoke with the leaders once.
One official said that Washington was able to push Tel Aviv and Beirut to sign the deal to minimize Tehran’s influence in Lebanon. “There wasn’t a lot of trust between Israel and Lebanon, but eventually both parties understood they needed to get a deal in order to keep control of the process and not allow Iran in,” the source told Axios.
