Ahead of signing the US-Iran peace deal, Iranian FM Araghchi calls for Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon
Iran's Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi on Tuesday (local time) said any peace deal with the United States must include Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon
Iran's Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi on Tuesday (local time) said any peace deal with the United States must include Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon. Tel Aviv has already rejected the condition, a stance that could jeopardize the agreement and risk a return to full-scale war. Araghchi's remarks came as Washington and Tehran work to finalize a memorandum of understanding to end months of conflict. He added that Israel's continued occupation of Lebanese territory would breach the deal, adding, “Without the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territories they occupied during this war, the war has not fully come to an end." US-Iran peace deal The US-Iran peace deal has not yet been made public. Officials have sometimes offered contradictory interpretations of what is in it. While Israel is not a party to the agreement, it is part of the war after joining hands with the US in launching strikes on Iran in late February. Tel Aviv has also fought the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon and seized large swaths of that country.
Citing a US official who outlined the agreement, the news agency AP reported that the deal does not call for an Israeli withdrawal. And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that Israel would remain in Lebanon “as long as necessary.” However, his remarks are in stark contradiction to the 14-point draft memorandum of understanding (MoU) released by Iran's Mehr news agency. According to the purported draft agreement, Tehran has consistently maintained Tel Aviv's withdrawal from Lebanon and has sought an end to fighting on all fronts. Donald Trump slams Israeli PM Netanyahu's tactics in Lebanon Earlier on Tuesday, US President Donald Trump went after Netanyahu, using language no other US president has. As Trump tries to finalize a peace deal with Iran, he claimed credit for Tel Aviv's existence and said, "without me, there would be no Israel” — and cursed his judgment in interviews. He even described him as “crazy.” The ties between the two leaders seem to strain despite Netanyahu reportedly telling Trump last year that he was the “greatest friend Israel ever had in the White House." Additionally, he also issued a rare public rebuke of Israel's military tactics in Lebanon and said it was unnecessary to bomb apartment buildings in Lebanon to hunt Hezbollah militants.
Trump, who in recent days had expressed his displeasure over Israeli attacks in Beirut that he said could have endangered his peace deal with Iran, said Israel has been fighting Hezbollah, the Iran-aligned Lebanese militia, for "too long". "Too many people have been killed. You don't have to knock down an apartment house every time you're looking for somebody, because there are a lot of people in those apartment houses, and they're not all Hezbollah," Trump said at the G7 summit in France on 16 June. Israeli officials express frustration with US-Iran deal Recently, tensions between Trump and Netanyahu have been more prominent. According to reports, Israeli officials are quietly expressing frustration about the Iran deal that the Republican president struck, while Trump is growing impatient with Netanyahu over Israeli strikes in Beirut, which triggered Iranian attacks just when he was working to finalize the peace deal. Earlier on Monday, at least two far-right Israeli ministers denounced the US-Iran peace deal to end the war in West Asia, including in Lebanon, insisting their country was not bound by it.
The BriefWire