As Lebanon tests US-Iran deal, Trump must rein in Netanyahu, analysts say

Published 19 June 2026 · us

It is not another anonymously sourced report about a rift between the United States and Israel. This time, the administration of President Donald Trump appears

It is not another anonymously sourced report about a rift between the United States and Israel. This time, the administration of President Donald Trump appears genuinely frustrated with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war in Lebanon. The opening of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the US and Iran calls for the “permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon”, but the Israelis are not stopping their attacks in the country. The Israeli military is continuing its deadly strikes in Lebanon and trying to advance further with its invasion, vowing to keep hold of the territory it has conquered, amounting to nearly 20 percent of the country. The Trump administration is making it clear that it is irked by Israel’s behaviour. “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,” Trump wrote in a social media post on Thursday. “The Markets are loving what is happening with Oil Prices way down, and Stocks way up. We expect a complete Ceasefire on all fronts, including Lebanon, Hezbollah, and Israel.” For their part, the Iranians have said repeatedly that they will not finalise a ceasefire deal while Lebanon is under fire. This condition appeared to come into play on Friday when talks between the United States and Iran to discuss the technical terms of their ceasefire deal were postponed after overnight Israeli attacks on Lebanon killed dozens of people. While US officials have said that yet another ceasefire was agreed in Lebanon after the spike in violence on Friday, Israel has continued its attacks. Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said on Thursday that he received assurances from President Masoud Pezeshkian about safeguarding the rights of “the Iranian nation and the resistance front” in talks with the US. The resistance front, also known as the axis of resistance, is a network of regional Iranian allies that includes Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, said Tehran is “not joking” about its commitment to a ceasefire and Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon. “Lebanon has always been the greatest vulnerability to this deal because this is really crucial to the Iranians,” Parsi told Al Jazeera. When the MoU was announced, Israel’s allies in the US rushed to criticise the Lebanon stipulations, arguing that Israel must have freedom of military action to respond to “threats” in the country. The deal stressed Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. “The language would appear to mandate Israel end efforts to disarm Hezbollah, despite Israel not being a party to the MoU and ongoing Hezbollah attacks,” The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) said on Thursday. Ryan Costello, the policy director at the Iranian American Council (NIAC), an advocacy group that promotes diplomacy, told Al Jazeera that Lebanon poses the “greatest test” for the ceasefire deal. “I would not be surprised at all if there is a breakdown in the broader negotiations, and we see at least Israel and Iran return to fighting,” Costello said. “I think what Trump has signalled is that if you do that, Israel, you’re going to be on your own.” Lebanon and the ceasefire Israel’s assault on Lebanon has been a major fault line in the ceasefire for months. From the outset of the conflict, Iran has linked the war in Lebanon to its own confrontation with the US and Israel. But Israel has insisted that it can attack Lebanon independently, without affecting the broader ceasefire talks between the US and Iran. When the US and Israel launched their initial attacks on Iran in February, the war quickly mushroomed into a regional conflict. The Lebanese group Hezbollah joined the fighting in March as a response to the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, as well as to Israel’s daily violations of the ceasefire with Lebanon forged in November 2024.