Iran war day 113: Tehran pressures the US in Lebanon to end the war | Israel attacks Lebanon News

Iran will pressure the US into Lebanon as Israel fights for a ceasefire and peace efforts.

Iran has said it is ready to move forward diplomacy with the United Statesbut insists Washington must ensure that Israel complies with the ceasefire agreement. Tehran has repeatedly said that the agreement is needed to end the war in the entire region, including in Lebanon.

The comments come as a senior US official told Reuters that Israel and Hezbollah had agreed to end the war in Lebanon, despite Israel’s continued offensive. Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, said the US has a “commitment and responsibility” to ensure that the deal is implemented on all sides.

Here’s what we know:

In Iran:

• Iran sees Lebanon as a “test” of US power over Israel: Muhanad Seloom of the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies said Tehran is looking at whether the US “can dominate or control Israel’s side”, calling Lebanon a “test” of Washington’s influence. “If the United States cannot stop Israel from attacking Lebanon,” he said, “who can guarantee that in the future Israel will not attack Iran itself?” For Iran, he added, it is important to see if the US can “guarantee that Israel will comply with the terms of the agreements”.
• Lebanon’s connection to Iran’s alliance with the US may be back: Former US Secretary of State Mark Kimmitt said it was “absolutely unwise” for Iran to end Israel’s war in Lebanon under the deal. “They cannot control what Hezbollah will do, and the United States does not control what Israel will do,” he told Al Jazeera, adding that although Washington and Israel “have many interests”, they do not have “the same interests”. Trying to tie the two conflicts, he warned, “returns to Iran’s face”.
• Analyst sees long road to a major US-Iran deal: Ali Vaez, the head of the Iran project at the International Crisis Group, said that the deal could happen, but warned that turning it into a major deal would be “very difficult” and “very ambitious” within 60 days. Explaining the difficulty of negotiations and the high level of mistrust between Washington and Tehran, Vaez said that both sides could be in “MoU-land for a while” because “there is no better way”.

In the US:

• Trump is frustrated with Israel: Signs of conflict between Washington and Israel are growing as the Trump administration is pushing for “a complete cessation of hostilities on all sides, including Lebanon, Hezbollah, and Israel”, while the Israeli army continues to fight ground operations in Lebanon. Analysts say Lebanon remains the biggest threat to the deal, with Trita Parsi of the Quincy Institute arguing that Tehran is “not kidding” about its demand for a ceasefire and Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.
• US to host new Israel-Lebanon peace talks next week: The Trump administration has announced new talks between Israeli and Lebanese officials in Washington on June 23 and 25, in order to advance “permanent peace”. The US has described direct negotiations as the only way to achieve the reconstruction of Lebanon and the restoration of the economy, although the process is still difficult because Hezbollah rejected the talks and continued to disagree on the group’s call for disarmament.

In Lebanon:

• Israeli terrorists question Lebanon’s ceasefire: Israel the attack continued in southern Lebanon after the cessation of hostilities with Hezbollah, which raised questions about the viability of the alliance. The agreement, brokered by Qatar, the US and Iran, was designed to prevent the conflict in Lebanon from interfering with US-Iran peace efforts, but protests continued at the deadline despite both sides showing their support for the agreement.