Israel and Iran harden stances on Lebanon pullout, risking Trump’s deal

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman warned Thursday that a continued IDF presence in southern Lebanon would mean the “annulment” of the memorandum of understanding it signed with the United States, as Israel doubled down on its plans to keep troops in the area amid its ongoing conflict with the Hezbollah terror group.

Speaking to the Hezbollah-aligned Lebanese news outlet Al Akhbar, Esmaeil Baghaei said the continuation of Israel’s offensive would be a violation of the memorandum of understanding between Washington and Tehran that was signed this week.

“It was not acceptable for us to abandon our brothers in Lebanon,” the spokesman said. “We cannot talk about ending the war while parts of Lebanese territory remain under the occupation of the Zionist entity. As long as the occupation continues, it can be said that the war is still in place and has not ended in essence.”

The signed memorandum affirms a commitment to Lebanon’s territorial integrity in the face of Israel’s ground operation against the terror group. The clause has proven thorny as Israel refuses to withdraw from wide swaths of southern Lebanon, saying it will not cede the ground to Hezbollah, which has long held sway in the country’s south and from which it has been firing missiles and drones at Israel.

An official close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Reuters that Israel had been “conducting stubborn negotiations” with the US on the issue of maintaining its deployment in Lebanon.

Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition

by email and never miss our top stories

By signing up, you agree to the terms

Israel has no intention of backing down on its positions, the official said, amid continued hostilities between IDF troops and the terror group.

US and Iranian negotiators were set to meet Friday in the Swiss resort town of Burgenstock for initial talks on Iran’s nuclear program and other outstanding disputes.

The negotiations outlined in the memorandum are meant to result in a final deal within a 60-day time frame. But Baghaei appeared to rule out any progress in talks so long as Israel pressed on with its offensive against Hezbollah,

“The second phase of our negotiations will begin to reach a final agreement, and this final agreement will be achieved only if the memorandum of understanding is fully implemented, which, in our view, means the complete cessation of attacks and the end of the occupation,” Baghaei said.

“The Zionist entity does not want to provide any opportunity for any diplomatic path to calm the situation in our region,” the official charged, asserting that the US was responsible for “obliging” Israel to respect the memorandum.

For its part, the IDF published an updated map of its security zone in the territory, showing that troops had advanced deeper in recent months.

“IDF soldiers are stationed in the designated area of operation in southern Lebanon and will continue to remove threats and strengthen the defense of Israel’s northern residents,” the military said in a statement.

Stretching east to west, the deployment line on the map runs up to 10 kilometers (6 miles) deep from the border into Lebanese territory.

The map indicated that Israeli troops advanced deeper into Lebanon since the “forward defense line” was first announced in April, and have reached the outskirts of Nabatieh.

The IDF’s potential withdrawal from areas of southern Lebanon was still being discussed under direct negotiations being held between Jerusalem and Beirut, separately from the US-Iran talks. The teams were expected to convene again next week.

The talks — which Israel has said are ultimately aimed at securing a full peace deal, while Lebanon has said they are only focused on de-escalation — have faced an uphill battle, since Hezbollah has vowed not to recognize or abide by any deal they yield, raising the prospect of a renewed civil war in Lebanon.

Speaking to Al Akhbar, Baghaei told the outlet that the MOU determined that the US and Iran “will negotiate exclusively on the nuclear file and the lifting of sanctions.”

Baghaei said that Iran has no intention of developing nuclear weapons, despite the fact it has enriched uranium to levels far beyond what is needed for civilian use while obstructing inspectors and regularly vowing to destroy Israel.

“We have not sought to acquire nuclear weapons and we do not seek them either through their manufacture or through their purchase,” the spokesman claimed. Western powers widely believe Iran had a nuclear weapons program until at least 2003, though whether it continued to develop it in recent years is debated.

The memorandum itself does not resolve any of the war goals declared by the US and Israel on February 28, since it pushes off discussion of Iran’s nuclear program and other core issues to the 60-day negotiation process and omits the other objectives entirely.

Israel was not a party to the negotiations on the terms of the interim deal, and Israeli officials have expressed grave concerns over them.

The US and Israel went to war in part to prevent Iran from ever getting a nuclear weapon. Trump has cited various goals for the war, including, at times, vowing it would end Iran’s nuclear and missile programs and its support for Hezbollah and other proxy groups. He also suggested it could lead to toppling the Iranian government.

The agreement, which falls short of all those goals, is set to restore the status quo before the war. It provides for the cessation of hostilities, renewed talks between the US and Iran over Tehran’s nuclear program and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz — the crucial passage for the world’s oil and natural gas — whose closure created a historic energy crisis.

Jacob Magid contributed to this report.