This story originally appeared in the JC Israel Briefing. You can sign up to receive the briefing daily here.
After yesterday's two-hour meeting at the State Department, Yechiel Leiter, Israel’s ambassador to the United States, said he and his Lebanese counterpart Nada Hamadeh Moawad “discovered today that we are on the same side of the equation," on Hezbollah in historic peace talks.
Leiter said Israel and Lebanon agree on the goal of liberating the country from Iranian influence and its terror proxy, Hezbollah, in the first direct negotiations between the two countries in decades.
The US announced further talks are planned, with Moawad stressing the need for implementing the 2024 ceasefire. “I called for a ceasefire and for displaced persons to return to their homes,” she said.
“I also urged the adoption of practical steps to alleviate the severe humanitarian crisis that the country continues to suffer from as a result of the ongoing conflict.”
Meanwhile, Hezbollah bombarded northern Israel in protest of the talks, after a senior Hezbollah official said that the terror group will not be bound by any deal struck between Lebanon’s government and Israel. This morning, a barrage of over 40 missiles was fired in less than 30 minutes as schools return in northern Israel.
Iran-backed Hezbollah, which has had a decades-long influence on Lebanese politics, has firmly opposed the talks, and yesterday, Wafiq Safa, a senior figure, told the Associated Press: “As for the outcomes of this negotiation between Lebanon and the Israeli enemy, we are not interested in or concerned with them at all.”
“We are not bound by what they agree to,” he added, as the conflict between the two sides continued, and the terms of the deal insist on the group disarming.
Hezbollah joined the Iran War just days after the fighting broke out, and has since rained down attacks on northern Israel, forcing residents into shelters daily.
Elsewhere, Pakistan has offered to host a new round of talks between Iran and the US after the collapse of diplomatic efforts last weekend.
Negotiating teams could return to Islamabad this week, as the US continues its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
The blockade has pushed up oil prices as the fragile ceasefire leaves global markets under pressure.
According to Reuters, a new round of diplomatic efforts could be as soon as this week, though Reuters reported that “no firm date has been set, with the delegations keeping Friday through Sunday open,” according to a senior Iranian source.
The blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is now "fully implemented", according to Centcom overnight, as the US continues to choke Iran's economy in a bid to sway negotiations.
US President Donald Trump told Fox News he thinks the war is "very close to over. You know what? If I pulled up stakes right now, it would take them 20 years to rebuild that country.
"And we're not finished. We'll see what happens. I think they want to make a deal very badly", adding that the US will not allow Iran to possess nuclear weapons.
He told reporters at the White House that “Iran will not have a nuclear weapon … We can't let a country blackmail or extort the world".
Yesterday, Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, said that the removal of enriched uranium is a precondition for ending the US-Israel war on Iran.
In a video statement he said that “the United States and Israel have defined removing this material from Iran as a precondition for ending the campaign”.
This story originally appeared in the JC Israel Briefing. You can sign up to receive the briefing daily here.
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