Understanding Iran’s insistence on Lebanon’s inclusion in ceasefire with US

[00:00:00]We have that a little pin prick out there that constantly rears its head and that's Hezbollah.

[00:00:07]>> Iranian leaders insist any agreement with the United States must include an end to hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, and continued fighting between them threatens to derail the whole peace process. A senior administration official says Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon was not a condition of the peace deal brokered between the US and Iran. But Israeli leaders have angered President Donald Trump with recent strikes on Beirut.

[00:00:29]Trump said Israel's operation in response to a Hezbollah attack, quote, should not have happened, particularly on a special day when we are so close to a peace deal with Iran. Trump affirmed Israel's, quote, right to defend itself, but called the Hezbollah attack meaningless as nobody was injured.

[00:00:44]>> Too many people are being killed.

[00:00:46]And you don't have to knock down an apartment house every time you're looking for somebody.

[00:00:50]>> Trump's willingness to criticize Netanyahu for retaliating against Hezbollah unearths a divide amongst the two close partners. The Trump administration has mediated multiple rounds of negotiations in recent months between Israeli and Lebanese governments as they try to figure out a long-term strategy for peace and stability in the region. The agreement that Vice President J.D. Vance said has been signed digitally is not believed to address Iran's proxy groups such as Hezbollah across the Middle East.

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