The ongoing conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, backed by Iran's IRGC, demonstrates how regional powers use proxy groups to pursue strategic objectives while maintaining plausible deniability. The suspension of Iran nuclear talks and continued military operations despite ceasefire announcements reveal the complex interplay between diplomatic negotiations and military realities in Middle Eastern geopolitics.
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BREAKING: Clashes ERUPT In Lebanon - IRGC Suspend 'Iran Deal' Talks - Israel Says NO CEASEFIRE
Added:[music] >> Welcome back to 2C TV. This is your global news channel, Ameya 2C, and we have had more clashes in Lebanon following a range of attacks from Hezbollah towards the state of Israel and the idea of soldiers. I'm going to give you guys, firstly, the literally a 20-second summary of what you might have missed over the last few hours and few minutes because if you're catching up with the news, you might be behind it. Everything is moving very, very quickly. First things first, we do have our a live feed from the Israeli-Lebanese border. We just had a smoke that's just going up to the uh the top right uh side of the screen.
Last night, uh Hezbollah once again violated the ceasefire. The Israelis defended themselves. Today, we also had uh I obviously the Hezbollah side managed to uh unfortunately kill four IDF soldiers. Uh today, we still had IDF hitting multiple positions in Lebanon.
Then, about an hour ago, couple of hours ago, uh the United States announced that we now have a ceasefire again between Hezbollah and Israel.
And that was announced. Everybody was like, "Okay, there we go. There's a ceasefire."
The IDF said, "No. We If we get attacked, we're going to continue to defend ourselves." And we are now seeing uh fresh strikes and clashes. Uh we are going to be joined by a very, very special guest to talk about uh the MOU, the memorandum of uh understanding because uh the Iran talks deal uh has been suspended. It was supposed to be today, and then they said uh potentially tomorrow, and then Sunday. I don't know what's going on with that. So, that's been suspended. The IRGC are having a meltdown. Our special guest is a Mark Zell, which I'll go to uh very soon, uh the vice president of the Republicans Overseas. He's also the chairman of the Republicans Overseas in Israel. Uh first, let me just show you the latest round of clashes, intense clashes uh a earlier hours of this morning between the IDF and Hezbollah terrorists in Nabatieh, southern parts of Lebanon.
>> Listen, listen.
>> So, the There we go. So, the IRGC ordered Hezbollah. They don't do things on their own. The IRGC gave them the green light to go and target the IDF soldiers. They managed to obviously kill four, and things kicked off uh from here. Uh there are still uh strikes that are happening even after the so-called ceasefire announcement about an hour ago. Israel launched a new overnight ground advance into southern Lebanon, uh and the Hezbollah uh terrorists managed to engage Israeli troops directly at zero distance, a close combat, uh and they managed to uh damage uh four Israeli military vehicles, and also allegedly downed a helicopter. We're going to get more information on that. Uh >> [snorts] >> over 20 strikes were conducted by the Israeli uh Air Force. At least 18 Hezbollah members were eliminated. But that, before we continue the actual coverage on what's going on on the ground in southern Lebanon, we have to talk about what's happening uh with the so-called Iran talks. Now, let's bring on Mark Zell. Thank you so much for coming on to CTV. You have been uh quite outspoken over the last couple of days about this so-called memorandum of understanding. A lot of people have been freaking out. A lot of people have been questioning, saying, "Has President Trump lost his mind? Does he now suddenly hate Israel?" Uh can you explain to people what your thinking is and what could actually be happening?
>> Well, Mayya, thank you very much for having me on your program, and uh it's a real honor to be with you. I'm a member of follow you uh and I think I'm subscribed to your your service. It's a excellent excellent source of news. Listen, I I'll start with this.
President the the claims that are being made is that President Trump is demented, sick, insane, or corrupted. I mean basically claiming that he's been bought bought or bribed by the Qataris and who got got knows who else.
The problem that we have with all this is that the President President Trump long ago in the first administration back in 2017 and then again in the throughout his second term has been the closest most supportive American president as far as Israel and the Jewish people is concerned for the history of the state of Israel and for and in modern times.
So, the the the question that has to be asked is why would he suddenly switch gears or change gears and go 180° in the opposite direction? I couldn't figure that out at first. I the the terms of the memorandum of understanding with with Iran are are bad. They're not encouraging. I I imagine you have also commented on the fact that extending the regime in Iran an economic lifeline makes little sense.
But I thought about it and I contacted my my colleagues in in Washington and and what I've um what I've surmised is this.
The President is been elected to protect and further American interests.
And those interests uh relate to the ability of the United States to protect itself and its economy and its citizens.
The President of the United States has determined, and I agree with him, that a victory by the Democratic Party in the November midterm elections would result in a catastrophe because the Democrats would then be able to take over the House of Representatives. And because they lack any policy, and because they are really off the rails, as you can see by their candidates in New York and Los Angeles, Seattle, across the United States, Maine [snorts] and Michigan.
Uh they if they got to power and they could actually begin attempting to impeach the President and to it and investigate his policies and his his administration, uh all of this would is designed to put a a a spo a wrench in the works and and prevent him from carrying out his policies for the next remaining 2 years of his administration.
That would be a disaster. So, how do you do that? How do you increase the President's chances or the the party's chances to win in November?
You stay below you do what the American people want. They're not interested in wars, they're not interested in foreign policy like we are here in Israel.
They're interested in their pockets and their kitchen table. And they want the price of gas to go down, they want their food prices to go down, they want the stock market to continue continue to remain robust. That's what they want.
And the President is determined, and I understand what he's doing, even though I don't like the MOU, what he's he's doing is trying to put the Iran conflict on back on the back burner until the elections. He's got a 60-day ceasefire, he will definitely extend it by another 60 days, I'm certain, and until the election. And and and the idea is that he's going to be able to go to the American people say, "Listen, you know, you don't have to worry, I've got this under control, your pocketbooks or your pockets are full, your stocks are they're going up, your your retirement plans, it's it's working. Vote for us because the alternative is chaos.
>> Mhm. Mhm. Well, that's interesting because I mean that they you obviously have had a look at the MOU and it's it's not going to happen anyway. It There are so many issues with it that it's just going to be very impossible. Firstly, the one main issue, which is the nuclear thing, the Islamic Republic are not going to give it up as you go as everybody knows. And President Trump has been consistent for about 40 years on even when he was just in the world of business. So, that's why a lot of people have been confused like, "Wait, what's happening now? Has he been drinking the same drink from a Tucker Carlson's cup?" But yeah, none of that makes sense. But the the midterms situation and the complications and the markets obviously is quite clear.
But that also means that if anything happens in between, that's why I want to ask you now before you go, the situation in Lebanon right now. It seems like maybe perhaps the behind-the-scenes whispers is a conversation that Israel, if you are hit, you hit back. You know, you can defend yourself. We're going to show outrage. We're not going to go back to the all-out war yet because it's going to kick off.
But it seems like the IRGC know this and they keep getting Hezbollah to poke the bear, right?
>> Yeah, well, listen. One of the things you've got to understand is that Israel is never a party to this memorandum of understanding. Yeah. That was deliberate. And then and you know, everybody in Israel they were all complaining why weren't we a party? Why didn't we get copies of the agreement early on and so on? But I think one of the things that's people haven't been talking about is that this gives Israel a free hand. If if the if if things in Lebanon deteriorate like they're doing right now, Israel will strike back and they've said it. Prime Minister Netanyahu, Minister Katz, Defense Minister Katz have both said that no, we're not going anywhere and and we're not going to be just taking hits from the Hezbollah. If they hit us, we're going to hit them with intensity. And that goes not only for for Lebanon, it goes for Syria, and you know what? If it got to it, it would go to Iran as well.
Israel has a free hand. Now, they don't want their the prime minister and the and the president of the United States are on good working relationships. That is something we have to emphasize despite all the reporting not uh contra to the contrary. And I believe that they will be working together to to allow each country to achieve its national interests and that and protect its national interests. They are not exactly 100% uh coincidental or overlapped. There is a slight distance. Israel wants the Iran regime to go. Okay? The United States is not taking that position, but I think probably everybody in their heart of hearts knows that things will not actually be resolved nuclear or ballistic missiles or proxies or anything else, Straits of Hormuz, unless the regime finally collapses.
>> Brilliant. Well, thank you so much Mark Zell for joining us on 2C TV. Hopefully, we'll have more updates and we'll have you back on. Thank you so much.
>> Thank you, Mayar. Bye.
>> Uh all right, ladies and gentlemen, we're going to continue this. Let's quickly go back to uh southern Lebanon as firstly, the IRGC have been uh uh threatening to hit Israel. This was just before the announcement about an hour ago that uh the United States said there there's ceasefire now. There's definitely ceasefire between Israel and uh Hezbollah, they said. Israel and Lebanon.
There's a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon. Not Not Israel and Hezbollah.
Hezbollah is not part of this. So, technically, yeah. Uh but obviously, the IDF have said, "We don't care." And over the last few minutes, the IDF continues to hit Hezbollah. Uh firstly, we have the IRGC's Qalibaf saying, "We are at your command. The task assigned to us by the supreme leader is to pursue the realization of the conditions and clauses of the agreement. In the event of bad faith, breach of contract, and excessive demands or by the opposite side, we have no hesitation in delivering a crushing response to the enemy. They were once slapped during the war. If they wish to tread that path again, they will receive an even harder slap.
Kinky. They [snorts] love to slap around. Now, let's quickly go back. Over the last few minutes, the Israeli Air Force have been hitting southern Lebanon. Multiple targets have been hit despite the ceasefire announcement.
Busy day, busy weekend for the IDF.
The interesting thing about this is that as Mark Zell mentioned, there's a very good point. A lot of people in Israel were panicking saying, "Why is Israel not part of the deal? Why why do we not get all the information?" As he said, "But actually, it's a good thing. It's for Israel's protection." By not being part of the deal, Israel can do whatever they want.
Obviously, President Trump will have to show outrage and but at the same time, President Trump said again last night, "If Israel has to attack Iran, and the actual country, not Hezbollah, Iran, of course the United States will send the troops and will help them."
Everybody's like completely all over the place right now saying, "Wait, so what's happening here? Are we are we giving up the war? Are we are we attacking? Are we doing ceasefire? Are we doing negotiations?" Basically, there is a state of confusion until the midterm elections. That's that's what we are looking at for now. Now, we have to receive this latest footage from the IDF saying that they have now hit more than 150 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon since midnight. So, you could say probably the last 17 hours, 18 hours. They have continued to hit a huge number of Hezbollah operatives have been taken out. And that continues to be the case as long as Hezbollah poses a threat to Israel's national security, which of course they will because the IRGC know what's going on. I mean if if we are saying it, if Mark is saying it, they're not that stupid. They know that by not including Israel in as part of the the deal, that means Israel can do whatever they want, but Hezbollah is also not part of the deal, right? So, as in they they are not part of the negotiations or signing it. So, at this point, the IRGC could tell Hezbollah to keep poking the bear, to test the waters, to push boundaries, and to force the Americans' hands because they know that the Americans are taking a long break until the next round of the conflict. Now, the ceasefire was announced, as I said, about an hour ago, but as of now, we have now received another update.
Is this Yes, we have it now.
Another drone attack.
Yes. Okay, Hezbollah over the last hour or so, have once again launched against Israel. Do we have the actual location? Yes, there we go. So, this is the drone attack in the northern part of Israel, not too far from the border, of course.
And the IDF have managed to intercept the latest round of attacks coming from southern Lebanon. And now the Israeli Defense Forces are retaliating and hitting multiple positions in the southern parts. Let's go.
>> Yeah, Daniel also says Israel hasn't agreed to anything in the MOU, says Israel wasn't even invited, so Israel is kind of free. Yeah, that was for Israel's protection, given the free hand to be able to be able to defend themselves.
So, obviously the the US government will publicly in the media would say, "Oh, we're not happy about more clashes." But they're still letting Israel defend themselves anyway. We have JD Vance going on TV insulting the the Israeli government ministers, but on the ground, the actual result is still that Israel is allowed to do whatever it wants as long as it's just defending itself. And so, Israeli officials, a number of them have said very similar thing over the last few minutes.
First things first, actually we're going to quickly go back to uh the border.
It's clearing up now, so that's the border, but we'll go back to Beirut. But literally, 2 minutes before the live stream started we had the smoke by the Israeli-Lebanese border. So, the Israeli officials are saying similar things.
Number one, one of them said, "A ceasefire being in effect does not prevent us from continuing our operations." Another one said, "A ceasefire does not mean ceasing fire.
It means not escalating attacks." Which is the same thing if you remember about a month ago, a few weeks ago, President Trump was asked by a reporter, "What what what How do you classify a ceasefire in the Middle East?" Then he said, "Well, it's the Middle East. In that part of the world, ceasefire simply means you'll be hitting the other side in a more moderate manner."
That's ceasefire in the Middle East.
Another Israeli officials have said, "If Hezbollah tries to confront Israeli advances in southern Lebanon, we will defend ourselves, of course.
And a ceasefire does not mean season five. It's the similar thing as the other one said, basically. Uh so it Israel will continue to defend itself, and they are free because they're not part of this agreement. But Prime Minister Netanyahu has also just released a statement over the last 10 minutes.
Uh the Prime Minister of Israel has now ordered the Israeli Defense Forces to strike Hezbollah with force uh following uh yesterday's terrorist attack that killed four IDF soldiers, calling it a blatant ceasefire violation. The IDF has now hit over 80 terror targets again today, uh eliminated dozens of Hezbollah operatives, and struck Hezbollah command posts in uh Bekaa Valley uh this morning. Uh the Prime Minister said, "Israel will not tolerate attacks on our soldiers or our territory, and will uh exact a very heavy price from Hezbollah." He also added that Israel will remain in the security zone in southern Lebanon as long as it is necessary. The IDF will not cease their military operation against Hezbollah.
Nothing has changed. We're just having clashes. All these announcements of "Oh, there's now there's ceasefire now.
Everything's fine. Everything Let's go back to normal." is not happening.
That's why the IRGC know this. That's why the IRGC suspended the talks that were supposed to be happening today uh and potentially tomorrow, but we don't know exactly what's going to happen. Maybe someday, I don't know.
Absolute crazy stuff uh happening. The IRGC keep trying to get the Americans and the Israelis to take the bait, and they are not so far.
Yes, the IRGC is having a meltdown, says Carter. The IRGC is losing control of Iran and Lebanon. That's the embarrassing part, because they lost Syria before, and Lebanon is next, and of course Iran is the final destination.
This is a long fight.
BB issued of a page of sale in the Middle East.
I don't think anybody's going to use that again.
Sounds like the IRGC wants to divide its opponents. It won't work. Now, I think I mean I think they know what we know. I mean, they're not that stupid. I think they know that the the Israelis have been allowed to have the free hand.
And that's why what they want to do is by getting Hezbollah to attack Israel, they want Israelis to escalate badly, so that the IRGC would blame Israel, and then they hit Israel, and then Israel and America would hit Iran. And then they're like, yes, there we go. That's exactly what we wanted.
The IRGC want air strikes to return, and but at the same time, cuz they don't know what their position is when it comes to these so-called talks.
They they don't have unity. Nobody knows who's actually running the show.
So, they need to know exactly what they want, how they want to proceed with the negotiations. And obviously, the the the United States and Israel, they're just looking at these negotiations as a bit of a a a good break. But if somehow the IRGC do give up everything, then fine, winning.
Sign the deal. Sign the surrender deal.
But if the IRGC sign that deal, if the IRGC sign the deal that the United States is proposing, it will be the end of the Islamic Republic in Iran. So, even they are not that stupid. That's why they'd rather go back to war, because they want to basically frustrate both the Americans and the Israelis. They know that the midterm elections are coming. They will prefer to have a a few days, a few weeks of air strikes, put more pressure, political pressure on President Trump, cuz and then hope that basically as we get closer to the elections, President Trump will be forced to basically just give up and walk away.
So, the United States are refusing to walk away. The military is still there.
The Israelis are refusing to give up.
Everybody's still in the exact same place. The only difference is we're not getting air strikes in Tehran. That's the only thing. The war is still ongoing.
Despite all this random rhetoric, President Trump has the cards and the leverage, but he does also have a big obstacle and a problem, which is the midterm elections. That is a big problem.
>> [snorts] >> That's exactly what I've been saying on the backbone until after the midterms.
If the Democrats won, the whole world would be in trouble. If the Democrats win the elections and take over, then yeah, everything will be they will be the end. Everything will be ended. No more war, no more fight against the Cuba or the IRGC.
Israel will be on his own in Lebanon.
Yeah.
It's It's a very crucial election.
If Trump truly folded, the midterms are going to be a disaster for him. He would lose support from a pro-isolationist MAGA. They would say, "See, I told you we should have stayed out of it." And obviously he'll lose the pro-Iranian liberation movement. If he starts the airstrikes, he will definitely lose.
That's the other problem as well.
Uh I agree the midterms here would be crucial, says NJ Senate Marco Rubio.
Only a stupid country doesn't shoot back. This is 100% expected. We've known for 47 years that the Islamic regime cannot be trusted. And that's why publicly they can send J.D. Vance to bark like a crazy dog at Israel, but at the end of the day, they're still saying, "Israel, yeah, of course.
Shoot back.
Do it."
Israel's drilling a new hole for the IRGC and the Democrats say new hole in the bumper for a trailer hitch so they can move out.
Thing is, if I was the Islamic Republic, I would probably If If If the Americans and the Israelis are not taking the bait to go back to airstrikes in Iran, cuz that's what the IRGC wants, and if I'm the IRGC, I'm like, "Okay, so that's not happening.
And we are now getting close to the midterms.
It seems like it's probably in their interest to actually negotiate and try their best not to give up too much.
It's going to be very difficult because they the US position on these talks have not changed. The red lines are still the same apart from one thing. They completely removed the ballistic missiles as an issue. That's completely gone.
That That was part of the the carrot that the the President Trump gave to the Islamic Republic in order to get this ceasefire extension. The MOU is a 60-day six ceasefire extension which is not supposed to be extended, but yeah, it's going to get extended. So, >> [snorts] >> uh if I were the Islamic Republic, I would say, "Well, maybe maybe we could just tell them take everything. Take the enriched uranium. Uh we're going to close the facilities, the nuclear facilities."
Logically, that's the right thing to do because the IRGC could find a new way to be a threat. They can still continue their proxies, you know, they could find a way even without nuclear.
But, they can't on an emotional level cuz they spent the last 25 years shouting and scream- screaming about nuclear to their own supporters, to their own fanatics. So, giving up the actual really giving up the nuclear facilities, everything destroyed, would be the right move for the IRGC cuz they can still do whatever they They can still try to wipe out Israel if they want to. That's their goal, right? They can find a new way.
Pre-plan for another few years.
But, they are they basically trapped themselves by creating this rhetoric of uh "Nuclear is our right, blah blah blah."
How we going to do that now? Because the Americans don't seem to be moving from the red lines on that.
Israel is not going to let that happen.
What are you thinking? Uh so, [snorts] if they're not going to actually uh successfully bait the Americans into resuming air strikes, then uh they're going to have to find a way to negotiate. Now, the United States Air Force have now said that they are still on standby in case things escalate. We have a statement now from the head of Hezbollah.
Oh, dear.
>> [gasps] >> Let's go to Naim Qassem and see what he has to say. A couple of important things he said now. Israel will leave the last inch of the Lebanese soil. Be sure of that, he says, Naim Qassem.
Victory in every sense means the expulsion of Israel from our land, which will definitely be achieved. We are not people We are not the people of surrender.
All right. So, Hezbollah basically are doing what Israel is doing with the US. So, Hezbollah ideology, Hezbollah are allowed to basically cause chaos.
Obviously, Hezbollah are getting their orders from Tehran.
Everybody knows that.
But the IRGC could say we didn't do anything. It's just Hezbollah trying to defend themselves.
They're trying to push out the enemy, the Israeli enemy. So, both the Americans and the Islamic Republic could keep going to each other saying, "I'm not doing anything. It's Israel or it's Hezbollah." But because neither of them are part of any deal, you can't actually do anything about it.
So, all they have to do is just this gymnastics of chaos.
Right, I think um another attack has now been confirmed.
Hezbollah drone It is a drone?
I'm assuming it's a drone. It's just one.
Could be a rocket. Another attack from Hezbollah towards northern Israel.
Just by the border of Lebanon.
Again, this is after the cease-fire was announced again.
And then let's double-check yeah.
An hour after the ceasefire was announced. They again ignore all this nonsense about ceasefire being announced.
And uh double-checking the latest.
Naim Qassem has also now said that the project to destroy Hezbollah has failed.
Israel's uh plans have achieved have reached a dead end. And the final victory, meaning the complete and definitive expulsion of the occupiers from every last inch of the Lebanese territory, is inevitable. Yes, I mean, Israel has failed to completely destroy every single Hezbollah member because you guys are hiding in a tunnel, you crazy lunatic. You are not fighting on the ground like normal soldiers.
You are hiding in a bunker.
You can't say, "Well, you're not winning. You can't hit me because you can't see me." Well, yes.
You're nowhere to be seen, you weirdo.
The rest of your junior Hezbollah interns, yes, they're getting killed every single day. They we just had another 18 getting eliminated. How's that going for you, Naim?
Uh someone says, "Amaya, isn't the problem not with the Islamic Republic, but rather uh their supporters who are hell-bent on zero negotiating negotiation? Isn't the gamble Isn't this the gamble with this MOU and even appearing to agree with the great Satan?" So, I think what you mean is like the government of the Islamic Republic when you say IR. And the supporters, you mean IRGC. Yeah, so the problem is the the the the foundation of the Islamic regime.
So, if the government said something, if the government in Iran says, "You know what? Yes, we agree. Let's sign the deal. We're going to give up nuclear."
Yeah, they're going to get assassinated.
So, the rest is a bunch of organized crime mafioso, but not in a good way.
In a more smelly, beardy, weirdy ways, uh who are running Iran, who are occupying Iran. There is no order. There was relatively order for a few decades when Ali Khamenei was the supreme leader. He centralized everything. Now, he's gone. The whole system has fallen apart. There is no centralization.
You've got the head of the IRGC, Ahmad Vahidi, saying, "I'm in charge." You've got Qalibaf, who's the speaker of parliament, that's not even a real parliament, saying, "I I'm a big influential figure." Then you've got the the foreign minister saying, "Well, I'm in charge of the government."
Apparently, foreign minister is basically calling the shots. And the president of the Islamic Republic is sitting at home playing PlayStation.
So, this is the current state, and you have a bunch of fanatics that these guys have brainwashed for 47 years. The younger generation, who are now getting older, of the Islamic families, the Islamic occupy occupiers, who are now so crazy.
These are the people who were worshipping the Islamic regime.
And now, but because they created a cult of personality around Ali Khamenei and the Khamenei family, now the same minions, the Frankenstein monsters that they created, they are on the streets threatening the Islamic regime.
Because they're saying, "You are Even negotiating with the Americans is a betrayal. You are betraying the Khamenei family, the Khamenei dynasty." It's like some sort of monarchy, apparently, at this point.
So, good luck dealing with your own nutters that you guys created over the last few years. There's never going to be peace.
There's never going to be a peace deal between the Islamic Republic and the United States of America. This is a bit of a pause, bit of a break, unless the IRGC won't actually want to surrender the nuclear and everything else. Then fine, sign a deal, and good luck dealing with your own fanatic terrorists. Thank you so much for watching. I'm Myra Azizi, and we are the media.
>> [music]
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