Why Lebanon is the sticking point in US-Iran talks?

追加: 2026-06-07

[00:00:00]Lebanon is a critical country in any resolution to the Middle East crisis as Israel continues to carry out strikes against it. Joining me now to discuss that is Nabeel Khoury. He's a former US diplomat and the author of Bunker Diplomacy. Nabeel, welcome to the program. Uh so, Lebanon appears to have become a sticking point, a big sticking point in US-Iran diplomacy. Iran insists any kind of agreement with the United States has to include Lebanon. How realistic is that, Nabeel, when Israel is forging ahead with its expanded military operation in southern Lebanon?

[00:00:40]>> And there's uh clearly a divergence here between Donald Trump's interests and Bibi Netanyahu's.

[00:00:48]Uh Netanyahu and the extreme right-wing in his government have a separate agenda for Lebanon uh almost totally unrelated to what happens with Iran.

[00:01:03]Uh and that agenda includes uh what they can term as a security belt in the southern portion of Lebanon, but is actually uh a taking of land more than what they had when they occupied the south in the early 1980s.

[00:01:25]And this is not just for uh security reasons, but this is to invite uh settlers from different parts of Israel and to build new settlements in the south of Lebanon. Um for uh for Netanyahu, if this disrupts talks between the US and Iran, so be it. He is not that fond of that uh anyway.

[00:01:52]He is not a fan of uh diplomacy with Iran.

[00:01:57]Uh but uh he can refrain from firing on Iran.

[00:02:04]It's a difficult project for him to attack Iran without a US support. He can refrain from from that, but for South Lebanon is a very important agenda for the Israeli right wing. And it seems up to now that he is not buckling under any pressure that we hear of.

[00:02:26]>> How con- >> Uh from from >> Yeah, Nabil, how concerned are you that Benjamin Netanyahu wants to turn Lebanon into another Gaza? And the Israeli argument has always been they're trying to dismantle Hezbollah's infrastructure because Hezbollah continues to fire rockets into Israel.

[00:02:46]>> That's right. Uh it looks to all Lebanese even though the Lebanese disagree with one another and are divided uh on support for Hezbollah, for example.

[00:03:00]Uh but they all sense that there is something going on, especially in the south of Lebanon, that very much resembles what happened to uh Gaza. Um more than a million Lebanese have already been displaced from their homes and villages in the south as the fighting and the bombing and the shelling continue, more people are are leaving their homes. And so, in effect, the Israelis are going to have uh about uh 15 to perhaps 20% of the territory of Lebanon devoid of its original inhabitants and free for them to do whatever they wish to do, uh except for that Hezbollah continues to resist and continues to cause them uh casualties. So far Donald Trump's pressure um seems like strong rhetoric, but I would believe it when I see it in action.

[00:04:07]If Trump's harsh words that were reported um translate into an Israeli cessation of all bombardment and beginning to withdraw from South Lebanon, then I would believe it. But until now, the pressure from Trump has not yielded the results.

[00:04:27]>> Yeah, there's an old saying, "Actions speak louder than words." We shall see what happens on that front.

[00:04:33]Um explain to our audience, if you will, Nabeel, um how much control does the Lebanese government in fact have over Hezbollah's military operations?

[00:04:46]>> Lebanese government as such does not uh control Hezbollah, is not on good terms with Hezbollah. Um having agreed with Israel and with Washington that ultimately they should disarm Hezbollah. However, uh Nabih Berri, who is the speaker of parliament, is part of the government. He is one of the three top leaders of the country.

[00:05:16]And he is an old ally of Hezbollah. So he certainly speaks to them.

[00:05:22]In effect, what's happening right now is that the Lebanese government representatives in Washington, who have been meeting face-to-face with Israeli uh personalities, um these Lebanese are in effect mediating or carrying messages back and forth uh between Hezbollah and Israel. So the real negotiator here uh behind the scenes is Hezbollah. And the Lebanese ambassador conveys messages through Nabih Berri, the speaker of parliament.

[00:05:58]>> All right, we'll have to leave it there.

[00:06:00]Nabil Khoury, thank you so much, sir.

[00:06:02]>> You're welcome.

[00:06:04]>> And we do leave it there. Thank you for watching another edition of The Heat.

[00:06:08]I'm Rachelle Namdar in Washington.