Trump Would Welcome Israel-Lebanon Ceasefire
SkimNews Take
Trump's expressed openness to an Israel-Lebanon ceasefire, even while out of office, signals a potential pre-positioning of foreign policy influence should he return to power.
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- Trump would "welcome and be happy with an end of hostilities" between Israel and Lebanon, a U.S. official told Axios, though the U.S. has not asked Israel for a ceasefire and insists it is not part of the Iran negotiations
- Israel's Security Cabinet convened Wednesday to discuss a potential Lebanon ceasefire but ended the meeting without making a decision
- Secretary of State Marco Rubio hosted a rare meeting between Israeli and Lebanese diplomats on Tuesday; the Lebanese ambassador raised a ceasefire request, and both ambassadors said they would return with answers after consulting their bosses
- Netanyahu had rejected Lebanese proposals for direct talks until Trump pushed him to de-escalate last week, and Israel stepped up its offensive with deadly strikes in the 24 hours after the Iran ceasefire was agreed to
- Tehran claims its truce with Washington also covered Lebanon and that Israel — and by extension the U.S. — is violating it; both Israel and the U.S. deny that characterization
- U.S. and Iranian negotiators made progress in talks on Tuesday on a potential framework agreement to end the war, two U.S. officials said
- Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf wrote on X that a comprehensive Lebanon ceasefire "will be the result of the resistance and steadfast struggle of the great Hezbollah" and demanded the U.S. "withdraw from 'Israel First' mistake"
Why it matters: The Cabinet punted on a decision, leaving Rubio's diplomatic channel as the only active lever on Lebanon. Netanyahu faces domestic political risk in accepting a ceasefire, while Tehran is publicly claiming the U.S.-Iran truce already covered Lebanon — a framing Washington and Jerusalem both reject, creating a credibility test for any framework deal with Iran.
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