Trump Opens Channels to Hezbollah. Hezbollah Won't Pick Up
SkimNews Take
The use of Iraq as a back channel reveals how direct US-Hezbollah contact remains structurally blocked by legal designation frameworks, making even routine diplomatic signaling dependent on third-party states.
Get the Geopolitics newsletter
Daily geopolitics — wars, elections, sanctions, the diplomatic moves that move markets. Free.
- Trump told reporters he "would speak to Hezbollah," becoming the first sitting US president to express willingness to engage the group directly, and reports indicate he told Beirut's ambassador last May he wanted to open channels to salvage a shaky ceasefire with Israel.
- The State Department is sponsoring the first direct Lebanon-Israel talks since the Madrid peace talks, with Hezbollah disarmament as a central objective, while also sanctioning Lebanese state security figures accused of undermining the campaign against the group.
- Iraqi Prime Minister al-Zaidi offered to sponsor and host direct US-Hezbollah talks shortly before his Washington visit, but Hezbollah turned down the offer, according to the Lebanese daily Aljoumhouria.
- Hezbollah sources confirm multiple US outreach attempts through intermediaries but refuse to clarify the group's stance publicly, with one source saying "Our policy is to not reveal how we intend to approach this issue."
- Carnegie Middle East Center analyst Muhanad Hage Ali argues Hezbollah could use direct talks to undermine the Lebanon-Israel government track and push for constitutional changes granting Lebanese Shiites a greater share of power.
- Netanyahu told a cabinet meeting he will not withdraw from Lebanese territory, and Israel's Foreign Ministry posted then deleted a map showing parts of southern Lebanon incorporated into Israel, which officials blamed on an "artificial intelligence error."
- A Hezbollah source told the outlet the US goal is to peel the group away from the US-Iran negotiations in Islamabad, where Iran "holds strong cards," and that Hezbollah prefers that framework because any deal reached there "will have guarantees."
Why it matters: Hezbollah is actively choosing strategic ambiguity — refusing direct talks publicly while keeping channels warm — because separating from the US-Iran framework in Islamabad would leave it negotiating alone. If Hezbollah stays tethered to Iran, any future deal on its weapons comes with Tehran's guarantees; a separate Washington track would strip that leverage and potentially force disarmament without constitutional concessions for Lebanon's Shiite community.
Ask SkimNews
