Trump Pushes Direct Hezbollah Talks; Group Stays Silent
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- Trump told reporters during an Oval Office meeting with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun that he would speak to Hezbollah, becoming the first sitting US president to publicly express willingness for direct talks with the group.
- The State Department is sponsoring the first direct Lebanon-Israel talks since the Madrid peace talks, with Hezbollah disarmament as a central objective, while sanctioning Lebanese state security members accused of undermining the anti-Hezbollah campaign.
- Trump separately told Beirut's ambassador to Washington last May he wanted to open direct talks with Hezbollah to salvage a shaky Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire, but the Lebanese presidency turned down the request, fearing it would bypass and undermine Aoun.
- Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi offered to sponsor and host US-Hezbollah talks shortly before his recent visit to Washington, but Hezbollah rejected the offer according to the Lebanese daily Aljoumhouria.
- Hezbollah sources confirmed the US has made "several attempts through a number of intermediaries" to engage directly, but officials refused to clarify the group's stance, telling RS: "Our policy is to not reveal how we intend to approach this issue."
- A Hezbollah source said the group views US outreach as an attempt to peel it away from the Islamabad US-Iran negotiations — a weaker position — preferring to stay inside a framework with Iran because Tehran "holds strong cards."
- Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mujtaba Khamenei framed support for Hezbollah as a "strategic mandate" contingent on Lebanese territorial integrity, a bond reportedly strengthened by Israeli strikes on Iran, while Netanyahu told cabinet he will not withdraw from Lebanon and Israel's Foreign Ministry posted — then deleted — a map incorporating parts of southern Lebanon, blamed on "an artificial intelligence error."
Why it matters: Hezbollah's refusal to engage Washington bilaterally — while Iran elevates the alliance to a "strategic mandate" — means any US-Hezbollah breakthrough hinges on the wider Washington-Tehran track in Islamabad, not direct diplomacy. With Netanyahu refusing to withdraw from Lebanese territory, the political ground for Hezbollah disarmament talks is actively shrinking rather than expanding.
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