Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tuesday that any military attack Israel carries out on Lebanon from now on is considered a violation of the memorandum of understanding with the United States, according to an Iranian source.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, in remarks reported by an Iranian source at an unspecified time Tuesday morning, has sharpened his warning to Israel: any military attack on Lebanon from this point forward is a violation of the emerging memorandum of understanding with the United States. This reframes and expands his earlier position. As The Zioneer first reported at 10:27 Jerusalem, Araghchi had already stated that any Israeli strike or continued occupation in Lebanon would breach the ceasefire. The new formulation removes the condition of an ongoing occupation or explicit ceasefire violation, presenting the MoU itself as a blanket prohibition on Israeli operations in Lebanon.
Araghchi's escalation on Tuesday is the latest in a series of statements the desk has tracked since Friday. At 10:27 Jerusalem, he was initially quoted by N12 (Asaf Rozentzweig) warning that any Israeli military action or continued occupation in Lebanon would breach the ceasefire. Minutes later, at the same timestamp, a report by Yediot Aharonot carried a reiteration of that warning. The subsequent N12 report (Tomer Almogor) added that Araghchi had linked a new round of US-Iran talks to the signing ceremony in Switzerland. On Monday, as The Zioneer reported at 11:04 and at 19:42 Jerusalem, both Araghchi and Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaie had conditioned the MoU's implementation on an end to Israeli operations in Lebanon.
Iran has consistently linked the Lebanon front to the broader US-Iran framework talks. On Friday Jun 12, as The Zioneer reported at 22:20 and 23:17 Jerusalem, Araghchi stated that the emerging MoU would declare an end to the war on all fronts, including Lebanon, and that Washington's nuclear demands were currently unacceptable. On Monday Jun 15, at 11:33 Jerusalem, Araghchi told his Turkish, Iraqi, and Egyptian counterparts that the US bore responsibility for enforcing the deal and that Israel must halt strikes destabilizing Lebanon. An Iranian source told The Zioneer on Monday at 18:36 Jerusalem that the MoU's implementation would be suspended if any aggression or assassination occurred in Iran, in the resistance front, or in Lebanon.
No formal text of the memorandum of understanding has been published. It remains unclear whether the MoU has been signed or agreed in principle, and the mechanism by which a future Israeli attack would trigger a violation has not been detailed by any source.
4 developments
- StrongIran's Araghchi tells Turkey, Iraq, Egypt: US responsible for enforcing deal, Israel must halt Lebanon strikes
- StrongAraghchi says Lebanon war end inseparable from Iran's, demands full Israeli withdrawal
- DevelopingAraghchi: Lebanon ceasefire to begin Friday
- DevelopingIran FM: US demands on nuclear issue unacceptable at this stage
Source and signal
- Internal intake