Hezbollah issued a statement Tuesday afternoon asserting that Iran will not sign any agreement with the United States unless it includes an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, according to a single source.
Hezbollah's statement, reported Tuesday at 15:53 Jerusalem time, reiterates the position voiced by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Tuesday morning — that ending the war in Lebanon is inseparable from any broader Iran-U.S. framework. The statement explicitly makes Israeli withdrawal a condition for Iran's signature, hardening the linkage between the two tracks.
This comes after a series of conflicting signals. On Monday, a U.S. official told Reuters that an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon is not a condition for an Iran deal, and that Israel retains the right to self-defense against any future Hezbollah attack, as The Zioneer reported. Earlier Tuesday, Hezbollah also threatened to destroy Israeli forces in Lebanon if any agreement is violated.
Hezbollah's latest statement effectively contradicts the U.S. position and aligns with Araghchi's earlier framing, which portrayed the United States and Israel as one side of the emerging memorandum and Iran and Hezbollah as the other. The statement does not specify what constitutes a full withdrawal or whether it applies to the security zones Israel has established in southern Lebanon. No official Israeli response has been reported yet.
2 developments
- DevelopingIran's Foreign Ministry demands timeline for Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon
- StrongIran demands permanent ceasefire, full Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon
- DevelopingIran says ceasefire insufficient, won't begin final-deal talks until Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon
- StrongAraghchi says Lebanon war end inseparable from Iran's, demands full Israeli withdrawal
Source and signal
- Open-source intake