The Wall Street Journal reports that the Trump administration says the US interpretation of the Memorandum of Understanding regarding Lebanon prevents the Iranian demand for a full Israeli withdrawal. According to the report, Vice President Vance backs Secretary of State Rubio on this, and no one on Trump's team wants to force Israel to hand over all of southern Lebanon to Iran's proxy.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the Trump administration has clarified its interpretation of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) regarding Lebanon, a document central to the emerging US-Iran framework. According to administration sources cited by the WSJ, the US reading of the text explicitly blocks the Iranian demand for a full Israeli withdrawal from all of southern Lebanon, a condition Iran's Foreign Ministry had publicly insisted upon through the Hezbollah-aligned newspaper Al-Akhbar.
The report adds that Vice President JD Vance supports Secretary of State Marco Rubio's position on the matter, and that no member of the president's team is interested in compelling Israel to cede southern Lebanon to Iran's proxy, Hezbollah. This marks the most authoritative US statement yet on the Lebanon clause — a shift from earlier ambiguity.
As The Zioneer reported (Tue 06:47), the WSJ's earlier report already indicated that Vance backed Rubio's framework agreement, which does not demand full IDF withdrawal. The current report refines the position: it is now the administration's official US interpretation of the MOU text that prevents the Iranian demand, not merely a policy preference. Ambassador Yechiel Leiter had previously (Jun 16) stated Israel would not withdraw under an Iran deal. The exchange escalates the dispute over the terms of the US-Iran framework.
2 developments
- DevelopingWSJ: Rubio wins Trump over on Israel staying in Lebanon, Vance folds
- StrongUS-Iran MOU signed; analyst says Trump pushing partial Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon
- StrongAnalyst: US administration divided over Lebanon talks — Vance pro-Iran, Rubio backs Lebanese sovereignty
- StrongIran demands full IDF withdrawal from Lebanon; Israel publicly rejects, says it will not retreat
Source and signal
- Internal intake