Abbas Araghchi Says U.S.-Iran Deal Requires Israel Withdraw From Lebanon

Iran’s top diplomat Abbas Araghchi said Tuesday that a tentative U.S.-Iran deal to end the war would require Israel to withdraw from Lebanon, warning that “Without the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territories they occupied during this war, the war has not fully come to an end,” as the condition Israel has already rejected could sink the agreement.

“Iran says the deal to end the war with the US requires Israel to withdraw from Lebanon Iran says the deal to end the war with the US requires Israel to withdraw from Lebanon DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s top diplomat said Tuesday that the tentative deal to end the war with the United States would require Israel to withdraw from Lebanon — a condition Israel has already rejected and that could sink the agreement, leading to the resumption of all-out war”

AP News

The Associated Press reported that the deal has not been made public and that officials have offered contradictory interpretations, while Israel is not party to the agreement but is part of the war after joining the U.S. in launching strikes on Iran on Feb. 28.

AP News

AP also said Israel has fought the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon and seized large swaths of that country, and that Araghchi linked Israel’s continued occupation of southern Lebanon to violating the deal.

The BBC added that Iran’s leadership is trying to sell the emerging memorandum of understanding with the U.S. as victory, with Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf saying Iran had taken “a long step towards final victory.”

As the signing ceremony was expected Friday in Switzerland, the BBC described internal Iranian contest over the deal, including a hard-line MP who reportedly accused negotiators of ignoring the supreme leader's directive not to re-open the Strait of Hormuz to shipping.

In Washington, CBS News reported that Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock asked, “The Strait of Hormuz, they're saying, will be reopened. Well, it was open before he started the war,” while arguing the result “looks a lot like where we were before any of this started.”

BBC

CBS also said Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina told CBS News he was “pretty skeptical” about future Iran talks but willing to “wait and see,” after the U.S. and Iran agreed to a memorandum of understanding to extend their ceasefire and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

CNN reported that U.S. officials downplayed the text’s significance, with one official saying, “People shouldn’t read too much into the language of the MOU,” and calling it “a “political document.”

The AP reported that negotiations to end the war have been plagued by disagreements and that a prolonged but uneasy ceasefire has failed to develop into a permanent end to hostilities, leaving the Strait of Hormuz effectively shut.

“What to know about the Iran war today: - President Trump Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's handling of Israel's "minor war" against Hezbollah in Lebanon on Tuesday, voicing frustration that the parallel conflict was complicating his efforts to end the war with Iran”

CBS News

The Guardian said European fashion retailers face fresh questions over supply chain oversight after the fire at a factory that supplied them killed at least 33 garment workers in Bangladesh, but in the Iran context it focused on how Israel’s actions in Lebanon could deepen fears about the durability of the peace plan.

In the Iran negotiations themselves, CNN said the framework is intended to create a more favorable environment for technical, in-person talks, while U.S. officials argued the one-and-a-half-page MOU “doesn’t reflect critical back-channel commitments” Iran made to the U.S.

Meanwhile, CNBC reported that President Donald Trump signaled he could send details of the agreement to Congress for review, saying, “What I would like to do is send it to Congress and say 'you shouldn't approve it.'”