Iran Says Israeli Forces Must Leave Lebanon Under U.S.-Iran Deal

A US-Iran understanding announced after months of war set off a fragile ceasefire dynamic that also left Lebanon at the center of the dispute, with CBS News reporting that Iran said any Israeli forces remaining in southern Lebanon, or any Israeli strikes on the country, would constitute a violation of the U.S.-Iran deal.

CBS News also said Israeli officials responded that troops would stay in Lebanon, adding, "Trump's agreement does not bind us," while NBC News described Israel’s continued fight against Hezbollah as still able to disrupt broader American efforts to resolve the regionwide war with Iran.

Al Jazeera

In Lebanon, BBC reported that families displaced by the conflict began to return to communities in southern Lebanon hours after the ceasefire announcement, even as a man called Abo Ali said his family "had returned, but with caution."

BBC also said the US-Iran agreement has not yet been made public, leaving unanswered questions about how it will apply to Lebanon, and it noted that the truce still left "Around 5% of Lebanon's territory" under Israeli occupation.

NBC News further framed the immediate risk to the deal by citing Israel’s military statement that it was preparing for an incoming salvo of Iranian missiles, while the planned signing of a more permanent ceasefire deal in Geneva was announced hours later.

In Washington, CBS News reported that the Senate narrowly rejected a war powers resolution on Iran as President Trump touted a framework agreement with Tehran, with senators rejecting a motion to discharge the resolution out of committee in a 47 to 48 vote.

CBS News also quoted Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia arguing that the result of months of war with Iran "looks a lot like where we were before any of this started," and he asked, "I hope the war is over. but the question is, why were we in the war in the first place?"

Al Jazeera

On the Lebanon front, DW reported that Switzerland says the US-Iran preliminary deal will be signed Friday in Lucerne, while it also described the terms as "very general" and said international nuclear inspectors would be allowed back in Iran.

DW further said Iran has tied the tentative peace deal to Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, while US ally Israel said it has no intention to withdraw from the territory it occupied in southern Lebanon, citing security concerns due to the presence of Iran-backed paramilitary Hezbollah.

In Israel, NBC News quoted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying, "We will remain in these security zones for as long as necessary to defend our country," and it also included his statement that "With an agreement or without an agreement — Iran will not have nuclear weapons."

The dispute over Lebanon’s inclusion in the US-Iran truce continued to shape expectations on the ground, with Al Jazeera reporting that Iranian and Pakistani officials said the agreement includes Lebanon while Israeli statements cast doubt over whether the war is finally over.

Al Jazeera said Israel intensified its war on Lebanon on March 2 after Hezbollah fired six rockets at Israel, and it reported that since then Israel has killed at least 3,783 people in Lebanon and wounded 11,699, while more than 1.2 million have been displaced from the south and Beirut’s southern suburbs and villages in the Bekaa Valley.

Al Jazeera also quoted Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif saying the deal announced "the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon," and it reported that Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun said the Lebanese people were now looking forward to "these understandings being translated into practical steps" for stability, security, recovery and reconstruction.

On the Hezbollah side, Arab News reported that Hezbollah’s Naim Qassem thanked Iran’s top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf for helping stop the "Israeli-American aggression" on Lebanon, and it quoted Qassem saying Iran had "compel[led] the Israeli entity to an immediate and permanent cessation of military operations on all fronts including in Lebanon."

Meanwhile, BBC warned that the US-Iran agreement has not been made public and that it is unclear how it will apply to Lebanon, leaving the ceasefire’s durability and the future of Hezbollah’s arsenal as unanswered questions.