Iran has reaffirmed support for its Lebanese ally Hizbullah and demanded Israel withdraw from southern Lebanon, underscoring complications facing an interim deal to end the broader conflict between the US and Iran.
Iran has made a ceasefire between Israel and Hizbullah a condition for any peace deal with Washington to resolve the regional war, now in its fourth month, and restart shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
The latest round of fighting between Hizbullah and Israel erupted at the start of March, two days after the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran. Hizbullah said its actions were in support of Tehran.
“This war will end only when it ends in Lebanon as well,” Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi told Lebanese television station Al Mayadeen late on Thursday.
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“The end of the war on Lebanon must be accompanied by the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territories they have occupied,” he said. The comments came after Hizbullah leader Naim Qassem rejected a US-brokered pact between Israel and the Lebanese government to halt the fighting in Lebanon. The deal did not provide for an Israeli withdrawal and Hizbullah had not been party to the negotiations.
Israel has kept up strikes in southern Lebanon, and has said its forces would not withdraw or halt operations in the country, amid increasing friction in the US.
Hizbullah said on Friday it had carried out two attacks on Israeli troops in south Lebanon, including near the recently captured Beaufort Castle, while Lebanese security services said Israeli air strikes hit towns across southern Lebanon.
Mohsen Rezaei, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, said Hizbullah had “made great sacrifices in the recent war and it is our ally. Therefore, we support Hizbullah and remain firmly committed to our obligations toward it.”
In comments reported by the semi-official Mehr news agency, he cautioned Israel against following through on threats to resume strikes against the Lebanese capital, Beirut.
“Today, we again warn this sinister regime to leave Lebanon. They should know that Lebanon will be an inseparable part of any agreement and any ceasefire,” he said.
Lebanon’s parliament speaker and Hizbullah ally Nabih Berri said he would agree to the withdrawal of the Iran-backed group from southern Lebanon if Israeli troops simultaneously left territory they occupy in the country.
Lebanon’s president Joseph Aoun accused Iran’s Revolutionary Guards of using Lebanon as a “bargaining chip” in negotiations with the US, telling CNN this was “unacceptable”.
Along with Lebanon, residents of Gaza, northern Israel and Kuwait have all been under fire this week, despite US-arranged ceasefires that Trump said involved “shooting in a more moderate manner”, rather than a total halt to fighting.
After the US and Israel attacked Iran on February 28th, Iran fired missiles and drones against Gulf states hosting US bases and largely stopped shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
Trade remains at a fraction of its former levels through the waterway, which previously carried about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies.
The US and Iran have been engaged in largely indirect negotiations to secure an interim deal to halt the war that would leave issues including Iran’s nuclear programme to further negotiations.
As part of any agreement, Tehran wants access to billions of dollars in oil revenue, waivers on sanctions on crude exports, a lifting of a US blockade on its ports and leverage over the strait.
Trump, who faces domestic pressure over an unpopular war, has said his top priority is to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Iran says its atomic programme is for peaceful purposes. – Reuters
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