President Donald Trump is facing a choice between ending the war with Iran, which is tanking his popularity and the economy, and continuing his deference to Israel.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi made it clear on Tuesday that Trump cannot have both.
Following assertions from Israeli leaders that they would not end the occupation of Lebanon, Araghchi reiterated that the memorandum of understanding signed virtually by the US and Iran required in no uncertain terms that “war will be ending everywhere, on all fronts, including Lebanon.”
“Due to the relations between war in Lebanon and the aggression of Israel on south Lebanon and the war on Iran, these two fronts – Iran and Lebanon – are quite connected to each other,” he said.
“End of the war will be the end of the occupation,” he continued. “And without retreating and withdrawing from the Lebanese occupied territories, then there will not be an end to the war.”
“So any military attack from the Zionist entity against Lebanon will never be accepted,” he said. “The continuation of the Israeli occupation of the Lebanese territories is a violation of the memorandum of understanding.”
It was a shot across the bow from Tehran following Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s assertion the day before that Israeli forces would remain in Lebanon “for as long as necessary” regardless of any US-Iran agreement.
“We established deep security zones around the state of Israel,” he said, referring to the roughly 230 square mile occupation area where Israel has forcibly expelled more than 1 million Lebanese civilians and systematically demolished dozens of villages. “I want to make it clear: We will remain in these security zones … to protect our country.”
Other ministers were even blunter. Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said flatly that “Trump’s agreement does not bind us. Israel is not subordinate to the United States. We are an independent and sovereign country.”
Defense Minister Israel Katz said the occupation would go on “without any time limit” while villages would continue to be “cleared of local residents.” He said there would be no withdrawal “despite all the existing pressures” from the US, adding that, “we are committed only to our citizens and to the security of the state of Israel.”
Trump has regularly deferred to Israel’s preferences and sided with Netanyahu as he’s derailed previous ceasefire talks. But during a news conference at the Group of Seven summit in France on Tuesday, Trump took a noticeably different tone with his obstinate ally.
The president said he “didn’t like” the attack Netanyahu launched against the southern suburbs of Beirut on Sunday, where Israeli forces bombed a five-story apartment building, killing three people. “I saw that attack. I saw where that bomb went,” he said, describing the attack as “vicious” and “too much.”
“You don’t need to knock down an apartment every time you’re looking for somebody,” he said, making perhaps his most forceful criticism ever of Israel’s rampant attacks on civilian infrastructure. He continued that “if Israel can’t do the job without killing everyone else, Syria should do the job” of fighting Hezbollah.
“Without the United States, there would be no Israel,” he went on. “Without me, there would be no Israel, because no other president was willing to do what I did.”
Referring to Netanyahu, Trump said, “I’ve had a great relationship with Bibi, but now Bibi has to be more responsible with respect to Lebanon.” He added that the ongoing invasion “throws a negative light on the big deal, and that’s the deal with Iran.”
Commentators noted that this is hardly the first time a US president has vented his anger with Netanyahu, only for nothing to change materially.
Noting Trump’s previous description of Netanyahu as a “very difficult guy” after he attempted to blow up ceasefire talks on Sunday, Kenneth Roth, the former executive director of Human Rights Watch, said, “The question is: why does Trump facilitate this obstruction by continuing to provide Israel with arms and military aid?”
Zeteo News editor Mehdi Hasan said: “Such is the madly erratic nature of Trump, that he can go from sounding like the most hawkish, pro-Israel president one day, to the most dovish, anti-Israel president the next day. Which is why listening to Trump is pointless; what matters is paying attention to what he does.”