Vice President J.D. Vance left for Switzerland Saturday evening, but not before gaggling with reporters on the tarmac and declaring that despite reports, “things are actually getting better” in Lebanon.

Iran claimed it closed the Strait of Hormuz again following an overnight exchange of fire between Israel and Hezbollah. Lebanon’s civil defense agency reported “16 dead and 12 wounded” due to the “ongoing” attacks targeting the Nabatieh district in southern Lebanon. Both sides blamed each other for breaking the ceasefire.

In its statement Saturday, the Islamic State’s leaders warned that “if the aggression continues, subsequent steps have been planned.”

One reporter asked Vance what the U.S. plans to do about Lebanon since fighting there “threatens to upend the entire process” of moving toward a peace agreement.

“Well, Marco [Rubio] and the entire team, have been actively managing what’s going on in Lebanon,” Vance said, continuing:

Despite the headlines, things are actually getting better there, and things have calmed down a little bit. It’s gonna be something we’re just going to have to continuously manage to ensure that, you know, Israel and Lebanon are both safe and secure. That’s fundamentally the goal of this — to make the whole region safe and secure. The big problem is that you have — somebody will shoot and then somebody will respond. and you kind of have a chicken and egg problem where you’ve just got to stop the shooting for long enough to get the ceasefire to keep hold. That’s what we’re going to try to do. We’ll keep on working at it, but things have gotten better.

Iran-backed Hezbollah controls southern Lebanon, where the majority of the fighting with Israel has taken place. Hezbollah’s leaders have refused to negotiate with Israel, and Israel has vowed to fight back when attacked, making any ceasefire difficult to enforce.

Vance is set to meet up with special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who are already in Switzerland.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!