Has the United States raised its voice? Israel and Hezbollah agreed this Friday on a ceasefire, announced an American official, after a surge in violence in Lebanon which jeopardized the new agreement between the United States and Iran.
The truce, already in effect, was negotiated by American and Qatari mediators following discussions with Israel and Iran, the official said on condition of anonymity. A diplomat from a Gulf state also confirmed the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. The new clashes in Lebanon have threatened the agreement concluded between Washington and Tehran to end the war, after the postponement of discussions planned in Switzerland with American Vice-President JD Vance.
Trump says Israel could “behave better”
Donald Trump and his government have shown increasing signs of frustration with their Israeli ally recently. The American president urged Thursday for “a complete ceasefire on all fronts,” including from Israel. He also showed himself to be increasingly critical of the heavy human toll of Israeli strikes on Lebanon.
“When two drones are shot down in the desert and they fall without causing any damage, you don’t need to shoot down two buildings in Beirut,” he said Wednesday at the G7 summit in France. “They could behave better, and frankly, they could do a better job,” added the US president.
Rare warning to Israel
Vice President Vance also issued a rare warning Thursday to the Israeli government, which had criticized the US-Iran deal, asking them to “open their eyes.” “Donald Trump is the only head of state in the entire world who is understanding towards Israel today, and he happens to be the head of state of the number one world power,” he said. “If I were in the Israeli government, maybe I wouldn’t attack the only powerful ally I have left on the planet,” warned JD Vance.
On Friday, Donald Trump showed on his Truth Social platform a certain annoyance both towards Iran and the detractors of the agreement in the United States who claim that it rewards Tehran without putting real safeguards on its nuclear program.
For the American president, it was Iran which acted “out of desperation” in the negotiations, not the United States. His statements came after Iran’s Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, claimed Thursday that Donald Trump had “out of desperation, pulled all kinds of levers” to seal the deal.
