At least four people were killed in Israeli drone strikes on southern Lebanon on Tuesday, including a so-called double-tap attack in which a drone targeted a car in the village of Mayfadoun and then struck again after people had gathered at the scene. The violence came as Iran’s foreign minister demanded a full Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory before any peace deal with the United States can be signed.
“Without the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territories they occupied during this war, the war has not fully come to an end,” said Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s top diplomat. His comments deepened fears that Israel’s continued military operations could derail a 60-day ceasefire agreement that Washington and Tehran are due to sign on Friday.
“Iran demands Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon before peace deal with US; Israeli drone strikes kill four.”
A Hezbollah media relations official said the group had received assurances from Iran that it would demand an Israeli pullout from Lebanon in the next phase of talks with the US. The demand puts further pressure on the fragile diplomatic process, already strained by Donald Trump’s public criticism of Israel’s conduct.
Speaking at the G7 leaders summit, Trump rounded on Benjamin Netanyahu, saying the Israeli prime minister must behave “more responsibly in Lebanon” and describing a recent Israeli bombing of Beirut as “vicious”. Trump added that he maintained an “unbelievable personal relationship” with Netanyahu, but said: “You don’t need to knock down an apartment house when you are looking for somebody because there are a lot of people in those apartment houses, and they are not all Hezbollah, that I can tell you.”
Trump said Israel had been “fighting Hezbollah for too long and too many people are being killed”. He also suggested Syria might do a better job of “dealing” with Hezbollah, and warned: “Without the US, without me, there would be no Israel because there is no other president prepared to do what I did.”
Trump said he did not like that Israel had attacked Beirut just two hours before Iran was due to sign the memorandum of understanding. The accord, expected to be finalised at the end of the week, has been welcomed by most regional governments as a return to diplomacy after more than three months of conflict. But opposition remains strong within both Iran and Israel, and some influential Republicans are uneasy about the concessions to Iran that may be required to secure a lasting peace.
Araghchi, described by a former UK ambassador as “among the most accomplished of diplomats”, has written about Iran’s “bazaar style” of negotiation: “continuous and tireless bargaining” requiring “great patience and time”. He warned: “He who gets tired and bored quickly will lose.”
The war itself lasted only a few weeks, but the aftermath has been considerably longer. Despite overwhelming military superiority demonstrated by the United States and Israel, neither side achieved a decisive political outcome. Iran’s leadership survived. The Strait of Hormuz remained vulnerable to disruption. Low-level confrontation continued through maritime incidents and cyber operations. Now, the question is whether the deal can hold.