Why Lebanon may make or break the Iran-US deal

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the United States and Iran explicitly states the "immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including Lebanon." The interim agreement, signed Wednesday, declared that the "final deal will confirm the permanent termination of the war on all fronts, including in Lebanon." However, Israel appears to be disregarding this agreement. Israeli attacks on Lebanon have persisted in the days following the MoU's signing, contributing to a death toll exceeding 4,000 since Israel's air and ground offensive began on March 2. These continued strikes prompted Iran to postpone talks with the US that were scheduled for Friday in Switzerland. The Lebanese armed group Hezbollah and the Lebanese government are demanding a full Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory. Hezbollah prefers this to be linked to the Iran negotiations, while the government favors direct talks with Israel. Michael Young, a Lebanon expert at the Carnegie Middle East Center, noted that "Lebanon is at the beginning of the agreement because the Iranians want to bring home that Lebanon’s territorial integrity is essential to the agreement, the success of the [MoU]." US President Donald Trump has publicly stated that Israel needs to scale back its operations in Lebanon, but Israeli officials maintain their right to continue operations there. Trump commented at a G7 summit in France, "Israel is fighting Hezbollah too long, and too many people are being killed... And you don’t have to knock down an apartment house every time you’re looking for somebody because there are a lot of people in those apartment houses and they’re not all Hezbollah. That I can tell you."

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the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including Lebanon