Netanyahu Seeks Israeli Talks With Lebanon 'As Soon As Possible'

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel wants to hold direct talks with Lebanon “as soon as possible.”

Netanyahu was speaking on April 9, a day after heavy Israeli strikes on Lebanon, home to the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, killed more than 200 people and threatened to upend a US-Iran cease-fire deal and upcoming talks.

Hezbollah has been declared a terrorist organization by the US.

"In light of Lebanon's repeated requests to open direct negotiations with Israel, I instructed the cabinet yesterday to start direct negotiations with ‌Lebanon as soon as possible," he said in a statement. "The negotiations will focus on disarming Hezbollah and establishing peaceful relations between Israel and Lebanon."

Shortly before Netanyahu’s statement, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said that “the only solution to the situation in Lebanon is to achieve a cease-fire between Israel and Lebanon, followed by direct negotiations between them.”

Reuters cited a senior Lebanese official as saying Lebanon had spent the last day pushing for a temporary truce to allow for broader talks with Israel. The official said that no date or location had been set and that Lebanon needed the US as a mediator and guarantor of any agreement, Reuters reported.

Netanyahu had rejected an offer for direct talks with Lebanon in March. His new statement came amid broad international criticism of the Israeli strikes, which Tehran says violate the cease-fire agreement reached by the US and Iran late on April 7. The US and Israel say the deal does not include Lebanon.

A disagreement between Washington and Tehran over whether a temporary cease-fire agreed earlier this week also covers Lebanon is shaking the accord as Israel vows to continue to hit Iran-backed Hezbollah "wherever required."

Hezbollah, which is based in Lebanon, is considered a terrorist organization by Israel and the United States.

Iranian negotiators are set to meet a US delegation led by Vice President JD Vance later this week for the first peace talks of the war.

But a temporary truce announced earlier this week to allow for the talks appears strained with no sign Iran had fully lifted its blockade ⁠of the Strait of Hormuz, which has caused the worst disruption to global energy supplies in history. Tehran said there would be no deal as long as Israel was striking Lebanon.

"Whoever acts against Israeli civilians -- will be struck. We will continue to strike Hezbollah wherever required, until we restore full security to the residents of the north" of Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a social media post on April 9.

Hours later, Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer ⁠Qalibaf hit back with a post of his own, insisting that Lebanon was "an inseparable part of the ceasefire." He added that "violations carry explicit costs and STRONG responses."

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Russia vocally criticized Israeli strikes on Lebanon, saying they “sharply increase the risk of a resumption of large-scale armed confrontation in the Middle East” and that the Pakistan-brokered cease-fire deal between the US and Iran must include Lebanon.

“We decisively condemn this Israeli attack on Lebanon, which has caused large numbers of casualties among innocent people and widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement.

She said the strikes, which came after the United States and Iran agreed earlier this week on a two-week cease-fire and planned talks in Islamabad in the coming days, “threaten to disrupt the emerging negotiation process.”

In a separate statement on an April 9 phone call between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araqchi, the Russian ministry said Moscow welcomed the cease-fire deal and Israeli’s involvement.

In the call, Lavrov stressed that” Moscow firmly believes the…agreements, as announced by Pakistani mediators, have a regional dimension and…apply to Lebanon,” the ministry statement said.

Russia has close ties with Iran, which also says the cease-fire agreement includes Lebanon. The US and Israel say it does not, and Israel says it will continue to target Iran-backed Hezbollah militants “wherever required.”

The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran has rejected restrictions on uranium enrichment in Iran, saying, "Limiting the enrichment program is just wishful thinking that will go to the grave."

On the sidelines of a ceremony held in Tehran on April 10 to mark 40 days since late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's assassination, Mohammad Eslami emphasized that "no law or individual" can stop the enrichment program.

These statements come as talks are scheduled to be held between Iran and the United States in Islamabad, Pakistan, on April 11.

The United States has said that the complete dismantling of Iran's uranium enrichment program is one of its key conditions for any agreement to end the war. For Iran, however, the right to enrich uranium remains a fundamental and non-negotiable demand.

Israeli police announced that a 22-year-old man from the northern Israeli city of Haifa has been arrested on suspicion of having ties to the Iranian government and carrying out activities against Israeli security forces.

According to a police statement on April 9, the man, who was arrested last month, had been in contact with an Iranian-linked agent since last summer and had carried out missions in exchange for money.

The man, according to the police statement, also received payments of $22,000 and photographed sensitive locations, including Haifa's port and the sites of rocket strikes in northern Israel. The man also reportedly rented a residential unit in Haifa and attempted to manufacture explosives at the direction of the Iranian handler.

Israeli police also announced that several other suspects have been arrested in connection with the case, but the details are only coming out now as the judicial restrictions have been lifted.

The EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, said on April 9 that the cease-fire agreement between the United States and Iran must also apply to Lebanon and that the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah must disarm.

Hezbollah is recognized as a terrorist group by the US.

"Israeli actions are putting the US-Iran cease-fire under severe strain. The Iran truce should extend ‌to Lebanon," Kallas said in a post on X.

There has been disagreement and confusion about whether the fragile US-Iran cease-fire included Lebanon as well.

The US has said it applies only to hostilities with Iran and doesn't include Israel's ongoing operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon. Iran has said the cease-fire should include Lebanon.

"Israeli strikes killed hundreds last night, making it hard to argue that such heavy-handed actions fall within self-defence," Kallas wrote.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer ⁠Qalibaf says part of the 10-point cease-fire proposal agreed to by the United States earlier this week includes "Lebanon and the entire Resistance Axis" are included. In a post on X on April 9 by Qalibaf lists three points: "Lebanon and the entire Resistance Axis, as Iran's allies, form an inseparable part of the cease-fire," he notes adding that this was also the first point in the cease-fire proposal with the United States. The second point he lists is that Pakistani Prime Minister Shebahz Sharif "publicly and clearly stressed the Lebanon issue; there is no room for denial and backtracking." The final point of the post warns violations of the cease-fire "carry explicit and STRONG responses." A disagreement between Washington and Tehran over whether a temporary cease-fire agreed earlier this week also covers Lebanon is shaking the accord as Israel vows to continue to hit Iran-backed Hezbollah "wherever required." Hezbollah, which is based in Lebanon, is considered a terrorist organization by Israel and the United States.

Iran's ambassador to Pakistan, Reza Amiri Moghadam, says the Iranian delegation will arrive in Islamabad late on April 9, ahead of what he described as "serious talks" with the American side.

"Despite skepticism of Iranian public opinion due to repeated cease-fire violations by Israeli regime ... Iranian delegation arrives tonight in Islamabad for serious talks based on 10 points proposed by Iran," he wrote in a post on X.

UPDATE: Or maybe not. Moghadam's X post has been deleted.

US President Donald Trump said in a social media post late on April 8 that all US ships, aircraft, and military personnel would remain in and around Iran until "such time as the REAL AGREEMENT reached is fully complied with."

"All U.S. Ships, Aircraft, and Military Personnel, with additional Ammunition, Weaponry, and anything else that is appropriate and necessary for the lethal prosecution and destruction of an already substantially degraded Enemy, will remain in place in, and around, Iran, until such time as the REAL AGREEMENT reached is fully complied with," he wrote on Truth Social.

"If for any reason it is not, which is highly unlikely, then the “Shootin’ Starts,” bigger, and better, and stronger than anyone has ever seen before. It was agreed, a long time ago, and despite all of the fake rhetoric to the contrary - NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS and, the Strait of Hormuz WILL BE OPEN & SAFE. In the meantime our great Military is Loading Up and Resting, looking forward, actually, to its next Conquest. AMERICA IS BACK!"

Shortly before that, Trump wrote that published reports about Iran's 10-point peace plan were "totally fake."

"The Failing New York Times and Fake News CNN each reported a totally FAKE TEN POINT PLAN on the Iran negotiations which was meant to discredit the people involved in the peace process. All ten points were a made up HOAX - EVIL LOSERS!!! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN," he wrote in a separate post.

The Greek prime minister criticized Iran's efforts to charge a fee to allow shipping through the Strait of Hormuz once the war ends, saying the world needs free and secure shipping through the crucial water.

"I don't think that the international community would be ready to accept Iran setting up a toll booth for every ship that crosses the strait," Kyriakos Mitsotakis told CNN on April 8. "It seems to me to be completely unacceptable."

Mitsotakis said an international agreement on the strait might be necessary, but he insisted that it must not involve fees.

"We would be setting a very, very dangerous precedent if that were to happen for the freedom of navigation," he warned.

Greece has one of the world's largest merchant vessel fleets.

Germany also said a toll for Hormuz passage was not acceptable. A Foreign Ministry spokesman said the strait is not solely in Iranian waters and is governed by the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

US President Donald Trump has also floated the idea of charging vessels a toll to transit through the Strait of Hormuz.