Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under growing pressure at home and abroad after the United States and Iran reached a landmark agreement that explicitly includes Lebanon — a war Israel is still actively fighting — without Israeli involvement in the negotiations. The memorandum of understanding, announced on Sunday, covers the broader regional conflict and, according to mediator Pakistan, includes terms intended to end hostilities in Lebanon. Israel was not party to the talks, leaving Netanyahu isolated at a pivotal diplomatic moment.
Despite the agreement, Israeli forces carried out fresh strikes in southern Lebanon this week, hitting areas including Mansouri, Aaziyyeh, Nabatieh al-Fawqa, and Kfar Tebnit, according to Lebanon's National News Agency. Hezbollah, the Iran-backed armed group that controls much of southern Lebanon, also continued its cross-border attacks, injuring five Israeli soldiers in a drone strike. Lebanon was drawn into the wider regional conflict on 2 March, when Hezbollah launched rockets into Israel following a strike that killed Iran's supreme leader. Since then, more than 3,800 people have been killed in Lebanon, according to the country's health ministry, while Israeli authorities report 30 soldiers and four civilians killed on their side of the border.
The strikes have drawn an unusually sharp rebuke from US President Donald Trump. Speaking at the G7 summit in France, Trump said Netanyahu needed to "be more responsible" regarding Lebanon, adding that Israel had been fighting Hezbollah for "too long and too many people are being killed." Trump also criticised a specific Israeli air strike on Beirut carried out just as the deal was being finalised, saying: "I didn't like that he did an attack... that was too much." Despite affirming his personal relationship with Netanyahu, Trump made an unambiguous assertion of American leverage: "Without the United States, there would be no Israel."
The diplomatic picture is increasingly complex. Hezbollah's leader Naim Qassem called the US-Iran agreement a "great victory" and urged Lebanon to use the moment to demand the withdrawal of Israeli troops from occupied Lebanese territory. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said his country was pursuing an "independent path" in separate negotiations with Israel in Washington, while welcoming ceasefire support from any quarter, including Iran. Iran's top military command warned Israel of a "harsh response" if strikes on southern Lebanon continued.
The deal — expected to be formally signed on Friday at the Swiss resort of Bürgenstock — would, according to Trump, prevent Iran from ever acquiring a nuclear weapon and reopen the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz to toll-free navigation. The full text has not been publicly released. Why this matters: the agreement reshapes the regional order in ways Israel did not negotiate and may not accept, placing Netanyahu in the difficult position of either defying Washington or abandoning military objectives his government has declared essential. The coming days will test whether the US-Iran framework can hold against continued fighting on the ground.