Trump urges Israel to stop risking peace deal with Iran by retaliating against Hezbollah

Donald Trump wants Israel to halt attacks against Hezbollah forces in Lebanon he says are jeopardizing an pending peace deal with Iran. Photo by KENT NISHIMURA /AFP via Getty Images

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U.S. President Donald Trump’s aim of getting an interim peace deal with Iran signed on Sunday looked increasingly unlikely following Israeli attacks on Hezbollah sites in Lebanon’s capital.

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Iran heavily criticized the strikes on Beirut, which came after Hezbollah fired projectiles on northern Israel. That prompted Trump to urge Israel to stop its operations, potentially further raising tensions between Washington and its closest ally in the Middle East.

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“There should be no more attacks by Israel anywhere in Lebanon, but there should also be no more attacks by any other party, including Hezbollah, against Israel,” Trump said Sunday in a social media post. “This could be the beginning of a long and beautiful peace — Let’s not blow it!”

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He later told Fox News in an interview that the deal could be finalized in a matter of hours on Sunday, with a possible in-person signing in Europe later in the week.

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Trump swore at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a call early this month in frustration over the Jewish state’s deepening invasion of Lebanon, where it says it’s creating a security buffer on its border to stop Hezbollah attacks. The group, designated a terrorist organization by the U.S., is a key ally of Iran. Tehran insists any deal with Washington includes a ceasefire in Lebanon.

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Even before the Israeli strikes, Iranian media was downplaying Trump’s assertion that a so-called memorandum of understanding would be signed on Sunday, the U.S. leader’s 80th birthday.

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The deal is meant to extend the U.S.-Iran ceasefire by two months, reopen the Strait of Hormuz and lift an American blockade of Iranian ports, though officials from each country have given differing versions of what’s in the latest draft. The two sides would then go into further negotiations about curbing Iran’s nuclear program.

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Three people were killed by Israel’s strikes and 15 injured in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported.

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Iran’s top negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said there was “no point” in continuing talks if the U.S.lacked the “will and ability” to stop Israel from bombing Lebanon. The Islamic Republic warned that Israeli attacks on Beirut wouldn’t go “unanswered,” according to state media.

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The Israeli military said late Sunday it was preparing for potential fire toward Israel in the coming hours. It didn’t specify if it meant from Lebanon or Iran, which exchanged missile fire with Israel a week ago.

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U.S. officials were still hopeful of a deal before Monday.

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“From all I know, we are on track — it’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when,” Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth told CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday. “There’s logistics involved into how these things happen.”

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While Group of Seven officials on Friday said Iran and the U.S. might affirm a deal on the sidelines of the group’s summit this week in France, Iranian media later said it was more likely to be an electronic signing.

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Iranian officials have emphasized there’s been progress in recent days and say they are closer to a pact than at any point since the ceasefire started on April 8. Yet they’ve been more cautious than Trump, stating that not all the clauses of what’s likely to be a 14-point document are finalized.

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— With assistance from Rebecca Smith.

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