New Delhi: Lebanon has become the sticking point in efforts to enforce a fragile ceasefire between the US and Iran, with Tehran asserting that any truce must include a halt to attacks on Lebanon and its allies in the region.
On Thursday, Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who is one of the key decision makers in the ceasefire, asserted his country’s stand, adding that Iran-backed Hezbollah cannot be excluded from the agreement.
“The entire Resistance Axis, as Iran’s allies, form an inseparable part of the ceasefire. (Point 1, 10-point proposal),” he wrote on X.
“PM Shehbaz Sharif publicly and clearly stressed the Lebanon issue; there is no room for denial and backtracking. Ceasefire violations carry explicit costs and STRONG responses. Extinguish the fire immediately.”
Point 1 of the ten-point proposal includes ceasefire in Lebanon. But point 1 in the proposal the Iranian media are floating around is not this. In the Iranian media reports, Point 1 is non-aggression.
The US has accepted the terms of the 10-point plan by #Iran, retreating from its ultimatum and announcing a two-week ceasefire in preparation for the cessation of the war.
— Iran Nuances (@IranNuances) April 7, 2026
Hours after the ceasefire was announced Tuesday, Israel bombarded Lebanon killing scores of people. Lebanon’s Ministry of Health said at least 203 people were killed and 1,000 others wounded in air strikes that targeted areas in Beirut, the Bekaa Valley, Mount Lebanon, Sidon, and several villages in southern Lebanon on Wednesday. Earlier the country’s civil defence put the death toll at over 250.
On Thursday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian labelled the Israeli aggression on Lebanon as “a flagrant violation of the initial ceasefire agreement and a dangerous indicator of deceit and lack of commitment to potential accords.”
“The continuation of these aggressions will render negotiations meaningless; our hands will remain on the trigger, and Iran will never abandon its Lebanese brothers and sisters,” he added in a statement on X.
Similarly, Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Arghchi has said that the ceasefire terms were clear and explicit: the US must choose – ceasefire or continued war via Israel.
“It cannot have both,” he wrote on X. “The world sees the massacres in Lebanon. The ball is in the U.S. court, and the world is watching whether it will act on its commitments.”
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Why Lebanon is key
A Shiite paramilitary outfit backed by Iran, Hezbollah has long been a key element of Iran’s regional strategy. Its presence in southern Lebanon, along Israel’s northern border, makes the country a strategic and volatile arena. Israel has repeatedly targeted Hezbollah positions, citing the group’s expanding arsenal and its threat to national security.
For the US, Lebanon has become a sticking point in a truce framework that many officials say was brokered with Pakistan’s mediation. Unverified reports suggest Pakistani officials may have misrepresented aspects of the negotiations to Iran, potentially to secure their country’s diplomatic prominence.
US President Donald Trump claimed Wednesday that Lebanon was not included in the ceasefire, contradicting Pakistan’s claim.
“Because of Hezbollah, they were not included in the deal,” Trump told the public broadcaster PBS. “That’ll get taken care of, too. It’s all right.” White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters. “ Lebanon is not part of the ceasefire that has been relayed to all parties involved in the ceasefire.”
Leavitt also dismissed speculations that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may be looking to undermine the truce by attacking Lebanon, saying that Israel remains a “key ally and partner” to the US.
Schrodinger’s ceasefire
The confusion stems from a tweet. Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif Wednesday publicly affirmed his support for including Lebanon in the ceasefire discussions, signaling that violations would incur significant consequences. Yet the ceasefire’s language remains ambiguous, particularly regarding whether it extends to Hezbollah-linked operations in Lebanon.
The Pakistani PM’s original tweet that was later redacted did not mention Lebanon. Neither does the final version. The only mention of Lebanon is in a later tweet that also tags US officials. Neither Leavitt nor Trump addressed Pakistan’s announcement that Lebanon was part of the ceasefire.
According to an FT report, the US President has been pushing Pakistan to broker a ceasefire deal with Iran for the past few weeks and “pushed the idea of a temporary ceasefire even as Donald Trump escalated threats against the Islamic republic and claimed it was ‘begging’ for a deal.”
Iranian authorities, including President Pezeshkian, have framed a Lebanon ceasefire as a core component of Tehran’s 10-point plan to de-escalate regional tensions.
In a Thursday call with French President Emmanuel Macron, Pezeshkian said Iran’s acceptance of the truce “is a clear sign of responsibility and serious will to resolve conflicts through diplomacy,” emphasizing that “establishing a ceasefire in Lebanon has been one of the key conditions” of its plan.
State-affiliated Iranian news outlets reported that Tehran will take serious steps to respond to the Israeli attacks in Lebanon. The Fars News Agency also reported that “oil tankers have been suspended from passing through the Strait of Hormuz” in response to the Israeli assault.
Tasnim, another Iranian news agency, also cited an unnamed Iranian source as saying that Tehran would withdraw from the agreement if Israel continues to violate the ceasefire with its attack on Lebanon.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Wednesday warned that fighting would start again if Israel does not observe the ceasefire in Lebanon. “If the aggressions against dear Lebanon are not stopped immediately, we will do our duty and give a regretful response to the evil aggressors in the region,” it said.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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