US President Donald Trump said Monday that Israel and Hezbollah had agreed to stop fighting, adding that Iran talks were moving rapidly after seeming to be on the rocks over Israel’s Lebanon offensive.
Trump said on social media that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had promised not to send troops to Beirut’s southern suburbs as threatened, while Hezbollah had agreed that “all shooting will stop.”
His comments came after Iran’s news agency Tasnim reported Tehran had suspended dialogue with mediators in protest at Israel’s expanding offensive in Lebanon against Iran’s ally Hezbollah.
“I had a very productive call with Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu of Israel, and there will be no Troops going to Beirut, and any Troops that are on their way have already been turned back,” Trump wrote.
“Likewise, through highly placed Representatives, I had a very good call with Hezbollah, and they agreed that all shooting will stop — That Israel will not attack them, and they will not attack Israel.”
In a separate post a few minutes later, Trump said that “talks are continuing, at a rapid pace, with the Islamic Republic of Iran. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
But earlier on Monday, the US leader had given decidedly mixed signals about his enthusiasm for the talks to end the Iran war, which the United States and Israel launched on February 28.
Trump told US broadcaster CNBC in a telephone interview shortly before his Truth Social posts that “I don’t care” if the Iran talks collapsed.
“If they’re over, they’re over,” Trump told CNBC. “Frankly, I thought they started to get very boring.”
Trump separately told NBC News on Monday that he had not been informed that Iran was suspending negotiations but that, “I think we’ve been talking too much if you want to know the truth.”
“I think going silent would be very good, and that could be that could be for a long time,” he told NBC.
AFP
