Iran used the threat of walking away from high-stakes negotiations with the United States in Pakistan’s Islamabad to push Israel into halting its strikes on Lebanon’s capital Beirut, a report by Iranian state media said citing sources.
“Intense pressure and the threat to withdraw from talks” compelled Israel to stop its military operations targeting the Lebanese capital, an unnamed senior security source told Press TV. Track US-Iran war live updates.
Tehran made it clear that any participation in temporary ceasefire negotiations with Washington hinged on Israel ending its attacks on Lebanon, the source said.
Tehran’s demand came after Israel launched heavy strikes on Wednesday, marking one of its most intense offensives since Hezbollah entered the conflict in early March. Hundreds were reported killed.
Iran has maintained that the two-week ceasefire agreed earlier this week with the US included a halt to hostilities in Lebanon. However, both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump have denied that such a provision exists.
What Iran state media said
“The unity of the resistance front was non-negotiable for Iran,” the source told Press TV, adding Tehran’s position that Lebanon could not be separated from broader negotiations.
The source said the Iranian delegation’s travel to Islamabad was delayed multiple times due to continued Israeli strikes, suggesting Tehran used timing as leverage.
“Through persistent insistence and a credible threat to walk out of the talks, Iran forced the United States to compel the Zionist regime to halt its strikes on Beirut,” the source said, adding, “The Americans were forced to make the Zionist regime halt its assaults on Beirut.”
The Press TV source stressed that the pause remains conditional. Any resumption of Israeli attacks on Beirut or its southern suburb Dahieh would immediately end negotiations.
Fighting continues in Lebanon
Even as diplomatic efforts continue, hostilities on the ground have not fully subsided. According to news agency Associated Press, Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants continued exchanging fire along southern Lebanon. Israeli strikes were reported across the region on Friday.
One attack on a government building in Nabatieh killed 13 members of Lebanon’s state security forces, President Joseph Aoun said in a statement, as reported by Reuters news agency.
Amid the escalating situation, Israel’s ambassador to the US, Yechiel Leiter, and Lebanon’s envoy Nada Hamadeh Moawad are expected to meet in Washington on Tuesday.
Lebanon’s presidency said both sides agreed to discuss a ceasefire framework and a timeline for talks under US mediation. However, Israel’s embassy in Washington described the engagement as the start of “formal peace negotiations” and said it had refused to discuss a ceasefire with Hezbollah, Reuters report added.
US-Iran delegation in Islamabad
The US delegation, led by Vice President JD Vance landed in Pakistan on Saturday, along with envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, after a refuelling stop in Paris, Reuters reported citing sources.
The Iranian side, led by Qalibaf and foreign minister Abbas Araqchi, has already arrived.
However, Tehran has warned the talks cannot begin without firm commitments on Lebanon and sanctions relief, raising fresh doubts over whether negotiations will proceed as planned.
