After months-long back-and-forth between the two countries, the United States and Iran finally signed the memorandum of understanding on Wednesday. President Trump signed it at the Palace of Versailles and sent a photo to the Iranian government, following which Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian signed the deal.
However, Netanyahu, a key ally of Trump and a participant in the war with Iran, has expressed his unhappiness with the deal, particularly the provision requiring Israel to withdraw its troops from southern Lebanon. He cited the continued presence of the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah as a concern.
Israel is reportedly holding negotiations with the US as it seeks to continue placing its troops in southern Lebanon, two Israeli officials, including one senior official close to Netanyahu’s office said on Thursday, Reuters reported. Follow US Iran LIVE updates
Their comments come a day after the two countries signed an interim pact that calls for parties to ensure “the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Lebanon.”
Also Read: ‘Will not compromise’: Why Israel is against the peace deal between US and Iran
The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told Reuters that Israel is having “stubborn” conversations with the US over continuing its deployment of troops in southern Lebanon.
Another senior official said that the outcome of these conversations depends on Trump, whether or not he “decides to force the issue” by threatening repercussions if Israel does not abide by the pact’s terms.
‘Critical issue for Israel’
An important condition that Iran pushed to have in the interim deal was requiring Israel to move out of “security zones in Lebanon,” according to Zev Elkin, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet, Bloomberg reported.
“The prime minister said to the US president: ‘We understand the concerns, but this is a critical issue for our national security and we won’t pull out,’” Elkin told Army Radio on Wednesday.
Israel earlier voiced its concerns when the finalisation of the agreement was announced by Trump. Several right-wing leaders of Netanyahu’s pack asserted that the US deal “does not” apply to Israel.
“Trump’s agreement does not bind us. Israel is not subject to the United States, and we are an independent and sovereign nation!,” wrote national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on X.
“We are not partners to this agreement that does not ensure our security, and it does not bind us in any way. We must not compromise on anything less than the dismantling of Hezbollah, we must not withdraw from any territory that our fighters have captured and cleared of terror infrastructure, we must not return to a situation where thousands of terrorists sit on the fences of northern settlements, and certainly we must not remain silent for a moment in the face of fire directed at the State of Israel,” the far-right minister added further.
Finance minister Bezalel Smotrich also added that the agreement between the US and Iran is “bad for Israel and the free world.”
“We will have to continue the campaign to topple the regime ourselves and in creative ways, and ensure that Iran will never have nuclear weapons,” he wrote on X.
Trump says ‘you got the best, BiBi’
While addressing a press conference at the end of the G7 Summit in Evian, France on Wednesday, Trump said that Israel is getting the most important thing they asked for.
Revealing his conversation with Netanyahu before signing the document, the US President said, “Look, think of what Israel is getting. They’re not going to be nuked.”
Trump added that he had told Netanyahu that Israel was getting “the most important thing” that they had asked for.
While the Israeli prime minister has not said anything about the clause of removing troops from southern Lebanon, he reiterated his stance that as long as he is the leader of the state, Iran will not have a nuclear weapon.
“With an agreement or without an agreement, Iran will not have nuclear weapons — not today and not tomorrow. As long as I am prime minister of Israel, it will not happen,” he declared, insisting that this was his “life’s mission.”
Responding to a question whether Israel will strike Iran alone or act independently against Hezbollah in Lebanon, Netanyahu said that he “will do what is necessary” to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, stressing that “I am not limiting myself in any way regarding this goal,” according to The Times of Israel
He also said that Israeli troops will remain in the buffer zone in southern Lebanon “for as long as necessary.”
Leaders of US, Iran to meet in Geneva
While the deal, which was supposed to be signed on Friday in Geneva, was signed last night, the Swiss government has confirmed that initial talks between the United States and Iran are planned at the Buergenstock mountaintop resort in Switzerland for June 19.
