Lebanon ceasefire raises hopes of progress for Iran deal

(Reuters)

DUBAI, June 4 – Israel and Lebanon agreed to implement a new ceasefire after U.S.-mediated talks, the Trump administration said, raising hopes for progress ​toward ending the wider U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.

Tehran has made a ceasefire in Lebanon a condition for any peace deal with Washington, and has suggested in recent ‌days that it could intervene directly in support of its proxy Hezbollah if Israel keeps up or escalates attacks there.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said on Thursday that the ceasefire would come into force within 24 hours of all concerned parties approving it, appearing to refer to Hezbollah, which has not commented on the agreement.

But casting doubt on the robustness of the truce, Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Thursday the military would continue to strike ​in Lebanon for the time being and would not be withdrawing from the south.

The deal comes after a flare-up in violence across the region. Israeli strikes killed at least ​six people in southern Lebanon and U.S. and Iranian forces traded attacks in the Gulf on Wednesday in one of the most intense bouts ⁠of fighting since a separate ceasefire halted large-scale U.S.-Israeli bombing of Iran in early April.

Iranian forces struck Kuwait, damaging its airport and injuring dozens, while the U.S. military carried out strikes near ​the Strait of Hormuz. The strait, through which a fifth of the global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies normally flow, remains largely closed more than three months after the U.S. and Israel ​launched their strikes on Iran.

Oil prices on Thursday lost some of the previous day’s gains on hopes that the Lebanon ceasefire could help Washington and Iran find a diplomatic off-ramp from their war.

U.S. President Donald Trump, who is under pressure to bring down fuel prices, suggested there could be progress in negotiations with Iran as soon as this weekend.

“If it happens, it could happen over the weekend,” Trump told reporters in the White House’s Oval Office on ​Wednesday, without elaborating on what he expected to happen within that timeframe.