Trump ‘very positive’ on Iran talks as Lebanon ceasefire begins
A 10-day ceasefire in Lebanon has come into effect, with US President Donald Trump calling the temporary truce “a very nice little package”.
Speaking to reporters outside the White House, he said “we’re not going to have lots of bombs dropping, and we are going to see if we can make peace between Lebanon and Israel.”
Celebratory gunfire rang out across parts of Beirut early on Friday as the clock struck midnight, the time the ceasefire was set to go into effect. For around half an hour, the booms of rockets that were also fired in celebration could be heard.
The Lebanon ceasefire was aimed at halting a conflict between Israel and the Iran-aligned Lebanese group Hezbollah that was reignited by the US-Israeli war against Iran.
Lebanese authorities say the war has displaced more than one million people.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he agreed to the ceasefire “to advance” peace efforts with Lebanon. “We have an opportunity to make a historic peace agreement with Lebanon,” he said in a video message.
But despite the temporary truce, Netanyahu said Israeli troops will stay in an expanded security zone.
Hezbollah said in a statement that any truce must apply “across all Lebanese territory and must not allow the Israeli enemy any freedom of movement”.
Trump said he had held “excellent conversations” with Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and planned to invite them both to the White House for “meaningful talks”.
Trump also said a potential deal with Iran may not be far away.
“Iran wants to make a deal, and we’re dealing very nicely with them … we have a lot of agreement, and I think something’s going to happen very positive.”
The war in the Middle East, which began on 28 February with a US-Israeli attack on Iran, has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, more than 2,100 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Thirteen US service members have also been killed.
The conflict has sent oil prices surging around the world.
If the Lebanon ceasefire clears the way for a broader peace deal with Iran, it would be a significant win for the Trump administration, which has struggled so far to reopen the strategically important Strait of Hormuz and resolve a deadlock over Iran’s nuclear program.
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