Netanyahu Confirms Two-Week US-Iran Ceasefire, Lebanon Excluded
Netanyahu says Israel supports US-Iran ceasefire but excludes Lebanon; Islamabad to host conflict negotiations.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that Israel supports the United States’ decision to suspend attacks against Iran for two weeks but emphasized that the ceasefire does not extend to Lebanon. Netanyahu’s statement came just hours after Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had announced that the truce, agreed upon by the US, Iran, and their allies, applied “everywhere,” including Lebanon.
“Israel also supports the US effort to ensure that Iran no longer poses a nuclear, missile, and terror threat to America, Israel, Iran’s Arab neighbors, and the world,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement. The prime minister added that the United States had committed to achieving these shared security goals in the upcoming negotiations with Tehran, but stressed that “the two-week ceasefire does not include Lebanon.”
Lebanon has been drawn into the conflict since March 2, when Hezbollah, a prominent pro-Iran armed group, fired rockets toward Israeli cities in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Israel responded with large-scale airstrikes on Lebanon, resulting in over 1,500 deaths and displacing more than one million people—more than one-fifth of the country’s population.
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The US-Iran ceasefire, agreed upon just hours before President Donald Trump’s deadline to launch attacks on Iran, represents an 11th-hour diplomatic intervention. The agreement followed direct communications between Trump, Shehbaz Sharif, and Pakistani Army Chief Asim Munir, who had urged a temporary truce. Iran hailed the ceasefire as a victory and confirmed it would send delegations to Islamabad on April 10 for talks aimed at ending the conflict.
Iran has also presented a 10-point plan outlining conditions for a broader resolution. The plan calls for US acceptance of Iran’s uranium enrichment program, lifting of all sanctions, Iranian control over the Strait of Hormuz, withdrawal of US forces from the Middle East, cessation of attacks on Iran and its allies, release of frozen assets, and a binding UN Security Council resolution. President Trump confirmed receipt of the proposal and said he viewed it as a “workable basis on which to negotiate.”
The contrasting statements from Netanyahu and Sharif highlight ongoing complexities in the region’s diplomacy, particularly regarding Lebanon’s role in the conflict. While Washington and Tehran prepare for further negotiations in Islamabad, the situation on the ground in Lebanon remains precarious, with humanitarian needs continuing to mount amid ongoing regional tensions.
