Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said that it would be dumb for the United States to let Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu kill diplomacy as his forces kill hundreds in Lebanon despite the ceasefire. He added that Netanyahu is on trial, which is set to begin on Sunday, which gives him an ulterior motive for continuing the fighting in order to dodge the proceedings.
In his social media post, Araghchi wrote, “A region-wide ceasefire, including in Lebanon, would hasten his jailing.”
“If the US wishes to crater its economy by letting Netanyahu kill diplomacy, that would ultimately be its choice. We think that would be dumb but are prepared for it,” Araghchi wrote.
His comments were a direct response to US Vice President JD Vance, who on Wednesday said that “We think that would be dumb, to break the ceasefire but that’s their choice.”
Since the ceasefire was announced on Tuesday, the disagreement over whether Lebanon is included in it or not has become a point of contention. Iran maintains that it was explicitly mentioned in the ceasefire, as is said by mediator Pakistan, while both the United States and Israel have rejected Lebanon’s inclusion in the current two-week ceasefire.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump, whose home ratings have fallen to an all-time low since re-election, called on Israel to scale back its military operations in Lebanon.
“I spoke with Bibi (Netanyahu), and he’s going to low-key it. I just think we have to be sort of a little more low-key.”
Vance also said Israelis agreed to “check themselves a little bit in Lebanon”.
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