Lebanon becomes key to Iran-US peace talks amid fears of Israel’s ‘hegemony’

A temporary ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon unveiled by US President Donald Trump on Thursday was the final turn in the diplomatic maze leading to a breakthrough in Pakistan-mediated peace talks between Washington and Tehran, analysts say.Arranged by Pakistan with help from Saudi Arabia, the 10-day cessation of hostilities in Lebanon was a key Iranian condition for a second and potentially conclusive round of talks in Islamabad on a date yet to be set.Marathon talks between high-powered delegations led by US Vice President J.D. Vance and Iranian parliamentary speaker Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf in Islamabad last weekend stalled over Washington’s reluctance to include Lebanon on the agenda and Tehran’s refusal to cease its uranium enrichment activity, according to officials on both sides.Israel reluctantly agreed to the ceasefire on the condition that its forces would remain in parts of southern Lebanon, which it has occupied since its war against Iran alongside the US was launched on February 28.But it was “very unlikely” that the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire would last without progress in Islamabad, according to Hussein Ibish, an expert on the Levant and senior resident scholar of the Washington-based Arab Gulf States Institute.The Israeli government “appears committed to a major war” with Hezbollah and was trying to “deliver a knockout blow” to the key Iranian ally. “They are taking a break now to facilitate US negotiations with Iran, but I think they’re keen to start the war again as soon as possible,” Ibish said.