Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei stated that peace between Tehran and the United States is contingent on Israel ceasing its attacks on Lebanon.
Khamenei made the announcement on X on Sunday, writing: “Iran has designated the preservation of Lebanon’s territorial integrity, and the absolute, unconditional termination of the Zionist regime’s aggression as the primary condition for any agreement to ending the imposed war against the aggressive US regime.”
He also voiced support for the Lebanese group Hezbollah, its former leader Hassan Nasrallah, and the people of southern Lebanon, the focal point of Israel's attacks.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran considers the defense of these oppressed yet powerful mujahideen [of Hezbollah] to be its strategic mandate,” Khamenei said.
Khamenei's intervention comes amid reports of a halt to attacks and renewed diplomacy between Tehran and Washington.
Iran has consistently made an end to Israeli strikes on Lebanon a precondition for ending the war, a demand enshrined in the first clause of the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the two countries in June. That agreement has since collapsed amid a dispute over the Strait of Hormuz.
Lebanon was drawn into the conflict in March after Hezbollah launched strikes on northern Israel, citing both the killing of then-Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on the war's first day, February 28, and Israel's near-daily bombardment of Lebanese territory.
On June 26, following the signing of the US-Iran MoU, Lebanon and Israel signed a US-mediated framework agreement stipulating a phased Israeli withdrawal from occupied Lebanese territory, but without a timetable. Instead, it said Israel will withdraw once Hezbollah is disarmed.
Iran and Hezbollah have rejected the deal. While the first phase is Israel's withdrawal from three “pilot zones”, the Lebanese army said on Sunday that Israeli forces are obstructing the process, including by refusing to withdraw from designated territories.
As of Sunday, Israel was still bulldozing, shelling, and conducting combing operations with machine guns across large areas of southern Lebanese territory it is occupying.
At least 4,329 people have been killed in Lebanon, while 37 Israeli soldiers and four Israeli civilians have died in the latest round of violence. Israel violated a previous ceasefire with Hezbollah more than 10,000 times, according to UN peacekeepers.
Mojtaba Khamenei is the son of former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. He was selected as supreme leader after the US and Israel's assassination of his father.
Khamenei's statement on Lebanon comes as war spreads into Yemen, with reports of an exchange of attacks between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia.
Source: www.aljazeera.com