Iran complicated already difficult peace negotiations Wednesday by insisting that any ceasefire agreement must include Lebanon and a halt to Israel’s offensive against Hezbollah. The demand linked two parallel conflicts that the US and Israel have tried to keep separate, threatening to expand the scope of any potential peace deal significantly. Diplomats from multiple countries warned that adding Lebanon to the equation would make an already complex negotiation dramatically harder.
Iran had already rejected the US 15-point ceasefire proposal, delivered via Pakistan, calling it one-sided and unreasonable. Tehran submitted its own five-point counter-proposal centred on ending attacks, security guarantees, reparations, and Iranian authority over the Strait of Hormuz. The Lebanon linkage added a sixth dimension to an already overcrowded agenda, requiring Israeli concessions on a front it had been pursuing with increasing intensity.
Israel was making slow but real progress in its ground campaign against Hezbollah south of the Litani River in Lebanon, with soldiers posting videos from the previously contested towns of Taybeh and Khiam. Israeli forces continued simultaneously striking targets across Iran, including infrastructure sites in Tehran and a submarine development centre near Isfahan. The Israeli government was reportedly caught off guard by the US ceasefire proposal and did not welcome it, preferring to continue operations that it believed were further degrading Iranian power.
The UN Secretary-General António Guterres spoke out forcefully against the continuation of hostilities, urging Israel to stop its military operations and strikes and calling on Hezbollah to end its attacks on Israel. He specifically warned that the destruction visited on Gaza must not become the model for Lebanon. His remarks reflected growing international anxiety about the scale and direction of the conflict.
President Trump and his administration publicly expressed confidence that a deal was within reach, with the White House suggesting face-to-face talks between Washington and Tehran could begin as soon as Friday. However, the accumulation of conditions — from Iranian demands on reparations and the Strait to the Lebanon linkage — suggested that any settlement was still far off. The US appeared determined to keep its May 14 Beijing trip on schedule, implying a self-imposed deadline to end the conflict within weeks.