The Iranian supreme leader’s intervention comes amid reports of a halt to attacks and renewed diplomacy between the US and Iran.
Published On ۲۶ Jul ۲۰۲۶۲۶ Jul ۲۰۲۶
Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has said that peace between Tehran and the United States is contingent on Israel stopping its attacks against Lebanon.
Khamenei made the statement on X on Sunday.
Recommended Stories
list of ۳ itemsend of list
“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,” he wrote.
Khamenei also voiced his support for the Lebanese group Hezbollah, its former leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and the people of southern Lebanon – the focal point of Israel’s attacks – in a series of posts.
“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 ۲۸, and Israel’s near-daily bombardment of Lebanese territory – attacks it says violated a ceasefire that had ended an earlier round of hostilities in ۲۰۲۴.
On June ۲۶, 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 for the withdrawal.
Instead, it said Israel will withdraw from occupied territories 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 machineguns across large areas of southern Lebanese territory it is occupying.
At least ۴,۳۲۹ people have been killed, while ۳۷ Israeli soldiers and four Israeli civilians have died in the latest round of violence in Lebanon.
Israel violated a previous ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel more than ۱۰,۰۰۰ times, according to UN peacekeepers.
Mojtaba Khamenei is the son of the former Iranian 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.
