Vance: “Legitimate Misunderstanding” With Iran About Lebanon, But Israelis Have Offered To “Check Themselves”
Vice President JD Vance said he wasn’t involved with this, but he believes the disagreement with Iran over whether the ceasefire deal “included Lebanon” was a “legitimate misunderstanding” and should not impact upcoming negotiations Saturday in Islamabad. Iran reportedly refused to open the Strait of Hormuz after unprecedentedly large Israeli strikes on Hezbollah in Lebanon just hours after the US-backed ceasefire deal went into effect. “I think the Iranians thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon, and it just didn’t. We never made that promise,” Vance said. “What we said is that the ceasefire would be focused on Iran, and the ceasefire would be focused on America’s allies, both Israel and the Gulf Arab states.” “Now, that said, the Israelis… have actually offered to, frankly, check themselves a little bit in Lebanon because they want to make sure that our negotiation is successful,” the vice president said. “Look, if Iran wants to let this negotiation fall apart, in a conflict where they were getting hammered, over Lebanon-which has nothing to do with them and which the US never once said was part of the ceasefire-that’s ultimately their choice,” Vance said. “But that’s their choice.”
REPORTER: Can I ask you about Lebanon? Because there seems to be a disagreement about whether Lebanon was included in this proposal. The speaker of the parliament, who you’re going to sit across the table from in Islamabad, has just said that he thinks negotiations would be unreasonable while that war is ongoing. So would you ask Israel to hold off strikes to allow some space for these talks? JD VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, first of all, I know there have been some conversations between the Israelis and the leadership of our country. I haven’t been involved in that because I’ve been busy doing stuff in Hungary. I’m actually supposed to get an update when I get on the plane. But let me say a couple things. First of all, I actually think-and there’s a lot of bad-faith negotiation and a lot of bad-faith propaganda going on-I think this comes from a legitimate misunderstanding. I think the Iranians thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon, and it just didn’t. We never made that promise. We never indicated that was going to be the case. What we said is that the ceasefire would be focused on Iran, and the ceasefire would be focused on America’s allies, both Israel and the Gulf Arab states. Now, that said, the Israelis-as I understand it, again, I’m supposed to get a full report when I get on the plane-have actually offered to, frankly, check themselves a little bit in Lebanon because they want to make sure that our negotiation is successful. That’s not because that is part of the ceasefire. I think that’s the Israelis trying to set us up for success, and we’ll, of course, see how that unfolds in the next few days. But look, if Iran wants to let this negotiation fall apart, in a conflict where they were getting hammered, over Lebanon-which has nothing to do with them and which the United States never once said was part of the ceasefire-that’s ultimately their choice. We think that would be dumb, but that’s their choice.
