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Trump announces a three-week extension of the ceasefire in Lebanon

The Opinion (with AFP)

Washington – Donald Trump announced on Thursday a three-week extension of the ceasefire in Lebanon, at a time when efforts to reach an agreement with Iran are at a standstill. “The ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon will be extended by THREE WEEKS,” wrote the American president on his Truth Social platform following a new meeting between representatives of the two countries in Washington. In effect since April 17, the ceasefire, which was initially set to end on Sunday, has provided some respite to the Lebanese population in a conflict that has already claimed more than 2,400 lives and displaced a million people in the country since early March. Donald Trump assured that the United States “will collaborate with Lebanon to help protect it against Hezbollah.” The Shiite organization, which plunged the country into war on March 2 in support of its Iranian ally, rejected these talks and continues its operations in southern Lebanon, where Israel intends to create a buffer zone at the cost of destroying villages and bombing, which killed two Lebanese journalists on Wednesday. Hezbollah announced that it had fired rockets at northern Israel in response to the “violations” of the ceasefire by the Israeli army. Despite everything, Mr. Trump said he expects Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun to meet “in the coming weeks.” The Lebanese president, who has so far rejected the prospect of such a meeting, is expected to attend a European summit on Friday in Ayia Napa, Cyprus, alongside his counterparts Egyptian Abdel Fattah al-Sissi and Syrian Ahmed al-Chareh, and Jordanian Crown Prince Hussein ben Abdallah. The Twenty-Seven have stated that they intend to discuss “the situation in Lebanon and talks between Israel and Lebanon” and maintain an “intensive dialogue” with the states in the region. Nearly two months after it began on February 28 by Israel and the United States, the war against Iran continues to weigh on energy markets and the global economy, despite a ceasefire taking effect on April 8. Traffic has come to a halt in the Strait of Hormuz, through which before the conflict 20% of global oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) passed, and is now subject to a double Iranian and American blockade. On Friday morning, oil prices continued to rise in Asia, with WTI above $97 and Brent from the North Sea near $107. Donald Trump assured that time was running out for Tehran as its oil exports decrease. “I have all the time in the world, but that is not the case for Iran,” he wrote on Truth Social on Thursday. Third aircraft carrier Washington maintains military pressure with the arrival of a third aircraft carrier, the George HW Bush, in the region. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said he was only waiting for the green light from the United States to resume strikes. However, Donald Trump assured that he had no intention of using nuclear weapons against Iran, whom he had threatened at the beginning of April to “exterminate” civilization. “Why would I use nuclear weapons when we have completely neutralized them in a very conventional way?,” he said in response to a question from a journalist at the White House. A first round of Iranian-American discussions in Pakistan on April 11 ended in failure. Mr. Trump cited “divisions” within the power in Tehran to explain the indefinite postponement of a second round scheduled for this week. In response, Parliament President Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Chief Justice Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei pledged unity on Thursday, speaking on their social media of “one God, one nation, one leader, one path.” While the new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has not appeared publicly since he succeeded his father Ali Khamenei – killed in the early hours of the war – The New York Times reported Thursday, citing Iranian officials speaking anonymously, that he was “gravely injured,” especially on the face, but remains “sharp-witted and active.” AFP bureaus in Washington, Beirut, Jerusalem, and Tehran – Agence France-Presse