Bruno Finel

Naim Qassem took to the podium Friday for the Ashura commemorations and delivered precisely the speech the world expected, word for word, beat for beat, with all the spontaneity of a hostage reading from a script prepared in Tehran.

Lebanon's Foreign Ministry on Friday welcomed the joint declaration issued Thursday following the ministerial meeting between the Gulf Cooperation Council  (GCC) and the United States, describing it as a significant endorsement of Beirut's sovereign diplomatic path.

The United States and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) delivered a unified and unambiguous message Thursday in Manama: Lebanon's sovereignty must be restored, armed groups outside state authority must be disarmed, and the Lebanese file must not be held hostage to Iran's regional agenda.

You cannot trust a regime that has built its survival on deception. Iran's theocracy has practiced the art of lying and concealment for decades, and Tuesday delivered yet another textbook illustration.

Lebanon's Finance and Budget Committee approved Monday a government bill establishing a "golden visa" scheme, offering wealthy foreigners and expatriates the opportunity to obtain Lebanese residency and a preferential tax regime in exchange for a minimum investment of $500,000.

US Vice President JD Vance expressed hope Sunday for "a new chapter" in relations with Iran as talks opened in Switzerland to finalise a memorandum of understanding already showing cracks just four days after its signing, strained by continued fighting in Lebanon and a fresh warning from Donald Trump that Tehran must prevent Hezbollah from "causing trouble."

There are mistakes, and then there are betrayals dressed up as diplomacy. Donald Trump's memorandum of understanding with Iran - one that folds Lebanon into a ceasefire framework between Israel and Hezbollah - belongs firmly in the second category.

For decades, diplomats, scholars, presidents, kings, emirs, generals, and United Nations envoys have tried to achieve one impossible goal in the Middle East: Consensus.

Just two days before the formal signing of the US-Iran memorandum of understanding in Switzerland President Donald Trump delivered a blunt warning to Tehran from the G7 summit in Evian.

Hezbollah Secretary General Naïm Kassem has publicly thanked Iran's chief negotiator and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf for securing what he described as a commitment to halt Israeli military operations in Lebanon.

Two very different scenes played out Monday as the US-Iran memorandum of understanding was signed.

Let us call it what it is. The framework agreement on Iran is not a peace deal. It is a capitulation dressed up in diplomatic language, and its most immediate victims are the two countries that have paid the highest price in blood and treasure to confront Iran's aggression: Israel and Lebanon.