Bruno Finel

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.

Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef (Joe) Rajji delivered one of the most candid assessments of his country's situation in years, speaking Saturday to the French daily Le Figaro, making clear that Hezbollah is strategically finished and that Lebanon will not allow Iran to negotiate on its behalf.

The United States and Iran are reportedly edging toward a Memorandum of Understanding that could, in stages, bring an end to their conflict. 

Five years of relentless upheaval have left Israel's tourism sector in ruins. The Covid pandemic, the October 7, 2023 massacres, the 2025 offensive against Iran and the renewed conflict in 2026 have delivered blow after blow to an industry that once welcomed millions of visitors annually. 

Let us be blunt. Weeks of diplomacy, goodwill gestures and presidential announcements of imminent deals have produced exactly nothing.

For much of its seventy-eight-year history, Israel's relationship with the Jewish Diaspora was one of existential necessity.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has flatly dismissed Donald Trump's suggestion of a meeting with Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, describing the idea as unrealistic in an interview aired Thursday on Lebanese channel Al-Mayadeen.

The European Union has announced a €100 million aid package for the Lebanese Armed Forces, bringing its recent total support for Lebanon to €182 million. 

Donald Trump is nothing if not an optimist. His latest statements on Iran, declaring that Tehran has agreed never to acquire a nuclear weapon and musing about a future meeting with Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, project a confidence that is either visionary or deeply puzzling, depending on your vantage point.