Israel supports U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to suspend strikes against Iran for two weeks, but the ceasefire does not include Lebanon, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said on Wednesday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Reuters/Ronen Zvulun
Israel supports U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to suspend strikes against Iran for two weeks, but the ceasefire does not include Lebanon, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said on Wednesday.
The premier's office said Israel backed the U.S. move provided Tehran immediately opened the strait and stopped attacks against the United States, Israel and countries in the region.
The remarks came after Washington announced a two-week suspension of attacks against Iran as part of efforts to de-escalate the conflict and open a window for negotiations.
Israel also said it supported U.S. efforts to ensure Iran no longer posed a nuclear, missile or "terror" threat to the U.S., Israel and Iran's Arab neighbours, adding that Washington had told Israel it was committed to achieving their shared goals in upcoming negotiations.
Iran said on Wednesday negotiations with the U.S. would begin on Friday, April 10 in Islamabad.
Two White House officials confirmed earlier that Israel had agreed to the two-week ceasefire and to suspend its bombing campaign on Iran, while Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who helped mediate the deal, said in a post on X that the agreement included a cessation of Israel's campaign in Lebanon.
The Israeli offensive in Lebanon has killed at least 1,500 people and displaced 1.2 million others. Lebanon was pulled into the war in the Middle East when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel in solidarity with Tehran, two days after Iran was attacked by Israel and the U.S. Hezbollah's attack prompted a new Israeli ground and air offensive.
By Enas Alashray and Ahmed Tolba
The United States expressed confidence that peace talks with Iran would go ahead in Pakistan and a senior Iranian official said Tehran was considering joining, but significant hurdles and uncertainty remained as the end of a ceasefire loomed.
The Board of Peace’s lead envoy for Gaza told Reuters on Monday that he was “fairly optimistic” a plan for disarmament of Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza can be agreed but cautioned that it will still take time.
Ships were largely avoiding the Strait of Hormuz on Monday after an escalation at the weekend in which Iran fired what appeared to be warning shots at vessels and the U.S. military seized an Iranian cargo ship.
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