Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday said Tehran's negotiators thought the U.S.-Iran ceasefire agreed to on Tuesday included Lebanon, but the U.S. had in fact not agreed to that.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance delivers remarks at a Day of Friendship event with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban at MTK Sportpark in Budapest, Hungary, April 7, 2026. Reuters/Jonathan Ernst
Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday said Tehran's negotiators thought the U.S.-Iran ceasefire agreed to on Tuesday included Lebanon, but the U.S. had in fact not agreed to that.
"I think this comes from a legitimate misunderstanding. I think the Iranians thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon, and it just didn't," Vance told reporters in Budapest.
The U.S. position was that the ceasefire would focus on Iran and U.S. allies, including Israel and the Gulf Arab states, he added. That position contradicts comments by Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, a key intermediary in the U.S.-Iran ceasefire talks, who had said the truce would include Lebanon.
Vance said Israel had agreed to show restraint in Lebanon, without providing details.
"The Israelis, as I understand it ... have actually offered to, frankly, to check themselves a little bit in Lebanon, because they want to make sure that our negotiation is successful," Vance said.
Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk
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.
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.
In a characteristically combative post on Truth Social, US President Donald Trump has pushed back against media narratives surrounding the conflict with Iran, while doubling down on his conviction that Tehran must never acquire a nuclear weapon and openly calling for regime change.
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