English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News
& Editorials
For June 18/2026
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news
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Bible Quotations For today
If another member of the church sins against you, go and
point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you,
you have regained that one.
Saint Matthew 18/15-20:”‘If another member of the church sins
against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the
member listens to you, you have regained that one. But if you are not listened
to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed
by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If the member refuses to listen to
them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the
church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax-collector. Truly I tell
you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose
on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree
on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.
For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”
Titles For Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related
News & Editorials published on
17-18 June/2026
All the Viagra in the world will not change the impotent status of a
castrated man/Elias Bejjani/June 17/2026
A prayer for the freedom, safety, sovereignty, and independence of Lebanon/Elias
Bejjani/June 16/2026
G7 leaders demand ceasefire in Lebanon, welcome Iran deal
Trump says Lebanese President to visit US within two weeks, highlights push for
peace in Lebanon
Trump says he talked to Syrian leader about taking on Hezbollah
Syria rebuilds Arida border crossing as Lebanon struggles with funding
constraints
Syria rebuilds Arida border crossing as Lebanon struggles with funding
constraints
US pushes ahead with Iran deal: Israel weighs 'day after war' in Lebanon
Israel Launches Fresh Airstrikes in Lebanon; Trump Says He Could Still Restart
War
Several Israeli Strikes Hit South Lebanon
Israeli military says Hezbollah drones wound five soldiers in south Lebanon
Trump Criticizes Israel’s Tactics in Lebanon, Says It Is Killing Civilians
Trump says Israel 'could behave better' in Lebanon
Hezbollah Chief Says Lebanon-Israel Talks Should Be Limited to Mutual Security
Trump Says Netanyahu Could Use ‘Softer Touch’ in Lebanon
Between Lebanon and the West/Antoine Doueihy/Al-Sharq Al-Awsat/June 17, 2026
Don’t let the narrative become a grave for the truth… “The expansion of Shiite
cemeteries is not an achievement”/Mohammad Al-Amin/Facebook/June 17, 2026
Statement Issued by the Lebanese Shiites Gathering: Intimidation Is Not an
Answer to the Questions Raised
LACC Statement on the Wall Street Journal's Coverage of Lebanon
Deploying Syrian Troops in Lebanon Would Help, Not Hurt, Hezbollah/Ahmad Sharawi/FDD-Policy
Brief/June 17/2026
on 17-18 June/2026
Full text of the US-Iran memorandum of understanding
Trump threatens ‘dropping bombs’ if Iran doesn’t ‘behave’
Netanyahu is a good man who gets a little excited sometimes, Trump says
Trump Says Iran Accord to Be Signed ‘Shortly’, ‘Maybe’ Thursday or Friday
Italy Says to Re-Open Tehran Embassy on Friday
US Official Says Parties Can Still Walk Away from Iran Deal, Sequencing Will Be
Key
China Tells Iran ‘All Parties’ Must Adhere to Deal to End War
G7 Leaders Welcome Trump ‘Change’ on Ukraine
Italy Urges Israel to Be ‘Positive Player’ for Peace
Tehran says considering plan for Iran, US presidents to sign deal
Trump says US 'did send a copy' of Iran accord to Israel
Trump says 'nobody' attacked Iran girls' school 'on purpose'
Fresh Syria Protests Call for Accountability for Assad-Era Loyalists
Egyptian Program to Develop Abrams Tanks Alarms Israel
Israel Approves Settler Building Plans in Palestinian West Bank City
More Than 1,000 People Have Been Killed in Gaza During Ceasefire, Health
Ministry Says
Titles For The Latest
English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published
on 17-18 June/2026
A Strange Morning in Israel: We Woke Up Alone/Paula Stern/X platform/June
17/2026
Dilution Is Not the Solution: Disposing of Iran’s Enriched Uranium
Stockpile/Andrea Stricker/FDD-Policy Brief/June 17/2026
Do not forget the Iranian people who still suffer, President Trump/Janatan Sayeh/New
York Post/June 17/2026
Iran and Its Proxies Have Been Burning Down the Middle East...When Will the
World Stop Pretending That the Problem Is Israel?/Robert Williams/Gatestone
Institute/June 17, 2026
Geopolitics, Geoeconomics and Geostrategy/Dr. Abdel Monem Said/Asharq AlAwsat/June
17/2026
On the Criteria of Defeat and Victory in Lebanon/Rami al-Rayes/Asharq AlAwsat/June
17/2026
Selected Face Book & X tweets on 17 June/2026
on 17-18 June/2026
All the Viagra in the world will not
change the impotent status of a castrated man.
Elias Bejjani/June 17/2026
The dhimmi¹ and the castrated—Aoun, Salam, the government, and all the so
falsely called Christian parties' leaders, and on top of them the lost Patriarch
Rai—are still willingly and happily kidnapped by Hezbollah and tied with its
ropes of its humiliation."
A prayer for the freedom, safety, sovereignty, and
independence of Lebanon
Elias Bejjani/June 16/2026
In these difficult and painful times through which Lebanon is passing, the
homeland of saints, martyrs, holiness, freedom, and coexistence, prayer for its
salvation acquires a special urgency and importance.
Today, Lebanon suffers from various forms of domination, political paralysis,
economic collapse, and social hardship. Its sovereignty, national identity, and
historic mission continue to face serious challenges, while its people endure
poverty, emigration, uncertainty, and the loss of hope.
The prayers of the Lebanese people for the salvation, liberation, and renewal of
their country are not merely a patriotic duty; they are also an act of faith,
hope, and trust in God. If the Lord Jesus responded to the faith of those who
carried the paralytic to Him, if He healed the centurion's servant in response
to the centurion's request, and if He raised Lazarus from the dead in answer to
the pleas of Martha and Mary, then surely the prayers of believers on behalf of
their homeland, their families, and their people are heard and welcomed by God.
The Church throughout its history has witnessed the power of intercessory prayer
and the countless blessings that flow from faithful supplication offered for
others. Lebanon today is in great need of such prayer. Its salvation begins with
the conversion of hearts, with a renewed commitment to faith, truth, freedom,
and moral responsibility. It also begins with the conviction that God never
abandons those who place their trust in Him and seek His help with sincerity and
perseverance.
Therefore, praying for Lebanon—for its freedom, sovereignty, peace, stability,
and liberation from corruption, injustice, fear, and every form of domination—is
both a spiritual and national responsibility entrusted to every Lebanese who
believes in God's love and justice.
Let us therefore raise our hearts together and pray: A Prayer for Lebanon
Lord God, Father of mercy, love, and peace, look with compassion upon Lebanon
and its people.
Bless its land and preserve its heritage. Protect it from violence, division,
oppression, and all who seek to diminish its freedom and dignity. Enlighten the
minds and consciences of its leaders so that they may serve the common good with
wisdom, integrity, and courage.
Strengthen the faith of its people, comfort those who suffer, give hope to the
discouraged, and bring back those who have been forced to leave their homeland.
Heal the wounds of the nation, unite its children in truth and reconciliation,
and restore to Lebanon its historic mission as a beacon of freedom, faith,
culture, and coexistence in the Middle East.
Free Lebanon from corruption, injustice, dependency, and fear. Grant its people
perseverance, patience, and confidence in Your providence. Through the
intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Lebanon, and all the saints
of Lebanon, protect this beloved nation and grant it lasting peace, security,
sovereignty, dignity, and prosperity.
For Yours is the glory, now and forever. Amen.
G7 leaders demand ceasefire in Lebanon, welcome Iran deal
Reuters/17 June ,2026
Leaders of the G7 countries demanded a ceasefire in Lebanon on Wednesday and
said they will diversify energy supply routes to reduce dependence on the Strait
of Hormuz in response to the war in Iran, as they welcomed an interim deal to
end the conflict.
The leaders met for a summit in the French town of Evian-les-Bains on Lake
Geneva, while details of the US-Iran ceasefire agreement trickled out of
Washington and Tehran ahead of its formal unveiling, expected on Friday across
the nearby Swiss border.The US-Iran agreement is expected to launch negotiations
towards a final settlement to end the war, which has killed more than 7,000
people, mostly in Iran and Lebanon. “We underline the need for the negotiation
... to address the threats posed by Iran in the region and beyond and ensure
that they never obtain a nuclear weapon,” the leaders said in a statement. The
summit gave US President Donald Trump a chance to present his deal with Iran to
major allies Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan. They mostly
share Washington’s concerns about Iran’s nuclear program and other issues, but
never endorsed his decision to go to war and worry that Tehran gained leverage
by withstanding the superpower onslaught and asserting control over the strait.
The leaders said they were ready to contribute to the implementation of the
accord, with a coalition led by Britain and France set to help secure shipping
once the Strait of Hormuz reopens as expected on Friday. The memorandum of
understanding signed by Washington and Tehran this week, though yet to be made
public, extends a ceasefire announced in April by another 60 days to allow the
warring countries to negotiate a permanent truce. The US president appears to
have achieved little of what he said he wanted at the outset of the war. Iran’s
theocratic government remains in place, its stockpile of highly enriched uranium
has not been surrendered, its ballistic missile capabilities have not been
destroyed and it has not ended its support for anti-Israel militias like
Hezbollah in Lebanon. Trump said the agreement states that Iran will not have a
nuclear weapon - a restatement of Iran’s official position since the 1970s - and
US officials say further discussions will lead to the removal or destruction of
its enriched uranium stockpile. But ending the war on such terms could still
expose Trump to criticism, including from hawks within his own Republican party,
ahead of midterm elections in November.
Truce in Lebanon?
One of the biggest questions still hanging over the truce is the fate of
Lebanon, which Israel invaded in March to root out Hezbollah after the militant
group fired across the border in solidarity with Tehran following US-Israeli
strikes on Iran. Israeli forces still occupy a swathe of southern Lebanon, where
more than a million people have been driven from their homes, while Hezbollah
remains undefeated. Iran says the ceasefire must also end hostilities in
Lebanon, and that a permanent deal must lead to an Israeli withdrawal. Israel,
which was excluded from the US-Iran peace negotiations, says it will not
withdraw and reserves the right to use military force. That has opened up a rift
between Israel and the United States, with Trump publicly berating his wartime
ally Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. On Tuesday Trump said at the
summit that he was “not happy” with the way Israel had handled itself. “Without
us, without the United States, there would be no Israel. Without me, there would
be no Israel, because no other president was willing to do what I did,” Trump
said.In their statement, the G7 leaders called for an “immediate robust
ceasefire” in Lebanon and the disarmament of Hezbollah. A Hezbollah spokesperson
told Reuters the group believed Iran would not agree to a permanent truce if the
Israeli occupation did not end. After decades of US and international financial
sanctions that pushed Iran’s economy to the brink, a peace deal could deliver
economic benefits. The memorandum includes a $300 billion reconstruction fund,
if Iran complies with other terms. In the coming 60 days, negotiators will
return to difficult issues such as the future of Iran’s nuclear program. But
Iran’s support for regional militia groups and its missile arsenal do not appear
to be on the agenda, in what would amount to major US concessions. Oil prices
fell again on Wednesday on prospects for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz,
with Brent crude futures below $80, at their lowest level since the opening
salvos of the US-Iran conflict. A senior US official said the US will waive
sanctions on Iranian oil under the deal to end the war, raising the prospect of
millions of additional barrels of supply, though industry officials say Middle
East oil and gas output will take months to fully recover. The G7 leaders said
they had committed to “accelerate the diversification of energy supply routes in
order to reduce global vulnerability to the Strait of Hormuz and to increase our
energy stocks. ”Separately, the G7 leaders also said that they stand united to
support Ukraine, including its territorial integrity, and agreed to increase
sanctions on Russia, in a statement that underscores Kyiv’s growing leverage as
it seeks peace talks with Moscow.
Trump says Lebanese President to visit US within two weeks,
highlights push for peace in Lebanon
LBCI/June 17/2026
U.S. President Donald Trump said the Lebanese president is expected to visit the
United States within two weeks, adding that Washington is seeking to achieve
peace in Lebanon and suggesting that Syria could play a role in that effort. "We
want to achieve peace in Lebanon, and Syria could have a role in bringing peace
there," Trump said. Commenting on Hezbollah, Trump described the situation in
Lebanon as a relatively small part of a broader regional picture, while
acknowledging that it remains highly contentious. "Peace in Lebanon is something
we have to work on a little," Trump said. "In reality, it is a very small part
of the bigger picture, but it still generates a lot of controversy."He said the
more significant issue is the agreement with Iran. "The big issue is the deal
with Iran. That's where the real importance lies. They have Hezbollah, and that
issue has to be dealt with one way or another," Trump said. Trump added that the
United States could address the matter, while suggesting that Israel "could do a
much better job" and noting that Syria is also interested in playing a role.
"But I don't know whether people want that. Maybe not, and maybe Lebanon doesn't
want that," he said. "We have to be guided, to some extent, by what Lebanon
wants."
Trump says he talked to Syrian leader about taking on
Hezbollah
LBCI/June 17/2026
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he had spoken to Syria's leader
about combatting Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, a day after criticizing
Israel for killing too many civilians and not getting the job done. Asked at a
Group of Seven summit in Evian-les-Bains, France, if he had talked to Syrian
President Ahmed al-Sharaa about Hezbollah, Trump nodded and said "yes." Asked if
Sharaa was willing to take on the Shi'ite armed group, Trump said he would talk
about that later. Reuters
Syria rebuilds Arida border crossing as Lebanon struggles
with funding constraints
LBCI/June 17/2026
Reconstruction work on the Arida border crossing linking Syria and Lebanon is
progressing steadily nearly two months after construction began, with Syrian
authorities financing the project on both sides of the border amid continued
financial difficulties in Lebanon. The crossing, which has been hit repeatedly
by Israeli strikes, remains out of service and is currently reserved for
voluntary returns. Syrians heading home from Lebanon are still required to cross
the area on foot, as vehicle traffic has yet to resume. Construction crews,
trucks, and heavy machinery are operating across the site as work continues at a
visible pace.On the Syrian side, the administration building of the border
crossing has been renovated since the new Syrian government assumed office.
Initially, the facility will be used to process arrivals and departures once the
crossing officially reopens. Officials say the current arrangements are only
temporary, with broader plans envisioned for the site. According to the head of
the border center, the Syrian state has financed the reconstruction of the
bridge on both the Syrian and Lebanese sides, despite the project traditionally
falling under the shared responsibility of the two countries. Lebanese
authorities have repeatedly pointed to a lack of funding, but the issue has
reignited debate over the country's ability to prioritize infrastructure
projects and secure financing despite its prolonged economic crisis. The
reconstruction effort comes as Syria, still recovering from years of war and
grappling with severe economic and infrastructure challenges, pushes ahead with
plans to rehabilitate border crossings, airports, ports, and energy facilities
while seeking to attract investment. The contrast has fueled broader discussions
over development priorities in the region. While political debates in Lebanon
continue to focus on the outcome of conflicts and ceasefire arrangements,
neighboring countries are increasingly emphasizing economic recovery and
infrastructure development.
The reopening of the Arida crossing is expected to restore a vital link between
Lebanon and Syria and facilitate the movement of people and goods between the
two countries, underscoring the role of infrastructure projects in shaping
future economic opportunities despite ongoing crises.
US pushes ahead with Iran deal: Israel weighs 'day after
war' in Lebanon
LBCI/June 17/2026
departure from Israel of U.S. aerial refueling aircraft previously stationed at
Ben Gurion Airport has been interpreted by many in Israel as a clear signal from
Washington that securing an agreement with Iran remains a top priority and that
there will be no reversal of efforts to end the war. However, Israeli military
officials have sought to counter that perception, promoting the view that the
aircraft have merely been relocated to an undisclosed location pending further
developments in the U.S.-Iran negotiations, which are expected to extend over
the next 60 days.
Despite the diplomatic momentum, Israeli decision-makers have continued issuing
warnings toward Lebanon and carrying out strikes in southern Lebanese villages.
The moves have come amid concerns that any actions perceived as provocative
could jeopardize the emerging U.S.-Iran agreement and leave Israel facing a
future confrontation without American backing. Against that backdrop, Israeli
security sources have begun discussing what they describe as "the day after the
war in Lebanon," a term previously used in relation to the Gaza Strip. At the
center of those deliberations is a key question: how Israel should proceed in
Lebanon following the conclusion of a U.S.-Iran agreement. Israeli army Chief of
Staff Eyal Zamir urged the political leadership, despite heated debates during
Tuesday's security cabinet meeting, to take practical steps and exert pressure
on Washington to safeguard Israel's security interests. According to Israeli
discussions, those interests rest on three main principles: maintaining the
buffer zone, also referred to as the "yellow zone," preserving Israel's freedom
of military action inside Lebanon, and establishing an effective mechanism to
disarm Hezbollah.Those positions appear to diverge from statements made by U.S.
President Donald Trump regarding efforts to de-escalate tensions in the region.
For now, Israeli officials are signaling that there will be no withdrawal from
South Lebanon and no retreat from the approximately 10-kilometer security depth
currently maintained by Israeli forces. Israeli assessments also suggest that
any agreement between Washington and Tehran may prove fragile, with some
officials warning that renewed hostilities could erupt within days or weeks.
Until then, the Israeli military is expected to continue preparing for the
possibility of another round of conflict.
Israel Launches Fresh Airstrikes in Lebanon; Trump Says He
Could Still Restart War
Asharq Al Awsat/ 17/2026
US President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron, Canadian Prime
Minister Mark Carney, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Japanese Prime
Minister Sanae Takaichi, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen,
European Council President Antonio Costa, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz,
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, South Korea's President Lee Jae Myung,
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da
Silva, Kenya's President William Ruto and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer
pose during a family photo at the G7 summit in Evian, France, on Tuesday June
16, 2026. (Pool via Reuters) US President Donald Trump, French President
Emmanuel Macron, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Italian Prime Minister
Giorgia Meloni, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, European Commission
President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Antonio Costa, German
Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, South
Korea's President Lee Jae Myung, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Brazilian
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Kenya's President William Ruto and British
Prime Minister Keir Starmer pose during a family photo at the G7 summit in
Evian, France, on Tuesday June 16, 2026. US President Donald Trump said on
Wednesday his new ceasefire agreement with Iran was not final and he could
resume the war if he is unsatisfied, even as Israel launched fresh airstrikes in
Lebanon where fighting threatens the wider truce. "It's a memorandum of
understanding. And if I don't like it, we'll go back to shooting at them,
dropping bombs on their head," Trump said at a G7 summit in France of the
agreement, reached three days ago. "If I don't like it, if they don't behave,
we'll go right back to dropping bombs right smack in the middle of their head,
OK?" Leaders hailed the agreement at the summit, held in the French town of
Evian-les-Bains, an hour's drive along the shore of Lake Geneva from where the
Iran ceasefire memorandum is due to be signed at a ceremony across the Swiss
border on Friday. The leaders also demanded an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon,
where the memorandum calls for a halt to hostilities between Israel and the
Iran-backed Hezbollah group that have displaced more than a million people.
Fighting there has abated but not ceased since the agreement was reached on
Sunday, and Israel, which was not part of the negotiations, says it retains the
right to use force. Lebanese state media reported fresh Israeli air
strikes and artillery fire in several southern towns throughout Wednesday.
Lebanese security sources said Hezbollah had also launched two drone attacks on
Israeli forces in the south. The group did not publicly claim the attacks.
Israel later said five of its soldiers had been injured in two Hezbollah drone
attacks in southern Lebanon. Inside the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh,
below a mediaeval castle seized by Israeli forces, buildings had been blasted to
ruins resembling the Gaza Strip. Khodr Kodeih, a member of the town council,
told Reuters that some displaced residents had come back to check on their
homes in recent days, but that the fresh strikes were again keeping them away.
"The city of Nabatieh emptied out again. We hope that a safe environment can be
secured so people can return, because the basic necessities of life are still
not available," Kodeih said. The memorandum of understanding, yet to be made
public three days after it was signed by Washington and Tehran, extends a
ceasefire announced in April by another 60 days to allow them to negotiate a
permanent truce.
G7 LEADERS BACK DEAL
The G7 summit gave Trump a chance to present his deal with Iran to allies
Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan. They share Washington's
concerns about Iran's nuclear program and other issues, but never endorsed his
decision to go to war, and worry Tehran has gained leverage by withstanding the
onslaught and asserting control over the strait. "We underline the need for the
negotiation ... to address the threats posed by Iran in the region and beyond
and ensure that they never obtain a nuclear weapon," the G7 leaders said in a
statement. They said they were ready to contribute to implementing the accord,
with a coalition led by Britain and France set to help secure shipping once
the Strait of Hormuz reopens. Oil prices fell again on Wednesday on prospects
for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, with Brent crude futures below $80,
at their lowest level since the opening salvos of the US-Iran conflict.
MOST IRANIANS 'ARE IN SURVIVAL MODE'
Trump appears to have achieved little of what he said he wanted at the outset of
the war. Iran's theocratic government remains in place, its stockpile of highly
enriched uranium has not been surrendered, its ballistic missile capabilities
have not been destroyed and it has not ended its support for anti-Israel armed
groups like Hezbollah in Lebanon. Trump says the agreement states that Iran will
not have a nuclear weapon - a restatement of Iran's official position since the
1970s. US officials say further discussions will lead to the removal or
destruction of its enriched uranium stockpile. But ending the war on such terms
could still expose Trump to criticism, including from hawks within his own
Republican party, ahead of midterm elections in November.
The mood among ordinary Iranians, grappling with economic woes further
exacerbated by months of war, remained grim, even as their leaders declared this
week's interim deal a diplomatic victory for Tehran over Washington. "I think
99% of people are in survival mode and just living day by day," said Amir, 34, a
media production company owner in Isfahan in central Iran, who declined to give
his surname. "I don’t think anybody has any hopes anymore. I don’t think anybody
has any visions of what the future might look like."
Several Israeli Strikes Hit South Lebanon
Asharq Al Awsat/ 17/2026
Israeli forces on Wednesday carried out airstrikes on several areas in south
Lebanon, state media reported, despite a peace deal in the Middle East war that
includes Lebanon. Lebanon's National News Agency said Israeli warplanes launched
raids targeting the Nabatieh al-Fawqa area and the eastern outskirts of
neighboring town Kfar Tebnit. The Israelis also launched a drone strike on the
town of Ansariyeh in the Zahrani area, NNA reported. US President Donald Trump
on Tuesday issued a rare public rebuke of Israel's military tactics in Lebanon
targeting Hezbollah, saying it was unnecessary to bomb entire apartment
buildings to hunt militants. Trump, who in recent days had expressed his
displeasure over Israeli attacks in Beirut that he said could have endangered
his peace deal with Iran, said Israel has been fighting Hezbollah for "too
long.”"Too many people have been killed. You don't have to knock down an
apartment house every time you're looking for somebody, because there are a lot
of people in those apartment houses, and they're not all Hezbollah," Trump said
at the G7 summit in France. His complaint comes at a moment of rising tensions
with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has remained a key political
ally despite occasional ups and downs between the two leaders over the years.
Israeli military says Hezbollah drones wound five soldiers in
south Lebanon
Reuters/17 June ,2026
An explosive Hezbollah drone detonated near Israeli soldiers in southern
Lebanon, wounding four of them, the Israeli military said in an X post on
Wednesday.A second drone exploded several minutes later, wounding another
soldier, the Israeli military added.
Trump Criticizes Israel’s Tactics in Lebanon, Says It Is
Killing Civilians
Asharq Al Awsat/June 17/2026
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday issued a rare public rebuke of Israel's
military tactics in Lebanon targeting Hezbollah, saying it was unnecessary to
bomb entire apartment buildings to hunt fighters. Trump, who in recent days had
expressed his displeasure over Israeli attacks in Beirut that he said could have
endangered his peace deal with Iran, said Israel has been fighting Hezbollah,
the Iran-aligned Lebanese group, for "too long"."Too many people have been
killed. You don't have to knock down an apartment house every time you're
looking for somebody, because there are a lot of people in those apartment
houses, and they're not all Hezbollah," Trump said at the G7 summit in
France. His complaint comes at a moment of rising tensions with Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has remained a key political ally despite
occasional ups and downs between the two leaders over the years. Recently,
tensions have been more prominent. Israeli officials are quietly expressing
frustration about the Iran deal that the Republican president struck while Trump
is growing impatient with Netanyahu over Israeli strikes of Beirut, which
triggered Iranian attacks just when he was working to finalize the peace deal.
Trump said he has a "great relationship" with Netanyahu but in the same breath
added that he should be "more responsible" with Lebanon.
"Without us, without the United States, there would be no Israel. Without me,
there would be no Israel, because no other president was willing to do what I
did."The two leaders have repeatedly clashed over Israel's refusal to constrain
its pursuit of Hezbollah in Lebanon, where a cessation of hostilities is a key
Iranian demand. Trump and other US presidents do not often criticize Israel's
military tactics. Shortly after he made his comments, an official White House
social media account that typically shares clips of his public comments posted
a video of those specific remarks.
The White House did not say why the official account chose to post those Trump
remarks but said the president has a strong relationship with Netanyahu and
that the Israel Defense Forces were "incredible partners"."There has been no
greater friend to Israel and a fighter for peace than President Trump...
Americans and our allies around the world are already safer for the United
States and Israel’s bold actions to deny the Iranian regime the ability to
develop a nuclear weapon," a White House official said. There is no indication
that Trump's comments would translate into meaningful policy that would force
Israel to rethink its military tactics in a way to ensure greater protection for
civilians. Israel has faced sharp criticism from other countries, particularly
during its assault on Gaza that has killed 73,000 people, most of them
civilians, according to the Gaza health ministry. Israel says it never targets
non-combatants and says armed groups such as Palestinian Hamas and Hezbollah
regularly use civilians as human shields.
A spokesperson for the Israeli embassy in Washington did not have any comment
for this story.
Trump says Israel 'could behave better' in Lebanon
LBCI/June 17/2026
U.S. President Donald Trump made some comments on Wednesday about the conflict
between Israel and Hezbollah during his G7 press conference in France. "They
could do better with respect to Hezbollah," he said of Israel. "I'm not saying
they shouldn't protect themselves. I'm saying when two drones are shot into the
desert and drop harmlessly, you don't have to knock down buildings in Beirut.
They could behave better," Trump said. He had made similar comments on Tuesday,
even suggesting that Syria could do a better job of taking on Hezbollah. "And I
feel very bad for Lebanon. Lebanon's been, you know, it was a great culture ...
It was an incredible culture, maybe the highest in the Middle East for years and
years, centuries. And for the last 50, 60 years, they have been just trashed.
They have been living in hell."Trump also talked about Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu, with whom he has recently clashed over Israel's actions in
Lebanon. "Netanyahu happens to be a good man, gets a little excited sometimes,
but he happens to be a very good man. We've had an amazing partnership. He's
been an amazing prime minister who we have a little dispute over Lebanon," Trump
said. He added that "I see you can do a little softer touch, Bibi. You don't
have to knock down a building every time somebody walks into it that's from
Hezbollah."Reuters
Hezbollah Chief Says Lebanon-Israel Talks Should Be Limited
to Mutual Security
Asharq AlAwsat/June 17/2026
Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem on Wednesday hailed an understanding reached between
Tehran and Washington to end the regional war as a "great victory", calling it a
"pivotal point" for Lebanon. Although the US-Iran deal to end the Middle East
war has not been officially released, American and Iranian officials, as well as
mediator Pakistan, have said it includes Lebanon. "We congratulate the Iranian
people, the resistance and the countries and peoples of the region and the world
who yearn for independence and freedom on this great victory," Qassem said in a
televised address. He expressed thanks to Iran for "linking the Lebanese arena"
to the deal and "forcing Israel to stop its aggression" on the country.
Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war on March 2 with rocket fire at
Israel in support of its backer Tehran, sparking an Israeli military campaign
including massive airstrikes and a ground invasion. While violence declined in
Lebanon after the deal was announced on Monday, Israeli strikes on the south
have killed at least five people since then. Under US pressure, Lebanon has been
holding direct talks with Israel in Washington since April seeking to end the
hostilities and separate the conflict from the wider regional war, but the
Iran-US deal announcement has reshuffled the cards. Qassem urged Lebanon to take
advantage of "this pivotal point following the agreement... to achieve the
expulsion of Israel" from Lebanese territory. The leader of the
Iran-backed group again urged Lebanese authorities to abandon direct
negotiations, repeating the group's view that they simply amount to
"concessions".
A fifth round of talks is scheduled for next week. "The ceiling for the
negotiations with the Israeli enemy is mutual security... and any proposal under
the banner of disarmament will not pass, as this is an Israeli recipe for taking
everything and wrecking the country," Qassem said. Hezbollah also rejects a
Lebanese government decision to disarm the group, which was announced after a
2024 ceasefire that halted a previous round of hostilities between Israel and
its fighters. Qassem urged Lebanese authorities not to "agree with Israel on its
demands interfering in our internal affairs". "Everything linked to organizing
our domestic situation, whether the issue of weapons or the economy, or the
national security strategy or defense strategy... it all must be completely
outside the negotiations. This we discuss internally," he said. "In any
negotiation, the main demand must be Lebanon's sovereignty," he added.
Trump Says Netanyahu Could Use ‘Softer Touch’ in Lebanon
Asharq Al Awsat/June 17/2026
US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu could use a "softer touch" in Lebanon in comments made at the close
of a G7 summit in France. Netanyahu and Trump have repeatedly clashed over
Israel's refusal to constrain its pursuit of Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon,
where a cessation of hostilities is a key Iranian demand. "Netanyahu happens
to be a good man, gets a little excited sometimes," Trump told reporters on
Wednesday. "We have a little dispute over Lebanon. I say you can do a little
softer touch, Bibi. You don't have to knock down a building every time
somebody walks into it that's from Hezbollah." Trump added that he agreed with
the description of Israel as being "the very small partner" of the United
States.
Between Lebanon and the
West
Antoine Doueihy/Al-Sharq Al-Awsat/June 17, 2026
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2026/06/155345/
When Ambassador Simon Karam travels to Washington, representing the Lebanese
state in the ongoing negotiations, it will be the final chapter in a long and
recurring historical struggle between the Lebanese project and the regional
project in Lebanon. This struggle has been ongoing for four hundred years, from
Fakhr al-Din al-Ma'ni II to Joseph Aoun, and from Ferdinand I, Duke of Tuscany,
to Donald Trump.
Illuminating the historical depth of this issue serves three important purposes:
First, it allows for a better understanding of the current reality with all its
complexities and nuances. Second, it demonstrates how the Lebanese mountain
community was two centuries ahead of other Levantine societies in its
interaction with the West and with modernity, which only truly began with
Bonaparte's campaign in Egypt at the end of the 18th century. And the third, and
most important, purpose is that such an examination gives the current highly
turbulent and tense present a relative, rather than absolute, significance. It
is not the end of the world. Rather, it is a new chapter in the same issue,
which has witnessed far more tragic and dangerous chapters throughout history,
contributing to calming turbulent emotions and urging them towards prudence and
reason.
Two fundamental anthropological and sociological principles stand out: first,
that societies are in a constant and ceaseless state of transformation; and
second, that every profound societal transformation requires the convergence of
two factors: an internal factor and an external factor. This is the case with
the Lebanese project.
The internal factor in the Lebanese project is the yearning for a different
horizon and a distinctive way of life based on openness, knowledge, freedom, and
a high quality of human life. This yearning is deeply rooted and stems from the
unique character of Mount Lebanon within its Levantine context, in its
geographical nature, climate, historical, social, and cultural makeup, and its
position as a bridge to the West. Had this mountain been far from the sea and
inland, its circumstances and destiny would have been entirely different.
However, the internal factor alone was not sufficient to launch the Lebanese
project. The European Renaissance, the catalyst for modernity, particularly in
the 16th century, was essential for this project to find the appropriate
external support and the means to escape the dominant Ottoman regional project.
Fakhr ad-Din II was the first pioneer of this major trend, and also its first
victim. He misjudged the balance of power in the Mediterranean at the time, and
his ambition for independence was unrestrained. In 1608, Fakhr ad-Din concluded
a secret military and political treaty with Tuscany. When his power grew, the
Ottoman Sultan confronted him with a military campaign, forcing him to seek
refuge in Tuscany with his family in 1613. He spent five years there, during
which time Florence, the capital of Tuscany, was the birthplace of the European
Renaissance and a beacon for the West. Fakhr ad-Din was the first Asian leader
to experience European modernity firsthand at its source. At that time, Lebanon
had not yet transitioned from a geographical concept to a political one. Fakhr
al-Din (like all the Ma'an and Shihab princes) did not hold the title of Emir of
Lebanon, even though his emirate extended beyond present-day Lebanon. His title
was Emir of the Mountain, specifically Mount Chouf. However, during his time in
Tuscany as Emir of Mount Chouf, he was constantly surrounded by the elite of
Mount Lebanon, many of whom were graduates of the Roman school, thus uniting the
two mountains and their surrounding areas in his person. But after his return
and subsequent involvement in a major war with the Ottoman Empire, Tuscany
failed to fulfill its promise of support, leading to his tragic end and the
demise of his family and army.
It became clear much later that the Lebanese project was gaining momentum with
the decline of Ottoman influence and the rise of European influence in the
Eastern Mediterranean. When the Ottoman Empire dealt a fatal blow to this
project by instigating the massacres in Mount Lebanon and Damascus in 1860, the
balance of power had already shifted. Napoleon III, with a European mandate,
launched a military campaign against Syria and Lebanon, leading in 1861 to the
emergence of the first self-governing and internationally guaranteed Lebanese
entity within the Ottoman Empire.
When Turkey entered World War I in 1915 on the side of Germany and Austria, it
immediately abolished Mount Lebanon's autonomy and sought to stifle its
independence project with a crippling food blockade that, within three years,
killed a third of its population. But the loss of the Turks and the Axis powers
in the war, and the victory of the Allies, led to the collapse of the Ottoman
Empire and the establishment of Greater Lebanon in 1920. From then until today,
through the independence of 1943, the departure of colonialism, the tragedy of
Palestine and what followed, the conflict continued between the Lebanese project
and the successive regional projects, leading up to the Iranian project of the
Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist, and to the Washington meeting where the
Lebanese authority is, for the first time, the sole negotiator for the “Land of
the Cedars”.
(Google translation from Arabic)
Don’t let the
narrative become a grave for the truth… “The expansion of Shiite cemeteries is
not an achievement”
Mohammad Al-Amin/Facebook/June 17, 2026
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2026/06/155349/
The Shiite community has the right to ask the “armed duo” that ruled them for
decades: What has been the outcome of your project? What have you left for the
people after all these years of slogans, sacrifices, and promises?
In the Shiite case, this question is becoming increasingly urgent. For decades,
the Islamic Republic project in Iran was presented as a project of protection,
dignity, strength, and victory. But after all these years, what do people see
around them? Do they see a stronger state? Do they see a thriving economy? Do
they see institutions more capable of serving citizens? Do they see young people
clinging to their land and their future? Or do they see destroyed villages,
grieving families, increasing waves of emigration, and cemeteries that expand
year after year?
No political discourse can negate the fact that societies are measured by their
capacity to produce life. When death becomes a daily occurrence, and when human
losses are reduced to mere statistics in news reports and impassioned speeches,
society enters a dangerous cycle of normalization with tragedy.
The Shiites community in Lebanon has paid an enormous human price over the past
decades. Thousands of young men have lost their lives in successive wars and
conflicts, and tens of thousands of families have endured loss, fear, and
displacement. With each new round of violence, people are asked for more
patience and more sacrifices, while the conditions for a dignified life
deteriorate and economic and social crises worsen.
The problem lies not only in the scale of the losses, but also in the
transformation of these losses into part of a political discourse that considers
the continued bloodshed a sign of strength and the large number of victims a
proof of righteousness. The truth is that any project that constantly needs the
blood of its own people to justify its existence is a project that demands
review and accountability, not further sanctification.
The expansion of Shia cemeteries is not a victory for anyone. It is a painful
testament to the cost of choices imposed on people or presented to them as an
inevitable fate. It raises a fundamental ethical and political question: Isn’t
it time to seek a project that protects people’s lives instead of consuming
them?
True loyalty to those who have passed away lies not in repeating the reasons
that led to their deaths, but in preventing the tragedy from recurring.
In conclusion, the “armed duo” bears primary responsibility for this trajectory
due to the political, security, and military decisions it made outside the
framework of the state and its institutions, and the resulting grave human and
social repercussions that have affected society on a broad scale.
However, responsibility is not limited to decision-makers alone, but also
extends to the general public’s silence, which has contributed to entrenching
this reality and accepting it without any real accountability or serious
reckoning.
(Google translation from Arabic)
Statement Issued by the Lebanese Shiites Gathering:
Intimidation Is Not an Answer to the Questions Raised
June 17, 2026
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2026/06/155349/
The Lebanese Shiites Gathering continues to monitor the escalating threats and
intimidation campaigns targeting Shiites opposition figures for their political
stances and their exercise of their natural right to criticize and express their
opinions. Freedom of expression is a constitutionally guaranteed right, and
differences of opinion should not be used as a pretext for accusations of
treason, incitement, or threats. Resorting to intimidation and attempts to
silence free voices do not constitute an answer to the questions raised, nor do
they rectify past mistakes. Rather, they reflect an inability to accept
differing opinions and to confront the facts responsibly and courageously.
Therefore, we call on those issuing these threats to immediately cease these
practices and instead focus on reviewing the policies and choices that have
brought the country and the Shiites community to their current state, rather
than attempting to subject society to the logic of fear and silence every free
and independent voice. We also demand that the Lebanese state assume its full
responsibilities in protecting all citizens, and take the necessary legal
measures against anyone who incites violence or practices threats and
aggression, and guarantee the right of the Lebanese, including members of the
Shiite community, to freely express their opinions and positions without fear or
intimidation.
(Google translation from Arabic)
LACC Statement
on the Wall Street Journal's Coverage of Lebanon
Washington, DC | June 13, 2026
The Lebanese American Coordinating Committee (LACC) takes issue with the June 9
Wall Street Journal article by Omar Abdel-Baqui and Wael Taleb, "Lebanon Is
Teetering at the Abyss of a New Civil War." The article points to real tensions
in Lebanese society, but it mistakes their cause. It treats the effort to
restore Lebanese sovereignty as what is pushing the country toward civil war,
when sovereignty is the one thing that can pull it back.
The article's deeper failing is one of proportion. It reserves its sharpest
language for Hezbollah's opponents, especially in Christian areas, who are cast
as "right-wing gangs" and extremists. Hezbollah, by contrast, is described in
measured, almost sociological terms, as a movement that represents a community
and whose weapons are explained as a defense against Israel. The effect is to
make the unarmed side sound menacing and the armed one sound reasonable.
Hezbollah is not a neighborhood movement or an ordinary political party. It is
an armed organization created, funded, and long directed by the Iranian regime.
For four decades it has kept a military force outside the authority of the
state, pulled Lebanon into wars the country never agreed to, and built a record
of intimidation, violence, and assassination that has done lasting damage to
Lebanese democracy. Mr. Abdel-Baqui and Mr. Taleb assign the "gangs" label in
their own words, without attribution, while extending no comparable scrutiny to
the one force in Lebanon that answers to a foreign capital.
The article frames the danger as a confrontation with Hezbollah forced on
Lebanon by the United States, Israel, and many Lebanese themselves. That framing
omits the fact that settles the matter: no major Lebanese party other than
Hezbollah keeps its own armed force. The parties and communities the article
casts as Hezbollah's rivals surrendered their weapons decades ago and accepted
the authority of the state. What they demand today is not a militia of their
own. It is one state, one army, and a single authority over arms.
The divide in Lebanon is therefore not Christians against Shiites, or one sect
against another. It is between Lebanese who want the state to hold exclusive
authority and those who defend an armed organization operating outside it.
According to all available polling, the overwhelming majority of Lebanese
Christians, Sunnis, and Druze, together with a substantial portion of the Shia,
stand with the state, and against Hezbollah's arms and Iran's hegemony over
their country.
Nor are the strains in host communities a matter of sectarian hostility. When
the war displaced hundreds of thousands, Christian areas took in families
fleeing the violence; the tensions that followed came not from hostility toward
the displaced, but from a justified fear that Hezbollah's weapons and
operatives, moving among them, would turn their towns into targets. That fear
was not hypothetical. In numerous incidents, Israeli strikes aimed at Hezbollah
reached towns far from its strongholds, including Christian areas, killing
residents who had no part in the group.
Lebanon's future will not be secured by normalizing an Iranian-backed militia or
by casting those who want a functioning state as extremists. It will be secured
by strengthening state institutions, returning all arms to state authority,
ending foreign interference, and letting every Lebanese citizen, whatever their
sect, live under one constitution, one law and one national authority.
Deploying Syrian Troops in
Lebanon Would Help, Not Hurt, Hezbollah
Ahmad Sharawi/FDD-Policy Brief/June 17/2026
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2026/06/155356/
“I told Israel it should let Syria handle Hezbollah because, frankly, I think
Syria would do a better job,” President Donald Trump said during the G7 summit
in Paris. Trump’s comment was the second time this month that he suggested a
broader Syrian role in confronting Iran’s terrorist proxy in Lebanon. On June 7,
he declared that Syria could help enable more “surgical strikes” on Hezbollah.
Yet Syrian officials have continued to signal their reluctance to become
involved in Lebanon. Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa dismissed reports of a
Syrian intervention, stating, “what is being circulated about Syria entering
Lebanon is unfounded.” His adviser, Muwaffaq Zeidan, reinforced that position,
saying that Damascus had “refused to intervene in Lebanon despite an American
proposal.” Since the overthrow of former dictator Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s new
rulers have had strong reasons to confront Hezbollah, which supported the former
regime, used Syrian territory to move weapons, and sheltered Assad-era officials
in Lebanon. Yet a Syrian intervention in Lebanon could hand Hezbollah a
lifeline. It would allow the group to recast its weapons as protection against
foreign intervention rather than a challenge to the sovereignty of the Lebanese
state. It would also revive memories of Syria’s decades-long occupation of
Lebanon and rally communities that otherwise oppose Hezbollah.
Syrian Intervention Would Strengthen Hezbollah
Hezbollah’s late Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah consistently argued that the
“weapons of the resistance” existed to “protect Lebanon and all Lebanese.” At a
time when domestic critics increasingly pressure Hezbollah to explain why its
weapons should remain outside state control, any Syrian intervention would allow
it to claim more credibly that Lebanon faces an external threat. Whereas many
Lebanese question Hezbollah’s claims that it is protecting Lebanon from Israel,
there would likely be greater agreement that a Syrian incursion merits
resistance.
Hezbollah can also use a Syrian incursion as a rally-around-the-flag moment.
Nasrallah’s successor, Naim Qassem, has described the authorities in Damascus as
“takfiri [apostasy] groups,” while a Lebanese historian noted that Hezbollah is
seeking to “frighten” the public with “a jihadi threat represented by Sharaa’s
forces.” In a country where sectarian memories are deeply rooted, this messaging
will resonate with many Lebanese, even those who oppose Hezbollah. Instead, many
Lebanese would view it through the lens of Syria’s 29-year occupation of
Lebanon, fueling concerns about a return of Syrian influence over the country.
Syrian Military’s Poor Track Record
The Syrian military does not have the capability and discipline to carry out a
complex operation against Hezbollah. Its record under Sharaa raises concerns
about its conduct, especially since many of its units remain poorly trained — a
serious liability in a sensitive environment such as Lebanon.
The army’s actions during the March 2025 massacre in Syria’s Alawite areas and
the July 2025 fighting in Suwayda demonstrate the government’s inability to
manage sectarian tensions. Those episodes resulted in roughly 1,500 deaths in
the Alawite massacres and around 1,700 deaths in Suwayda.
An expanded Syrian military presence in Lebanon could also create new concerns
for Israel. Jerusalem has remained cautious toward Syria’s new rulers because of
their jihadist background, roots in al-Qaeda, and the presence of foreign
fighters in their ranks. Granting Damascus a larger military role in Lebanon
would likely raise fears in Israel about the long-term implications of a
stronger and more confident Syrian state operating on its border. These concerns
are reinforced by the attitudes of elements within the Syrian military. In one
recent military parade, Syrian soldiers chanted, “Gaza, we are with you until
death” — an indication of the persistence of anti-Israel sentiment.
Syria Should Take On Hezbollah in Its Own Territory, Not Lebanon
Damascus has already proven useful against Hezbollah from its own territory,
intercepting hundreds of rockets destined for the group. Washington should focus
on strengthening this role rather than encouraging a Syrian intervention in
Lebanon. Building on the emerging Syria-Israel security mechanism could
facilitate intelligence sharing on Hezbollah smuggling networks and weapons
transfers, helping Syria disrupt the group’s regeneration.
https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2026/06/16/deploying-syrian-troops-in-lebanon-would-help-not-hurt-hezbollah/
**Ahmad Sharawi is a senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of
Democracies (FDD). For more analysis from Ahmad and FDD, please subscribe HERE.
Follow FDD on X @FDD. Follow Ahmad on X @AhmadA_Sharawi. FDD is a Washington,
DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and
foreign policy.
The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on 17-18 June/2026
Full text of the US-Iran memorandum of understanding
Al Arabiya English/17 June ,2026
Senior US officials shared the text of a draft US-Iran memorandum of
understanding with reporters, including Al Arabiya English, on Wednesday ahead
of an anticipated signing later this week.The document opens with the
declaration: The United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran have
jointly agreed in good faith on [date] on the following: The United States of
America and the Islamic Republic of Iran, and their allies in the current war,
by signing this MOU, declare the immediate and permanent termination of military
operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon, and undertake from now on not to
initiate any war or any military operation against each other, and to refrain
from the threat or use of force against each other and ensuring the territorial
integrity and sovereignty of Lebanon. The final deal will confirm the permanent
termination of the war on all fronts, including in Lebanon and other provisions
of this paragraph.
The United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran undertake to
respect each other's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and to refrain from
interfering in each other's internal affairs. The United States of America and
the Islamic Republic of Iran commit to negotiating and achieving the final deal
in maximum 60 days extendable with mutual consent.Immediately upon the signing
of this MOU, the United States of America will begin the removal of its naval
blockade and any disturbances or impediments against the Islamic Republic of
Iran, and will fully end the naval blockade within 30 days. During this period,
the traffic of vessels will be in proportion to the numbers of pre-war traffic
being restored by the Islamic Republic of Iran. The United States of America
further undertakes to remove its forces from the proximity of the Islamic
Republic of Iran within 30 days after the final deal. Upon the signing of this
MOU, the Islamic Republic of Iran will make arrangements using its best efforts
for the safe passage of commercial vessels with no charge for 60 days only from
the Gulf to the Sea of Oman and vice versa. The traffic of commercial vessels
will immediately start, and considering the need for removing the technical and
military obstacles and demining by the Islamic Republic of Iran will be instated
within 30 days. The Islamic Republic of Iran will conduct dialogue with the
Sultanate of Oman to define the future administration and maritime services in
the Strait of Hormuz, in discussion with other Gulf littoral states in line with
the applicable international law and the sovereign rights of coastal states of
the Strait of Hormuz. The United States of America undertakes with regional
partners to develop a definitive, mutually agreed plan with at least $300
billion for the reconstruction and economic development of the Islamic Republic
of Iran. The mechanism for the implementation of this plan will be finalized as
part of a final deal within 60 days. All required licenses, waivers, and
permissions needed for the relevant financial transactions will be granted by
the United States of America. The United States of America undertakes to
terminate all types of sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran, including
the United Nations Security Council resolutions, IAEA Board of Governors
resolutions, and all unilateral US sanctions, primary and secondary, in an
agreed upon schedule as part of the final deal, the Islamic Republic of Iran and
the United States of America acknowledge the critical importance of the
sanctions termination issue above mentioned and expressed their intentions to
immediately address these issues in the negotiations in order to achieve mutual
agreement on them.
The Islamic Republic of Iran reaffirms that it shall not procure or develop
nuclear weapons. The United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran
have agreed to resolve the disposition of stockpile enriched material pursuant
to a mechanism that will be mutually agreed upon in accordance with the schedule
mentioned in paragraph seven, with the minimum methodology to be down blending
on site under the supervision of the IAEA. The two parties also agreed to
discuss the issue of enrichment and other mutually agreed matters related to the
Islamic Republic of Iran's nuclear needs, based on a satisfactory framework
being agreed upon in the final deal. The final deal will confirm the provisions
of this paragraph. The United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran
acknowledge the critical importance of the nuclear issues above mentioned and
expressed their intention to immediately address these issues in the
negotiations in order to achieve mutual agreement on them. Pending the final
deal, the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran agree to
maintain the status quo. The Islamic Republic of Iran will maintain the current
status quo of its nuclear program, and the United States of America will not
impose any new sanctions and will not deploy additional forces in the region.
The United States of America undertakes that immediately upon the signing of
this MOU, and until the termination of sanctions, US Department of Treasury will
issue waivers for the export of Iranian crude oil, petroleum products, and
derivatives, and all associated services, including banking transactions,
insurances, transportation, etc.
The United States of America undertakes to make fully available for use the
frozen or restricted funds and assets of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Upon the
implementation of this MOU, the United States of America and the Islamic
Republic of Iran will mutually agree on the procedures related to the release of
these funds during the negotiations. Such funds, whether retained in the
original account or transferred, shall be made fully usable for payment to any
ultimate beneficiary designated by the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of
Iran. The United States of America undertakes to issue all necessary licenses
and authorizations accordingly. The United States of America and Islamic
Republic of Iran agree that an executive mechanism will be established to
monitor the successful implementation of this MOU and the future compliance of
the final deal.
After signing this MOU and subject to the beginning of the implementation of
paragraphs 1,4,5,10, and 11 of this MOU, and the continuing implementation of
these measures, the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran
will start negotiations regarding the final deal exclusively on the other
paragraphs. The final deal will be endorsed by a binding UNSC resolution.
Trump threatens ‘dropping bombs’ if Iran doesn’t ‘behave’
Al Arabiya English/17 June ,2026
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday warned Iran he was ready to resume
military action if Tehran did not abide by its obligations, two days ahead of
the signing of an accord to end the war between the foes. “No it’s not final.
It’s a memorandum of understanding,” Trump said at the G7, referring to the
agreement expected to be signed in Switzerland on Friday. “If I don’t like it we
will go back to shooting at them,” he added alongside Egyptian President Abdel
Fattah al-Sisi. “If they don’t behave, we’ll go right back to dropping bombs
right smack in the middle of their head.”“Because they misbehaved for 47 years,”
he said, referring to the Islamic Republic, founded in the Islamic revolution
after the ousting of the shah, a US ally, in 1979. The US-Israeli war against
Iran began on February 28 with the killing in airstrikes of supreme leader Ali
Khamenei and other top officials. The talks on a final US-Iran settlement to end
the conflict are set to begin Friday immediately after the signing of the accord
in Switzerland and continue over a 60-day window to flesh out its details. With
AFP
Netanyahu is a good man who gets a little excited sometimes,
Trump says
Reuters/17 June ,2026
US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu is a good man who gets a little excited sometimes, in comments about
the Iran deal at the close of a G7 summit in France.
Trump Says Iran Accord to Be Signed
‘Shortly’, ‘Maybe’ Thursday or Friday
Asharq Al Awsat/June 17/2026
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he expected the accord with Iran
ending the Middle East war to be signed "shortly" but added uncertainty over the
exact date. "The deal we reached with Iran on Sunday will be signed shortly,
tomorrow (Thursday), maybe the next day (Friday)," Trump said at the G7 summit,
after previous announcements that it would be signed Friday in Switzerland. "We
are going to most likely sign a deal," he added. Trump told reporters at the
final press conference of the G7 that he was prepared to "bomb the hell" out of
Iran if they violated the agreement. "If they are not behaving they will be hit
again," he said. But he added: "They don't want to get bombed, they don't want
to get hit". In a long succession of comments on his dealings with Iran, Trump
recalled at length how he had in 2020 issued the order to kill Qassem Soleimani,
the head of foreign operations for the Revolutionary Guards. Trump also recalled
the February 28 air strike that killed supreme leader Ali Khamenei and other
senior figures, who he said were "having breakfast" at the time. Trump said
Washington "did send a copy" of its accord with Iran to end the Middle East war,
following reports of tensions with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Insisting
he maintains a good relationship with Netanyahu, Trump reaffirmed his criticism
at the G7 summit of Israel's campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon, saying "they
(Israel) could do a much better job". Trump was also asked about the deadly
strike on an Iranian school in Minab on the first day of the war, which left 155
dead, according to the Iranian authorities. Initially describing the question as
"strange", Trump said: "Nobody did it on purpose. Mistakes are made, war is
nasty." "I know it is under investigation," he said, telling the reporter to
address the question to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth instead. A US Tomahawk
cruise missile hit the elementary school due to a targeting mistake, according
to the preliminary findings of a US military investigation reported by The New
York Times. Trump also thanked China's Xi Jinping and Russia's Vladimir Putin
for what he called their neutrality during the war with Iran. "I just want
to thank them because they made it a lot better," Trump said, adding that
both leaders had been "neutral."
Italy Says to Re-Open Tehran Embassy on Friday
Asharq Al Awsat/June 17/2026
Italy's embassy to Tehran will re-open on Friday after more than three months of
closure because of the Middle East war, the foreign ministry said on
Wednesday."Our embassy in Tehran will re-open its doors on Friday," Foreign
Minister Antonio Tajani told Italy's parliament. After the US and Israel began
the war with air strikes on Iran, Italy in early March decided to temporarily
close its embassy and move its staff to neighboring Azerbaijan for security
reasons. "Our ambassador will return to the Iranian capital with all our
diplomats and foreign ministry officials," Tajani said. "In a complex region
like the Middle East, caution is essential. But, for the first time, after weeks
of war and faltering negotiations, a tangible glimmer of peace is emerging," he
said. The US and Iran this week agreed a framework deal to end the Middle East
war.The agreement is due to be formally signed on Friday in Switzerland.
US Official Says Parties Can Still Walk Away from Iran Deal, Sequencing Will Be
Key
Asharq Al Awsat/June 17/2026
Both Iran and the US can walk away from the memorandum of understanding they are
set to sign on Friday, and upcoming talks are likely to focus on the precise
sequencing of the steps previewed in the preliminary accord, a senior US
official told reporters on Wednesday.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official read out the 14-point
memorandum that is due to be formally signed in Switzerland. They said the
upcoming meeting there will be "critical" for ensuring that the memorandum of
understanding can evolve into a comprehensive agreement.
"I think the meeting in Switzerland will be quite critical in order to really
see how we get to the next phase," a senior US official said. The document, as
read out by the official, was similar to the 14-point memorandum that various
media outlets had already reported on earlier in the day.According to the
official, the draft agreement includes a new “minimum” standard for downblending
of highly enriched Iranian uranium and has provisions to ensure the “territorial
integrity” of Lebanon after Israel’s latest attacks against Hezbollah in
Lebanese territory.
In return, the US will move to waive, but not eliminate, some wide-ranging
sanctions against Iran once the deal is signed. The US draft of the agreement
also secures toll-free passage of the Strait of Hormuz for only 60 days, and it
does not preclude fees in future, the officials said.
China Tells Iran ‘All Parties’ Must Adhere to Deal to End War
Asharq Al Awsat/June 17/2026
China's top diplomat told his Iranian counterpart on Wednesday it was "key" for
all sides to "genuinely implement" their commitments after Tehran and Washington
reached a memorandum of understanding to end their war, Beijing's foreign
ministry said.
"The dawn of peace has already emerged, the key part of the next step is for all
parties to genuinely implement their commitments and eliminate interference from
various sides," Wang Yi told Abbas Araghchi in a phone call. "China has
consistently supported Iran's reasonable and legitimate claims and Iran's
efforts in safeguarding its own sovereignty and security," Wang added. The
Chinese foreign minister also called for navigation through the Strait of Hormuz
to be "properly handled, responding prudently to the widespread concerns of the
international community".China is a net importer of oil and one of several major
Asian economies that depend on the key waterway for energy, with Beijing
repeatedly calling for safe passage there since the war began in late February.
In a phone call on Tuesday with his counterpart from Pakistan -- a key mediator
between the United States and Iran -- Wang warned the following stage of
negotiations would be "more difficult". Pakistani officials have previously said
China, Islamabad's close ally and Iran's top trading partner, played a key role
in supporting its mediation efforts.
G7 Leaders Welcome Trump ‘Change’ on Ukraine
Asharq Al Awsat/June 17/2026
G7 leaders on Wednesday hailed a newly-found unity on increasing pressure on
Russia to end its war against Ukraine, sensing a shift by President Donald Trump
to take a tougher line against Moscow. The three-day meeting of the leaders of
Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States has focused
intensely on Trump's deal to end the war with Iran and efforts to pressure
Russia into brokering peace with Ukraine through ramped up sanctions. In
contrast to last year's G7, when Trump walked out early, the leaders agreed on a
final statement involving key geopolitical issues including Ukraine and Russia.
"It was tough work but worth it," said German Chancellor Friedrich Merz,
describing the statement as a "success".As well as increasing supplies of air
defense equipment to Ukraine more than four years into the war launched by
Russia, the leaders agreed to "increase the pressure on the Russian war economy"
by strengthening sanctions, including on Moscow's fossil fuel revenues, the
statement said. President Emmanuel Macron hailed a "very deep change in the US
approach" towards Ukraine, saying Trump had understood that Russian President
Vladimir Putin was not interested in peace. "President Trump, like all of us,
simply acknowledged that there was no serious willingness on Russia's part today
to discuss peace."Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he had noted a US
"change in tone with respect to Ukraine".Throughout the summit, which was
attended by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Trump took a harder line
against Moscow, saying Russia had to seek a deal and showing impatience over the
casualty toll on both sides.
G7 leaders also agreed to grant licenses for Ukraine-based companies to produce
long-range missiles and air defense systems, a diplomatic source said.
'Smack in head' -
At a lunch on Wednesday the digital sphere took center stage, with some European
G7 members pushing for more security to protect minors in a fast-changing world,
moves that have irked the United States. Sam Altman, head of artificial
intelligence giant OpenAI, Anthropic chief Dario Amodei, the founder of Google's
AI lab DeepMind Demis Hassabis, and Arthur Mensch of their European rival
Mistral AI were all attending. G7 leaders called on tech firms "to develop and
apply technology and systems that ensure safe, secure and age-appropriate
experiences," according to a joint statement. Macron called for "better
regulation" of artificial intelligence, warning of the risk of "non-cooperation
between democracies." Trump has been the center of attention throughout his stay
at the summit in the lakeside resort of Evian. French officials were thrilled
that the mercurial US president has stayed for the entire event and signed on to
the G7 communique. In an unusual gesture, Macron invited Trump to dinner at the
Palace of Versailles outside Paris after the summit winds down on Wednesday
afternoon. Trump said Tuesday that he had accepted Macron's offer because Louis
XIV's former palace was "not gold leaf" but the "real deal". Macron, under
pressure to show he is not fawning over Trump, has already said the evening at
Versailles will not be a "gala" dinner. Yet it promises to be a relatively regal
affair with dozens of guests set to attend the dinner inside the palace --
preceded by a concert and followed by a fireworks display -- before Trump flies
back to the United States. Trump emphasized that the Iran agreement was only a
memorandum of understanding and said he was ready to resume military action if
Tehran did not abide by its obligations. "If they don't behave, we'll go right
back to dropping bombs right smack in the middle of their head," he said. While
Macron was formally chairing the summit, the US president made clear who he
believed was in charge as he arrived for the third and final day. "I'm the
boss," Trump said before taking his seat.
Italy Urges Israel to Be ‘Positive Player’ for Peace
Asharq Al Awsat/June 17/2026
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Wednesday urged Israel to be a
"positive player" for peace in the Middle East following a deal between Iran and
the US. "Our goal must be to promote lasting, structural solutions that go
beyond the logic of short-term truces," Meloni said as the G7 summit in France
came to a close. "We expect Israel to now act as a positive player in the peace
process, and that the inevitable internal debate, also driven by the election
campaign, will not jeopardize the difficult path that the US has begun," she
said. Israel's far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, on Monday
denounced the deal between the United States and Iran, insisting his country was
not bound by it. Meloni also spoke of a "very positive climate" at the Evian
summit between US President Donald Trump and the other leaders present. She said
that on Ukraine there was "a lot of convergence, which is not always obvious"
and there was "no friction or divergence". Asked about heavy criticism from
Trump of her position during the Middle East war, Meloni said that she and the
US president were both "quite strong characters".
"We are two people who are determined to defend their national interest," she
said.
Tehran says considering plan for Iran, US presidents to
sign deal
LBCI/June 17/2026
Tehran's foreign ministry on Wednesday said it was considering a plan for the
presidents of the U.S. and Iran to sign the deal ending the Middle East war,
ahead of the expected ceremony in Switzerland. "So far, our plans for the Geneva
meeting have not changed," ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said. "Regarding
the signing of the memorandum of understanding, one idea is that it be done by
the presidents of the two countries, which is currently under review."Tehran had
previously said the United States and Iran would be represented by Vice
President JD Vance and parliament speaker and top negotiator Mohammad Bagher
Ghalibaf, respectively. AFP
Trump says US 'did send a copy' of Iran accord to Israel
LBCI/June 17/2026
U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday said Washington "did send a copy" of
its accord with Iran to end the Middle East war, following reports of tensions
with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Insisting he maintains a good
relationship with Netanyahu, Trump reaffirmed his criticism at the G7 summit of
Israel's campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon, saying "they (Israel) could do a
much better job."AFP
Trump says 'nobody' attacked Iran girls' school 'on
purpose'
LBCI/June 17/2026
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that "nobody" purposefully
attacked a girls' school in Iran in February, citing an investigation into the
incident. The strike on February 28, the first day of the conflict, killed more
than 175 children and teachers, according to Iranian officials.
Trump initially claimed, without evidence, that Iran was responsible. He has
since said he does not know enough about the strike, that an investigation is
ongoing and that he will accept the results of the inquiry. "That's under
investigation," Trump said at a press conference on the sidelines of the Group
of Seven conference in Evian-les-Bains, France, adding that mistakes are made in
war. "Nobody did that on purpose."Reuters
Fresh Syria Protests Call for Accountability for Assad-Era
Loyalists
Asharq Al Awsat/June 17/2026
Dozens of Syrians protested in Damascus overnight into Wednesday demanding
accountability for supporters of ousted ruler Bashar al-Assad, the latest such
demonstrations in a country still recovering after years of civil war. Syria's
new authorities have repeatedly vowed to provide justice and accountability for
Assad-era atrocities, and have regularly announced the arrest of former military
and security figures, launching trials for some while warning against acts of "revenge".Video
footage posted on social media and confirmed by the Syrian Observatory for Human
Rights monitor appeared to show dozens of people protesting in the capital's
Mazzeh 86 neighborhood.A protest also erupted in front of a nearby mosque before
security forces restored order. An AFP photographer saw a similar demonstration
on Monday night on the outskirts of the capital. "Assad's shabiha forced us to
leave in green buses" for tented displacement camps in the country's north, said
protester Abdel-Rahman al-Qadri, 38, a former opposition fighter. He was
referring to militiamen who helped crush dissent under Assad, and to evacuation
deals imposed on some opposition-held areas during Syria's civil war, which
erupted in 2011 and ended with the longtime ruler's 2024 ouster. "We deserve the
houses they live in, we deserve the positions and public sector jobs," said
Qadri, who is unemployed. Neighborhoods considered strongholds of the former
authorities in the major cities of Aleppo and Idlib have seen similar protests
in recent days, with participants calling for so-called "regime remnants" and "shabiha"
to be put on trial. Local residents there said some protests have involved
vandalism of private property, raising tensions and fears of vigilante justice.
On Monday, interior ministry spokesperson Noureddine al-Baba said authorities
were committed to bringing perpetrators of Assad-era crimes to justice through
legal avenues, but "the state categorically rejects turning the demand for
accountability into an act of revenge".Last week, President Ahmed al-Sharaa
warned that "it is important not to use transitional justice as a pretext for
revenge".Lawyer Aref al-Shaal said on social media that authorities were "caught
between street pressure demanding accountability immediately, and efforts to
control the issue and to fight the 'shabiha' through an established legal
framework that prevents a slippage towards chaos".
Egyptian Program to Develop Abrams Tanks Alarms Israel
Cairo: Hisham Elmayany/Asharq Al Awsat/June 17/2026
Former military officers have confirmed that Egypt is working with the United
States to boost its armored forces by introducing technological upgrades and
modern combat specifications to a large number of M1A1 Abrams tanks, raising
alarm in Israel.
According to Israel’s Nziv.net platform, there are major Israeli concerns about
a shift in the regional balance of power after Washington recently approved a
huge deal to upgrade 555 Abrams tanks out of 1,130 American tanks in the
Egyptian army. The military factory in the Abu Zaabal area north of Cairo, the
only facility authorized outside the United States to produce components of this
model, will oversee the development project at a cost of around $4.69 billion.
The M1A1 Abrams tank is the Egyptian army’s main battle tank, with a top speed
of 20 miles, according to data from the Egyptian Ministry of Military
Production. National security expert Mohamed Abdel Wahed told Asharq Al-Awsat
that this was not the first time Egypt develops these tanks. It did so in the
1980s through a joint military production agreement with the United States. The
latest agreement to develop the tanks was signed in 2024. It called for
refurbishing the existing vehicles instead of replacing them with new ones that
would have come at a higher cost. “Egypt is developing this tank and
capitalizing on its global reputation. The development involves incorporating
modern technology to boost its capabilities,” Abdel Wahed explained. Former
Egyptian intelligence official Gen. Mohammed Rashad told Asharq Al-Awsat: “The
upgrades include installing a higher-caliber gun to increase the firing range to
105 mm, upgrading the aiming and targeting systems to use lasers, reinforcing
the tank’s armor against close-quarters combat and anti-tank weapons, installing
a recoil suppressor on the tank’s gun to maintain stability and aiming accuracy,
and fitting the tank with a high-powered engine to boost speed and
maneuverability.”“These capabilities make the Egyptian Armored Corps one of the
most advanced and lethal armies in the region, with high combat capabilities in
all circumstances, which is a direct cause for concern in Tel Aviv,” he
explained. Abdul Wahed added: “Egypt is manufacturing 90 percent of the
components for this tank. Localizing military technology and industries in Egypt
is very important.”Israeli media has over the past two years frequently reported
about Tel Aviv’s concern over what it described as “the detection of the
construction of massive logistical infrastructure and fuel depots in the Sinai
Peninsula.”They alleged that these measures would allow Egyptian forces to move
rapidly and extensively eastward, forcing Israel to maintain close and
continuous monitoring of the deployment and movement of Egyptian forces despite
the peace treaty between them. Egypt has repeatedly denied the allegations,
saying its work in Sinai has development purposes and any deployment of the
military aims to protect the border and national security. Rashad said the
Israeli concerns over the Egyptian military’s upgrades and tanks program stem
from its “fear that the Egyptian armored forces will become capable of matching
Israel’s.”Tel Aviv constantly boasts about its capabilities that are a result of
continuous upgrades to weapons and combat equipment, he added, noting that its
military ranks seventh globally in the manufacture and export of weapons and
combat equipment.
Israel Approves Settler Building Plans in Palestinian West
Bank City
Israel on Wednesday approved the expansion of a Jewish school for settlers
living in the center of the Palestinian city of Hebron in the occupied West
Bank, in a construction push that Palestinians say violates a decades-old
agreement. Israel's finance minister announced the plans a day after saying he
had scrapped a deal that gave the Palestinian municipality control over certain
planning and construction around Hebron's historic core, home to a flashpoint
holy shrine.
The enclave around the Cave of the Patriarchs - revered by Muslims, Jews and
Christians - is home to more than 1,000 Jewish settlers who live among tens of
thousands of Palestinians under complete Israeli security control. Under the
1997 Hebron Agreement, Israeli troops remain deployed in the area, but
construction has generally required approval from the Palestinian municipality,
including around the shrine. The religious heritage of the city has made it a
focal point for Israeli settlers, who are determined to expand the Jewish
presence.
Bezalal Smotrich, Israel's far-right finance minister, said construction of a
1,000 square meter building for a Jewish school in Hebron's historic core had
been approved.
"We are continuing to build the Land of Israel in practice and to implement
practical sovereignty in the settlements," Smotrich, who has said he wants to
bury the idea of Palestinian statehood, said in a statement. Issa Amro, a
Palestinian activist who lives in Hebron, said he feared Israel's dismantling of
parts of the Hebron Agreement would leave Palestinian residents of the city
without basic services. He said that move was aimed at making life miserable for
Palestinians and forcing them to leave."It means ethnic cleansing of Palestinian
families from their homes, and more displacement," he said, describing Israel's
actions as stealing Palestinian dreams to have a state "and to live without
violence, without fear, with peace".
More Than 1,000 People Have Been Killed in Gaza During
Ceasefire, Health Ministry Says
Asharq Al Awsat/June 17/2026
Israeli operations in the Gaza Strip have killed 1,005 Palestinians since a
ceasefire was reached between Israel and the Hamas group last October, the Gaza
Health Ministry said on Wednesday. The enclave has seen near-daily strikes, as
well as shelling and gunfire along the boundary that divides Gaza into Israeli
and Palestinian-controlled zones. The most recent deaths were recorded after a
series of Israeli drone strikes in the past few days on towns and refugee camps
in central Gaza and Gaza City. Israel has said it is continuing to operate
against Hamas and allied fighters in Gaza and has expanded the amount of
territory it controls inside the strip. In a statement Wednesday, the Israeli
military said that it killed two fighters from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic
Jihad in strikes over the weekend. Gaza’s Health Ministry on Sunday said the
death toll from the Israel-Hamas war had surpassed 73,000 in Gaza. The ministry
does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. It is staffed by
medical professionals and maintains detailed records viewed as generally
reliable by the international community.
on 17-18 June/2026
A Strange Morning in
Israel: We Woke Up Alone
Paula Stern/X platform/June 17/2026
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2026/06/155353/
This morning in Israel feels strangely quiet. We woke up… alone.
Trump says he still supports us, and on some level, I believe he does. He wants
peace. That desire is commendable. But he has yet to learn the painful truth:
peace for one is not always peace for another. The comfort? Whatever Washington
decides, Israel remains a sovereign nation — never the 51st state, not now, not
ever. Our future is ours to shape. Not Tehran’s. Not even Washington’s.
Today, our sons — our flesh and blood — stand watch in Lebanon. They will remain
there until the Lebanese finally do what they promised long ago: remove
Hezbollah from the south and disarm the terrorists who keep attacking our
northern families.
Even after the agreement, the rockets continued.
The world is celebrating a “peace” that we know will bring none. Trump, the
ultimate businessman, seems to have been charmed by the familiar shuk mentality
of this region.
The Iranians aren’t freely opening the Straits — they’re demanding an “insurance
fee.” Call it what it is: an old-fashioned protection racket.
He proudly declared, “This historic agreement will bring peace and security to
the entire region.” Nonsense. Beautiful, dangerous nonsense.
And so Israel stands alone once more… and somehow, we smile.
We weren’t invited to the party, so we are not bound by its terms. Trump called
Netanyahu “a very difficult person.”
You’re no great shakes yourself, sir.
He also claimed that if Iran had nuclear weapons, Israel “wouldn’t have lasted
even two hours.” At that, Israel simply smiles wider.
Because the sun is shining on our beautiful land.
We ate breakfast, went to work, and watched our children speak the ancient
tongue of their ancestors. The olives on my tree are swelling (though I still
hate them), and the land blooms with stubborn life.
The ballistic missile restrictions were quietly forgotten. The Iranians who took
to the streets, praying for the West to return their country to them, have been
abandoned too.
We are alone -as we have been for centuries.
Alone when we left Egypt.
Alone when we walked out of the ghettoes and the camps.
But here is our eternal secret: the Jewish people are never truly alone. We have
each other.
The future does not rest in Trump’s hands. It rests in God’s. Whether or not
America has pulled back, we know — with every beat of our hearts — that Hashem
has not.
To live with such faith may seem strange to others. To us, it is the greatest
gift.
Sign your papers. Open or close your straits. The future of Lebanon will not be
decided in Tehran or Washington, but in Beirut and in Jerusalem.
Jerusalem does not tremble at words from Tehran, nor at anything coming from
Switzerland — the land that still holds the stolen wealth of murdered Jews.
Today, the sky is almost cloudless. Our children are counting the days until
summer vacation.
And we remember: no matter how alone we feel, we are never truly alone.
Our hearts ache for the people of Iran. They are the ones who have been truly
abandoned.
Am Yisrael Chai. We live. We endure. And we will thrive.
Dilution Is Not the
Solution: Disposing of Iran’s Enriched Uranium Stockpile
Andrea Stricker/FDD-Policy Brief/June 17/2026
The critical question of how to handle Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile will be
addressed in a long-term peace agreement between the United States and Iran, to
be negotiated over the 60 days following the signing of an initial memorandum of
understanding (MOU).
It remains unclear whether the Trump administration will insist on the
destruction, export, or downblending of the stockpile in Iran. The latter option
typically involves a reversible process that dilutes the material’s purity
level.
Dilution on Iranian soil would allow Tehran to retain the material, at least
temporarily, under U.S. and/or International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
monitoring. After dilution, it is unclear whether Iran would be allowed to keep
the stockpile for such purposes as fabricating fuel rods for civil nuclear power
or research reactors. Downblending inside Iran carries significant reversibility
and proliferation risks while introducing an unnecessary intermediate step
toward fully removing the material. Any arrangement in which the United States
assists in retrieving and storing the stockpile at an Iranian facility could
also give the regime a subsequent opportunity to seize and conceal the material.
Retrieving the Enriched Uranium
According to reporting by the IAEA and the Institute for Science and
International Security, Iran’s roughly 9,000 kilograms of enriched uranium in
uranium hexafluoride (UF6) form are likely entombed at three sites struck by the
United States in June 2025: the Fordow enrichment facility, Natanz enrichment
facility or associated tunnels, and a tunnel complex at Esfahan. More than
two-thirds of Tehran’s stock of 440 kilograms — roughly 11 nuclear weapons’
worth — of 60 percent highly enriched uranium (HEU) were likely stored at
Esfahan. How much material survived the strikes remains unknown. The United
States and Israel have been monitoring the sites since the strikes and have
warned Iran against attempting to access the material. Limited access-prevention
strikes were also conducted at Natanz during follow-on operations in March 2026.
If Iran permits retrieval of the material under a long-term deal, the operation
would likely require military teams and hazardous-material specialists supported
by heavy excavation equipment flown in for the task. If Iran secures U.S.
agreement to downblend the material inside the country once it is recovered,
Tehran may use downblending capabilities it retains — or a usable facility — at
Natanz, where such capabilities are typically co-located with enrichment plants.
Proliferation Implications of Dilution
Most dilution processes aim to leave material intact for re-enrichment or
fabrication into fuel rods. This involves mixing depleted, natural, or
low-enriched uranium (LEU) UF6 with the enriched material to reduce the
concentration of uranium-235.
Even a U.S. requirement to downblend to 0.7 percent U-235 (natural uranium) or
even 3-5 percent LEU could be problematic, as an LEU stockpile in Iran would
position the regime to enrich it further relatively quickly. LEU already
accounts for roughly 70 percent of the technical effort required to reach
weapons-grade uranium. Moreover, a stock of natural uranium in UF6 form would
remain vulnerable to seizure and concealment by the regime, particularly since
Iran currently lacks functioning uranium conversion facilities capable of
producing new UF6.
Destruction or Export Is the Soundest Policy
The Trump administration should reject Iran’s request to downblend or maintain
enriched material in-country under a long-term deal. The request appears to be a
deliberate gambit aimed at prolonging Tehran’s access to the material while
minimizing concessions.
Such a stockpile would also draw unfavorable comparisons to the Obama
administration’s 2015 Iran deal, which permitted Iran to retain a stockpile of
up to 300 kilograms of LEU. The safest option is the immediate destruction of
the material upon retrieval. The next most favorable option is packaging and
exporting it to the IAEA fuel bank in Kazakhstan for safekeeping. From there,
the IAEA could authorize limited transfers of the material to Russia, which
already fabricates fuel rods for Iran’s Bushehr reactor, based on Iran’s
legitimate civil needs such as Tehran’s remaining research and power reactors.
**Andrea Stricker is a research fellow and deputy director of the
Nonproliferation Program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). For
more analysis from the author and FDD, please subscribe HERE. Follow FDD on X @FDD.
Follow Andrea on X @StrickerNonpro. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan
research institute focused on national security and foreign policy.
Do not forget the Iranian people who still suffer,
President Trump
Janatan Sayeh/New York Post/June 17/2026
President Donald Trump has announced that Washington and Tehran have signed an
agreement with two pillars: reopening the Strait of Hormuz and ensuring the
Islamic Republic cannot develop a nuclear weapon. While the details, including
the sequencing of concessions such as sanctions relief, are yet to be
publicized, the Iranian people remain absent from the agenda. That is a problem.
The true path to lasting regional stability runs through the Iranian people —
the regime’s primary existential threat and the Middle East’s largest
anti-Islamist and most pro-American and pro-Israeli population. Unsurprisingly,
Tehran’s propaganda machine is already spinning the narrative, declaring victory
and claiming it was able to “impose its will on” the United States.But
Washington’s failure to publicize the deal means many Iranians are hearing only
the regime’s side of the story. With restrictions from Iran’s longest internet
blackout beginning to ease, Trump now has an opportunity to speak directly to
the millions of Iranians who viewed the latest conflict as a campaign against
their oppressors. The Tehran regime has suffered a heavy blow, with numerous
senior military figures eliminated and its missile infrastructure decimated. The
Islamic Republic’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, was killed on the first day of
the latest conflict, and officials kept his funeral on hold for more than four
months amid fears over the security situation. The tyrant’s death marked a
moment millions of Iranians, myself among them, had waited nearly four decades
to celebrate.
As the news spread, anti-regime chants echoed from rooftops while men and women
danced and set off fireworks in cities across the country, including Khamenei’s
hometown of Mashhad.
Those of us in the diaspora rejoiced from afar.
Trump broke away from his predecessors when he spoke directly to the people of
Iran on the first day of the conflict, saying “the hour of your freedom is at
hand.”“America is backing you with overwhelming strength and devastating force,”
he added.
Trump and CENTCOM Commander Admiral Brad Cooper both reiterated that while it
was not safe for Iranians to mobilize as military operations were ongoing, there
would come “a clear signal” from Washington when it was time to “take control of
your government.”
But that call never came.
So what happens now?
Even if Tehran holds up its end of the bargain and halts its attacks against the
Strait of Hormuz, and even if the U.S. naval blockade is removed, it is still
imperative for Iran not to get sanctions relief or repatriate its oil revenues.
Since the April ceasefire, the increasingly paranoid Islamic Republic has
instituted hundreds of checkpoints that have become extrajudicial killing zones
for ordinary Iranians, alongside public hangings of dissidents and mass arrests.
Any economic relief granted to the regime inevitably fuels its war against the
Iranian people. Washington must complement any deal with maximum support to the
millions of Iranians the regime has held hostage. That means satellite
connectivity as a lasting solution to Tehran’s internet blackouts — critically
needed to facilitate a messaging campaign to capitalize on the rising momentum
against the regime’s repression apparatus.
The Islamic Republic and the Iranian people are not the same.
President Trump has said so in the past, and he is right.
Now is the time for him to remind Iranians that Washington still knows the
difference.
**Janatan Sayeh, born and raised in Tehran, is the Iran analyst at the
Foundation for Defense of Democracies, focused on Iranian domestic affairs and
the Islamic Republic’s regional malign influence.
https://nypost.com/2026/06/15/opinion/do-not-forget-the-iranian-people-who-still-suffer-president-trump/
Read in New York Post
Iran and Its Proxies Have
Been Burning Down the Middle East...When Will the World Stop Pretending That the
Problem Is Israel?
Robert Williams/Gatestone Institute/June 17, 2026
World leaders like Macron play a game of pretend, according to which the
situation in the Middle East is an issue between Israel and the Palestinians; if
only that is resolved through the establishment of a new Palestinian (terrorist)
state, "peace" will descend upon the region. Nothing could be further from the
truth -- a truth of which world leaders are well aware, but choose to ignore.
They appear to be hoping that Israel's neighbors will finish off Israel for them
so they can enjoy "plausible deniability." Meanwhile, they continue to fund
organizations dedicated to delegitimizing and undermining Israel.
World leaders have not been demanding that Iran stop its proxy war, and the
terms of the new Iran deal have yet to be determined.
Lately, Trump has been demanding that Israel refrain from protecting itself from
attacks by Hezbollah in Lebanon on the excuse that no one was killed, while,
when Iran shot down a US helicopter, even though no one was killed, the US
retaliated quite strongly.
Israel cannot allow its hands to be tied while Hezbollah continues its attacks.
It is crucial to decouple Lebanon from any agreement between the US and Iran. It
is clearly a separate issue.
Trump deserves infinite thanks for being the only world leader to take on Iran
in the first place, but if he thinks the story is over with General Ahmad Vahidi
and the rest of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps still in charge there, a
rude shock is on its way. Trump promised the Iranian people that "Help is on the
way." It is deeply hoped that he will keep this promise. His legacy must be that
of a job well done, not of a job half-done.
The north of Israel, and potentially the rest of this country, smaller than New
Jersey (22,000 sq. km), is deliberately being made into a hell, ignored by the
international community. This situation is being caused by an undeterred
Hezbollah. Israel -- like any other country -- has to be able to do whatever it
must to protect itself.
Israel cannot allow its hands to be tied while Hezbollah continues its attacks.
It is crucial to decouple Lebanon from any agreement between the US and Iran. It
is clearly a separate issue.
For the past two years, a steady stream of world leaders has flocked to Israel
to cajole and pressure the only democracy in the Middle East into stopping its
self-defense against Iran's proxies in Gaza -- Hamas and Palestinian Islamic
Jihad -- who carried out the October 7 massacres and have launched more than
10,000 rockets into Israel, attempting to perpetrate mass slaughter. Let us hope
that with US President Donald J. Trump's new "Iran deal," this abuse will stop.
It is to be hoped that liberating Lebanon from Hezbollah will still be possible.
In June 2024, French President Emmanuel Macron came to Jerusalem, where he told
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he must end the war in Gaza.
"The ordeal of the Palestinians in Gaza must end," Macron said. As most world
leaders at that point, he did not even demand that Hamas release Israeli
hostages as a precondition for a ceasefire.
World leaders like Macron play a game of pretend, according to which the
situation in the Middle East is an issue between Israel and the Palestinians; if
only that is resolved through the establishment of a new Palestinian (terrorist)
state, "peace" will descend upon the region. Nothing could be further from the
truth -- a truth of which world leaders are well aware, but choose to ignore.
They appear to be hoping that Israel's neighbors will finish off Israel for them
so they can enjoy "plausible deniability." Meanwhile, they continue to fund
organizations dedicated to delegitimizing and undermining Israel.
The war in Gaza and the Middle East, broadly speaking, is a war on Israel
launched by the Islamic Republic of Iran and fought by its web of proxies
throughout the region: Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza and Israel,
Shiite militias in Syria and Iraq, the Houthis in Yemen and Hezbollah in
Lebanon. Iran launched its own direct war on Israel by launching an attack with
more than 300 ballistic missiles and drones in April 2024.
World leaders have not been demanding that Iran stop its proxy war, and the
terms of the new Iran deal have yet to be determined. Nobody is knocking on
Iran's door, seeking to persuade its leadership to keep Hamas, Hezbollah or any
of its other proxies in check. The same Macron who ordered Israel to lay down
its weapons in Gaza has been curiously silent when it came to asking Iran the
same thing. The same can be said about virtually every other leader, the UN, the
EU, NGOs and the media, which suspiciously all keep drumming the same tune,
namely that the main problem is Israel's self-defense against massacres and
constant rocket and drone attacks.
The Biden administration, notably, did virtually nothing else after October 7,
2023 but put pressure on Israel to limit its military operations to raids and
aerial bombings, while wholly discouraging Israel from eliminating the threat
from Hezbollah on Israel's northern border.
Lately, Trump has been demanding that Israel refrain from protecting itself from
attacks by Hezbollah in Lebanon on the excuse that no one was killed, while,
when Iran shot down a US helicopter, even though no one was killed, the US
retaliated quite strongly.
Israel cannot allow its hands to be tied while Hezbollah continues its attacks.
It is crucial to decouple Lebanon from any agreement between the US and Iran. It
is clearly a separate issue.
Trump deserves infinite thanks for being the only world leader to take on Iran
in the first place, but if he thinks the story is over with General Ahmad Vahidi
and the rest of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps still in charge there, a
rude shock is on its way. Trump promised the Iranian people that "Help is on the
way." It is deeply hoped that he will keep this promise. His legacy must be that
of a job well done, not of a job half-done.
The results of the world's leniency when it comes to letting Iran's proxies run
rampant have had severe consequences, including in Israel's north, where
Hezbollah has been attacking since October 8, 2023 – a fact that appears to be
ignored by most international policy makers and pundits. For over a year after
Hezbollah began its attacks, around 100,000 residents of northern Israel were
internal refugees in Israel, displaced and facing an uncertain future due to
Hezbollah's cross-border missile and drone launches.
The fact that in November 2023 around 253,000 Israelis had been evacuated from
their homes in Israel due to Iran's proxy attacks, has not been mentioned in
mainstream reporting on the war. Hezbollah has since 2023 launched thousands of
missiles and exploding drones into Israel, killing and wounding many people and
causing large wildfires that have consumed thousands of acres.
While the world has been gripped by mass hysteria regarding the plight of Gazans
-- a concern for victims of war that is curiously absent when it comes to other
wars on the planet -- the north of Israel, and potentially the rest of this
country, smaller than New Jersey (22,000 sq. km), is deliberately being made
into a hell, ignored by the international community. This situation is being
caused by an undeterred Hezbollah. Israel -- like any other country -- has to be
able to do whatever it must to protect itself.
Robert Williams is based in the United States.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/22594/iran-proxies-burning-down-middle-east
© 2026 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do
not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No
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or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
Geopolitics, Geoeconomics
and Geostrategy
Dr. Abdel Monem Said/Asharq AlAwsat/June 17/2026
G7 meetings (between the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Canada,
and Japan) are no longer what they were, just as NATO did in the security and
strategic spheres.
The overarching problem is that the world has entered a period of militarization
and violence. The “fifth Gaza war” has converged with the “fourth Gulf war” in
one package of states and militias, while the war in Ukraine looms over both
wars in the Middle East, where Europe’s pursuits diverge from those of the
United States. The G7 Summit in France comes amid a global crisis of three
dimensions: geopolitical, geoeconomic, and geostrategic. The first dimension
includes a bitter history revolving around the Arab and Palestinian-Israeli
conflict and its extensions into Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq; and the Arab-Iranian
conflict, which stretched into the eight-year Iran-Iraq war. These conflicts
deepened with the rise of Islamic and Jewish religious fundamentalism, and with
their armament, which has taken new horizons through cyber technology and aerial
and naval drones.
Second, the economic dimension also arose from the imbalance between Iran on one
side, and the United States and Israel on the other. Iran was compelled to
provoke a global economic crisis by blocking nearly 20 percent of the world’s
oil, hitting energy, food, supply chains, and industry in general.
The third, strategic dimension was summed up by the closure of the Strait of
Hormuz to global navigation in a war with a country that has nuclear arms. The
G7 summit has a lot on its plate.
Geopolitics is a school of political science and international relations that
imposes determinisms that are difficult to escape. Just as human beings do not
choose their parents, states do not choose their neighbors. With neighbors,
proximity can make fences either thin yet capable of keeping enemies, insects,
unwanted creatures, and thieves away, or it can allow for the exchange of gifts
on holidays and wedding occasions. It can be a path to conflict and hostility,
or to cooperation and interdependence.
The Arab world’s neighbors: Iran, Türkiye, and Israel create “geopolitical”
dilemmas that require securing the interests of all parties. Historically, this
has not happened. Hostility has continued to accumulate one war after another,
making talk of peace difficult amid the killing and destruction.
The occasion of the G7 meeting seems astonishing amid the major collapse in the
influence of international organizations and international law in general, or of
the post-Second World War United Nations system, a kind of old world that
appeared bright during the age of globalization but is now witnessing another
world in which international institutions have fallen apart.
In our region, which presses itself upon every international forum, many actors
exploit conflicts and distorted geopolitical conditions. These include multiple
elements known as “spoilers.” The various militias, from Hezbollah to the
Popular Mobilization Forces, Hamas, and the Houthis, are the products of
countries whose identities remain incomplete, still confused about how to define
themselves, their borders, and their identities, and unprepared to cross the
difficult road toward the nation-state.
They are better armed than national armies, and they represent the obstructing
third in the activity of the state. The presence of this type of spoiler makes
the war burning in the Arab Gulf resistant to being steered toward peace, or
toward reorganizing the world instead of destroying it.
Although the United States leads the G7 by virtue of its enormous gross domestic
product, $32 trillion, and by virtue of its ownership and control of the dollar
as a global currency, as well as its major control over the movement of money
and investment around the world, US President Donald Trump, since the beginning
of his second presidential term, has changed the way he deals with relations
with allies in Europe, Asia, and South America, especially regarding ties with
Canada, Mexico, and Greenland, all the way to waging war on Iran in alliance
with Israel.
After 100 days of fighting, negotiations, and intermittent and continuous
strikes, the fate of the global economy (which the G7 is supposed to protect
from destruction) finds the group with little to offer except perhaps to invite
everyone to attend a banquet from which neither China nor India nor several Arab
states are excluded. The city of Evian, where the G7 summit was held, was very
far indeed from the Strait of Hormuz.
On the Criteria of Defeat and Victory in Lebanon
Rami al-Rayes/Asharq AlAwsat/June 17/2026
It will be a long time before Lebanon regains its political, economic, and
social health. The latest war it was dragged into, and Israel’s vindictive and
disproportionate response, deepened Lebanon’s divisions. They have gone from
traditional disagreements to a major rupture that will not be easy to mend or
simply leap over. Before testing the seriousness of the ceasefire agreement
between the United States and Iran, and the extent to which it applies to
Lebanon, the newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth quoted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu as confirming to US President Donald Trump that “linking the various
arenas together is unacceptable,” and that Israel “will not accept any Iranian
dictates regarding Lebanon.”
Accordingly, Israel is not expected to take the initiative and withdraw from the
territory it has occupied in southern Lebanon, or even to stop its daily strikes
and attacks. It wants to translate this invasion into some arrangement with the
state of Lebanon, which continues to cling to political negotiations as the only
option for stopping the war. If some within the Iranian axis, formerly known as
the Axis of Resistance, boast that Tehran secured an end to the war in Lebanon,
they will, of course, turn a blind eye to the absence of demands for withdrawal
from Lebanese territory.
In any case, there is an urgent need to quickly “pull everyone together” in
Lebanon, curbing the tendency of the pro-Iranian camp toward “revenge” against
Lebanese opponents after the end of the war, as has been repeatedly threatened,
and also limits the opposing camp’s rush toward “normalization” with Israel, to
the point of absolving it of everything it has done and continues to do daily:
violating Lebanese sovereignty and killing nearly three thousand Lebanese.
If some Lebanese ought to avoid being taken by illusions of a peace that will
not come, others must show the courage to redefine the concept of victory in a
way that corresponds to actual reality, not fantasies or wishes. Several former
Arab dictatorial regimes were notorious for boasting of their survival even
after land had been occupied. The same thing is perhaps being repeated here:
homes have burned and destroyed, vast swaths of the south have been occupied,
thousands of innocent victims have fallen, and yet the slogan of victory is
raised.
While the significance of steadfastness must be affirmed, steadfastness alone
cannot build a strong future or develop formulas that preserve stability.
Indeed, the nation of a “balance of deterrence,” which had been boasted of since
2006, collapsed after the first war of support that began in October 2023, with
the assassination of senior Hezbollah leaders, foremost among them the two
secretaries-general Hassan Nasrallah and Hashem Safieddine, the pager-explosion
operation, and the occupation and razing of more land and villages.
It seems necessary, here, to recall that Lebanon has gone from fully liberated
land, without conditions, a peace agreement, or security arrangements, to the
occupation of five points in southern Lebanon, and then to a broad occupation
reaching the Litani River. Therefore, whatever the calculations and
considerations - whether ideological, political, or otherwise - these successive
losses cannot be called “victories.”
From here, apart from the conflict with Israel, which is clearly likely to
continue for some time in different forms, Lebanon needs to return to the logic
of the state and statehood: a state that does not share its sovereign functions
with any of its components, and that exercises them exclusively, without
partnership. This is the path taken by all states without exception.
The real fear is that a new regional course may begin. Amid de-escalation on the
Iranian-Israeli track under American sponsorship and pressure, Lebanon could
turn into the backyard of the conflict and of explosive messages, serving the
interests of all concerned parties except Lebanon itself. At that point, the
region would move neither toward full stability nor full explosion, while the
bleeding would continue in southern Lebanon alone. This would deepen Lebanon’s
divisions and further widen social fractures.
on
17
June/2026
Ambassador Mike Huckabee
Iran demands @Israel cease defense of border against Hezbollah. Gaza peace plan
depends on Hamas disarming. Idea: EVERY member of Hezbollah & Hamas DEPORT to "Mothership"
in Iran. Result? Lebanon & Israel free from Iran terror proxies. Give PEACE a
chance!
More from President Aoun :
Hiba Nasr
“Based on my experience leading the army, and now in the position I hold today —
which is a responsibility, not a privilege — I have come to understand that war
leads to nothing but ruin and destruction. The path of peace and negotiation may
be long, but isn’t it better for it to be long without losses for Lebanon and
its people, rather than short and painfully costly, as war is?
We have an opportunity. We made the decision because the Lebanese are tired of
successive wars and their suffering has become immense. Since 1969, Lebanon has
continued to pay the price for other people’s wars on its soil, up to this day.
Was there any need for the war that took place, only for us to return to a
ceasefire, with thousands of martyrs and wounded among a population of four
million Lebanese, in addition to massive destruction estimated at billions of
dollars? We wanted a ceasefire yesterday before today, but there was no need for
this war in the first place.
We must not forget the past, so we do not repeat it in the future. We now face a
long path, and your message is essential in helping build the state. As I always
repeat, only the state protects everyone — not sects and not parties. This is
something we have learned from experience.
We are not against political parties playing their role in contributing to
building the state; that is a democratic dimension. What is unacceptable is for
parties to run the state for their own interests.
Today, citizens from all sects and affiliations are more eager than ever to
restore the role of the state through its security, administrative, and judicial
institutions. This is also something Lebanese abroad deeply aspire to. It is a
shared responsibility among all of us to stand united and build our state once
and for all.”
Lebanese should not be frightened by this issue. Those who threaten civil peace
have become weak and seek to scare those who differ from them in order to remain
relevant. But there is awareness among Lebanese across all communities, and no
one wants to return to the horrors of 1975 and what followed. This awareness
also exists among the majority of officials.
For us, civil peace is a red line. The next phase is about rebuilding the state
and all its institutions, in addition to reconstructing what was destroyed by a
war imposed on us. The state is not responsible for this war, but it is
responsible toward its people for reconstruction and recovery.”
We have an opportunity because there is a conscious generation that wants
Lebanon. We look forward to securing this future through your cooperation and
support.
Lebanese people are present in most countries around the world. They are
respected, active, and influential, and this is a source of pride. Just as they
contributed to the renaissance of many countries, they are certainly capable of
rebuilding their own homeland.”
Why did we get here? Why did we bring other people’s wars upon ourselves? Was it
not for the interests of others, and for factional and personal interests,
rather than Lebanon’s interest? We hope to close this chapter once and for all.
9:06 AM · Jun 17, 2026
Hussain Abdul-Hussain
Where does Trump’s confidence that Sharaa can beat Hezbollah come from?
Hezbollah is a militia with decades of experience in war and armed to the teeth
with arms on par with or even better than Sharaa’s. What happens if Hezbollah
starts firing missiles at the Damascus presidential palace? Where’s Sharaa’s
Iron Dome? Hezbollah is likely waiting for Sharaa to make such a mistake. It’ll
be a godsend for Hezbollah to rally the Lebanese around it because now it’ll
really be defending against foreign aggression, unlike with Israel where
Hezbollah has always been the side that started the war (and the Lebanese lie
and call it Israeli aggression, but everyone knows the truth).
Mosab Hassan Yousef
According to the 14-point draft agreement, the US is immediately lifting oil
sanctions so Iran can resume selling oil, and giving Iran access to its frozen
assets (estimated at around $300 billion globally). In return, Iran simply
promises not to build nuclear weapons, while being allowed to keep its entire
stockpile of enriched uranium. This isn’t a deal. This is surrender dressed up
as diplomacy.
Nadine Barakat
Tom Barrack tends to appreciate OFAC sanctioned individuals:
Gebran Bassil, Ali Al-Zaidi, etc.. and the radical left clowns in Lebanon.
Tom Barrack praises Jumblat and Berri. Joseph Aoun, didn’t even make it ..
although he is no different….
Ambassador Yechiel (Michael) Leiter
Jun 16Ask yourselves: why would Hezbollah need stockpiles like this in South
Lebanon?
5 tons of explosives
Dozens of killer drones
Land mines and IEDs
This was all meant to be used against the people of Israel, and our northern
cities and villages.
This is what we're defending ourselves against.
Mossad Commentary
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz: “Anyone who raises a hand against the
State of Israel — in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, or anywhere else — knows there is a
price to pay. First of all, they lose the land. They lose the home.”
Ambassador Mike Huckabee
Fortunately @SecRubio made clear that Iran & Hezbollah aren’t linked in a deal.
@Israel doesn’t need Iran permission to defend itself. The tether of terror must
end.
Mike Pence
I strongly supported the President’s decision to take the fight directly to the
Mullahs in Tehran last year and then again this year.The President has earned
some latitude in negotiating an end to hostilities but I just don’t trust the
Iranians. And I don’t be like what I’m hearing about the MOU... it smacks of
appeasement.
charles chartouni
This jerk of Zohran Mamdani is trying to impose his narrative. It should be
clearly stated : The American national narrative was set by the founding fathers
and the biblical narrative. As an accidental political actor you should abide by
the national narrative or quit. We are not in the business of reinventing the
American national odyssey to suit your Islamist project. Otherwise, you should
hike back to where you came from.
Hussain Abdul-Hussain@hahussain
G7 wants an international force in Lebanon to replace UNIFIL whose mandate ends
by end of the year. This is an idea as horrible as UNIFIL. Alien forces come
without intel agencies, which means they fly blind, and therefore irrelevant and
useless and become Western hostages for when Hezbollah wants to strong arm the
countries of these troops.
Lindsey Graham
I had a very productive meeting with @SecWar Pete Hegseth and his very talented
team. I told Pete that I’ve never been more proud of the men and women of the
U.S. military -- and the civilians who support them -- than I am right now.
Secretary Hegseth has done an outstanding job, in my opinion, dealing with Iran
and beyond. We discussed the urgent need to plus up the military budget to deal
with replenishing and restoring our stockpile of weapons and other one-time
expenses being incurred by constant conflict. I suggested $355 billion. I told
Secretary Hegseth that I would be pushing for a supplemental appropriations bill
with funds for the military and other needs of the country. Any shortfall
between the supplemental and the $355 billion could be made up in reconciliation
3.0. Secretary Hegseth is a big proponent of another reconciliation bill for the
Department of War, as is @POTUS. As Senate Budget Committee Chairman, I will be
working with Senate leadership, @BudgetGOP, the Department of War and the White
House to see if we can get this process moving as expeditiously as possible. In
my view, time is of the essence. We cannot turn our backs on an historic
opportunity to help the Department of War at a time of multiple conflicts. Stay
tuned.
Hiba Nasr
Trump : The Lebanon peace is something we have to work on a little bit. It's a
very small piece of the puzzle, actually, but it still makes a lot of noise. The
big deal is the Iran deal, that's where the money is. They have Hizballah, and
got to get that done one way or the other. We would do it. Israel can do a much
better job with it. Syria would love to do it. But I don't know whether people
want that, maybe they don't, maybe Lebanon doesn't. We have to be guided a
little bit by Lebanon.