The US vice chairman says Iran had a ‘authentic misunderstanding’ about Lebanon’s inclusion on this week’s ceasefire.
Printed On 8 Apr 2026
United States Vice President JD Vance has warned Iran that it could be “dumb” to jeopardise its ceasefire with Washington over Israel’s assaults in Lebanon.
Though Pakistan, which mediated the truce, mentioned explicitly that Lebanon is included within the two-week ceasefire, Vance instructed reporters that the US didn’t agree that Israel would cease attacking the nation.
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“If Iran desires to let this negotiation disintegrate – in a battle the place they have been getting hammered – over Lebanon, which has nothing to do with them and which the USA by no means as soon as mentioned was a part of the ceasefire, that’s in the end their alternative,” Vance mentioned as he left Hungary on Wednesday.
“We expect that may be dumb, however that’s their alternative.”
Earlier on Wednesday, Iranian Overseas Minister Abbas Araghchi shared Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s assertion saying the ceasefire. He highlighted the half about Lebanon.
“The Iran-US Ceasefire phrases are clear and specific: the US should select – ceasefire or continued warfare through Israel. It can not have each,” Araghchi wrote.
Nonetheless, US President Donald Trump and his White Home have argued that Lebanon was not a part of the deal.
Vance dismissed the conflicting positions as a “misunderstanding”.
“There’s a number of unhealthy religion negotiation and a number of unhealthy religion propaganda happening,” he mentioned. “I feel this comes from a authentic misunderstanding. I feel the Iranians thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon, and it simply didn’t.”
It’s unclear how such a “misunderstanding” might happen throughout high-stakes worldwide negotiations. US officers have additionally not defined why the Pakistani assertion highlighted Lebanon as a part of the truce.
Israel has an extended historical past of violating ceasefire agreements, together with the November 2024 truce with Lebanon. Since then, there have been near-daily Israeli assaults on Lebanon for 15 months.
On Wednesday, Israel launched one in every of its deadliest and most harmful assaults, with dozens of air strikes that killed no less than 254 individuals and injured greater than 1,100 others.
Nonetheless, Vance urged that Israel had agreed to indicate restraint in Lebanon.
He mentioned the Israelis have dedicated “to examine themselves slightly bit in Lebanon, as a result of they wish to be sure that” that the US-Iran negotiations are profitable.
The warfare in Lebanon intensified in early March, after Hezbollah launched a rocket assault in opposition to Israel in response to Israeli strikes, in addition to the killing of Iranian Supreme Chief Ali Khamenei.
Hezbollah is going through mounting strain from rivals inside Lebanon over accusations that it dragged the nation to warfare as a part of its assist for Iran.
Iranian officers, in the meantime, have mentioned they won’t abandon Hezbollah.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) threatened on Wednesday that preventing would resume if Israel doesn’t observe the ceasefire in Lebanon.
“If the aggressions in opposition to expensive Lebanon should not stopped instantly, we’ll do our obligation and provides a regretful response to the evil aggressors within the area,” it mentioned.
