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Posted by Scott Lucas | Jun 2, 2026 | 0

Donald Trump arrives for a “Rose Garden Club” dinner at the White House, Washington, D.C., May 11, 2026 (Kent Nishimura/AFP/Getty)

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Foundering in his war on Iran, Donald Trump has unilaterally declared a ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanese group Hezbollah — but has only fostered more confusion with the announcement.

On Monday, hours after saying that he was walking away from negotiations with Iran, Trump posted on social media that Israel and Hezbollah had agreed to halt attacks. He said he had spoken with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and had “a very good call with Hezbollah”.
Both sides agreed that “all shooting will stop”, Trump asserted.
However, Netanyahu soon undermined the declaration. He indicated that he had agreed only to postpone Israel’s planned assault on Dahiyeh, the southern suburb of Beirut which is Hezbollah’s political and administrative center.
Tonight, I spoke with President Trump and told him that if Hezbollah does not cease attacking our cities and citizens, Israel will attack terror targets in Beirut.
This stance of ours remains unchanged.
In parallel, the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] will continue to operate as planned in southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah legislator Hassan Fadlallah insisted that the ceasefire cover all of Lebanon and not just Beirut.
A full Israeli withdrawal “must be part of the solution. A full ceasefire, no return to what was before March 2. There is no such thing as freedom of movement”, said Fadlallah.

Linking Lebanon and Iran

Israel has been expanding its ground and aerial assault across southern Lebanon, extending its occupation. Over the weekend, it seized the strategic position of the medieval Beaufort Castle, near the city of Nabatieh.
Early Tuesday, Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said they had instructed the Israeli military to strike Dahiyeh, framing it as a response to Hezbollah rocket fire into northern Israel.
The attacks would break an informal restriction set by the Trump Administration, which has accepted the Israeli operations in southern Lebanon but called for no renewal of attacks on the Lebanese capital.
They also would challenge Iran’s demand for a ceasefire on all fronts, part of its two-stage proposal to the US for an end to the 96-day war.
Trump initially feigned that he did not care about the pause in negotiations, “I think we’ve been talking too much.” However, he then called Netanyahu to seek a climbdown over the Beirut strikes.
Contrary to his tweet, Trump did not call Hezbollah. Instead, he spoke by phone with Lebanese Ambassador Nada Maawad, saying “that he had obtained the approval of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the proposed arrangement”. The Ambassador spoke with Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun, who notified Hezbollah.

The Embassy said negotiations in Washington between Lebanese and Israeli officials on Tuesday and Wednesday will “discuss this progress and build upon it”.
Defying the confusion over what exactly had been agreed — and reversing his dismissal of talks in the morning — Trump told the US outlet ABC News that he expected a deal with Tehran in “the next week”.
“There was a little glitch today, but I turned that one around very quickly, as you probably noticed earlier,” he said.
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Scott Lucas is Professor of International Politics at the Clinton Institute, University College Dublin; Professor Emeritus of International Politics at the University of Birmingham; and editor-in-chief of EA WorldView. He is a specialist in US and British foreign policy and international relations, especially the Middle East and Iran. Formerly he worked as a journalist in the US, writing for newspapers including the Guardian and The Independent and was an essayist for The New Statesman before he founded EA WorldView in November 2008.
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