Lebanon was never part of ceasefire talks: Vance

Thu, 09 April 2026

10:50

A bombed building in southern Lebanon. Yara Nardi/Reuters

US Vice President JD Vance firmly discarded the claims of Lebanon being a part of the truce talks between Washington and Tehran, as the precarious two-week ceasefire comes into place.

Speaking to reporters ahead of his departure from Hungary, on whether Lebanon was included in the peace proposal, Vance said that the United States never made any such promises. He underlined that the ceasefire was aimed at a focus on Iran, and American allies--both Israel and the Gulf Arab states.

"We never made that promise. We never indicated that was going to be the case. What we said is that the ceasefire would be focused on Iran and the ceasefire would be focused on America's allies, both Israel and the Gulf Arab states."

The remarks by Vance put Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif in a tight spot after he had claimed that Lebanon was also a part of the peace deal -- a claim firmly dismissed by both US President Donald Trump and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu. The embarrassment to the self-styled mediator's claims comes as a part of the carousel of chaos Islamabad has seen in the last few hours.

Pakistan had attempted to present itself as a peacemaker between the US and Iran, but the new details from a Financial Times report suggest that it was rather pushed by White House to broker the temporary ceasefire with Iran. The report posed serious questions about Pakistan's independent diplomatic stance as it suggests that Islamabad was not a neutral broker but rather a convenient channel for the US to push the temporary ceasefire deal. -- ANI

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