Trump administration is hopeful for progress toward ending the wider U.S.-Israeli war with Iran after securing a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Tehran has made a ceasefire in Lebanon a condition for any peace deal with Washington and has suggested it could intervene directly in support of Hezbollah if Israel continues or escalates attacks there.
“We could go another 2 or 3 weeks and just wipe everybody out: I’d rather not do that, very easy to do,” Trump said at an Oval Office news conference Wednesday.
“They want to do it. But if we can get something done in writing which will accomplish the same thing without killing everybody, I’d like to do that. Most of my people, I think, would like to do that – some people wouldn’t, but most of them would.”
That remark came before House lawmakers voted 215-208 to withdraw troops from using military force against Iran absent congressional authorization.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said Thursday that the ceasefire would come into force within 24 hours of approval by all concerned parties, in an apparent reference to Hezbollah.
Hezbollah has not publicly commented on the agreement.
But the durability of the truce remains uncertain. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Thursday that Israel’s military would continue to strike in Lebanon for the time being and would not withdraw from the south.
The agreement follows a flare-up in violence across the region. Israeli strikes killed at least six people in southern Lebanon, while U.S. and Iranian forces traded attacks in the Gulf on Wednesday in one of the most intense rounds of fighting since a separate ceasefire halted large-scale U.S.-Israeli bombing of Iran in early April.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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