G7 Leaders Call For 'Immediate Cease-Fire' in Lebanon as They Welcome U.S.-Iran Peace Deal

Leaders of the G7 countries have called for an “immediate" cease-fire in Lebanon as strikes between Israel and Hezbollah threaten to scupper the U.S.-Iran peace deal.

In a joint statement issued Wednesday, the final day of the summit in France, the leaders said they “support, through an immediate robust cease-fire, the Lebanese leadership’s efforts to achieve the disarmament of Hezbollah and the monopoly of arms.”

They called for the protection of Lebanon’s “territorial integrity and sovereignty with the appropriate international security guarantees.”

The renewed fighting in Lebanon is causing concern amid ongoing efforts to secure a long-lasting truce between the U.S. and Iran.

Tehran is adamant that any cease-fire with Washington must also end the hostilities between Israeli forces and the Hezbollah militant group, and that any permanent truce must lead to Israel withdrawing its forces from southern Lebanon.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday ruled out any immediate withdrawal from Lebanon, vowing to remain “in the security zones for as long as it is required to defend our country.”

Both sides have accused each other of violating the fragile cease-fire that came into place in April and has done little to halt the trading of strikes.

“I'm not happy with the way Israel has handled themselves with Lebanon and with Hezbollah. They should have been able to do the job faster,” Trump told reporters Tuesday.

“It just goes on forever,” he continued. “When that happens, it throws a negative light on the big deal, the deal with Iran.”

Since the Israel-Hezbollah fighting reignited in March, early on in the Iran war, at least 3,783 have been killed in Lebanon, with 11,699 wounded, according to the country’s Health Ministry.

Amid concerns for the wider picture, G7 leaders  expressed support for the preliminary deal between Washington and Tehran, calling it “an historic opportunity to prevent Iran from acquiring any nuclear weapon and tackling the threats related to its regional and ballistic activities.”

They pledged to stand “ready to contribute to its implementation” and celebrated that the framework of the memorandum is understood to secure the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

According to a leaked draft of the 14-point memorandum, Iran reportedly must “immediately take steps to ensure that the movement of merchant ships from the Persian Gulf to the Sea of Oman, and vice versa is resumed within 30 days to the pre-war volume, taking into account the need for the removal of technical obstacles and the neutralization of mines by Iran.”

The leaders doubled down on Europe’s long-argued stance that the Strait of Hormuz, a vital trade passage through which around a fifth of global oil production flows, should be free of restrictions and tolls.

Iran has used the narrow waterway as a geopolitical bargaining chip since the start of the Iran war, effectively closing it down and upending the global energy supply.

“We commit 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,” said the G7 leaders.

The memorandum of understanding agreed upon by Washington and Tehran is set to extend the cease-fire by 60 days, allowing for further discussions to reach a permanent end to the war and iron out more contentious negotiations such as Iran’s nuclear program.

Stressing that the agreement is not final, Trump said Wednesday: “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.”