Washington Negotiations: A Policy of Small Steps

The second day of the 5th round of direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel, held on Wednesday, June 24, at the State Department in Washington, focused on examining the concrete mechanism to be put in place to "manage" the partial — and at this stage symbolic — withdrawal of Israeli forces from certain sectors of the border region.

In line with the ongoing discussions on this plan, the Lebanese army will need to progressively replace Israeli units as they gradually withdraw.

Sources generally considered well-informed note that this handover will be carried out by Lebanese army units supervised and under the "security" and operational control of the American military command.

The ongoing talks in Washington on this matter will continue for a third day on Wednesday, June 25.

Regarding the ultimate goal of these Lebanese-Israeli negotiations, a senior State Department official stated on Wednesday that the Trump administration is working to "put a definitive end to the cycles of violence between Lebanon and Israel."

He added, in order to clearly define the framework of the talks — no doubt to keep them well removed from the hegemonic media posturing of the mullahs' regime — that "Lebanon and Israel are negotiating in their capacity as sovereign states to achieve peace."

While the talks of this fifth round have yet to yield clear results, a fragile and tense calm continues to prevail on the ground in the southern zone along the border with Israel.

This lull is nonetheless marked almost daily by isolated security incidents, as was the case on Wednesday when the Israeli army shot and killed two Hezbollah militants who were approaching Israeli positions in the area of the strategic hill of Ali el-Taher.

At the same time, an Israeli drone fired a rocket at a car traveling on the road to Kfar Remman (Nabatiyeh district). Two people were killed in the strike.

Late in the afternoon, another drone strike was reported in Nabatiyeh el-Fawqa, while artillery fire was directed at the village of Yater, in the Bint Jbeil district.

These isolated incidents come as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated on Wednesday that the Jewish state "has not concluded its operation in South Lebanon," emphasizing that as long as he remains Prime Minister, the Israeli army will not fully withdraw from the buffer zone it is working to establish and consolidate in southern Lebanon in order to secure northern Israel.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz also indicated on Wednesday that the Trump administration has not asked Israel to withdraw from South Lebanon.

To close out this Lebanese file — which appears to be moving forward in "small steps" — it should be noted that President Joseph Aoun reaffirmed on Wednesday that the Washington negotiations are entirely separate from the American-Iranian talks initiated in Switzerland.

The Regional Dimension

On the regional front, three core issues continue to fuel disagreements between the Americans and Iranians over the interpretation and understanding of the framework agreement reached between the two sides.

The Trump administration — and the president himself in particular — misses no opportunity to assert that experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency will indeed inspect Iranian nuclear sites, a claim the Iranian regime's leadership consistently and categorically denies.

At the same time, President Trump makes clear that the Iranian assets to be unfrozen will be used exclusively to purchase wheat, corn, and soybeans directly from the American market on behalf of the Iranian population, which would benefit U.S. farmers and producers.

This approach is, however, rejected by senior officials in Tehran, who repeatedly make clear to anyone willing to listen that it is solely up to the Iranian leadership to decide how the assets unfrozen by the U.S. Administration will be used.

Another point of contention between Washington and Tehran is the management of international maritime navigation through the Strait of Hormuz. The Iranian regime continues to push on multiple fronts to impose, as a fait accompli, its control and sovereignty over the strait by charging fees for administrative, "ecological," and "security" services allegedly provided to vessels passing through this waterway.

This is clearly a toll by another name… which prompted President Trump to state on Wednesday that if Iran moves to impose a disguised toll in the Strait of Hormuz, he will simply and outright halt negotiations with Tehran…