By Emily Rose
JERUSALEM, May 24 (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told U.S. President Donald Trump Israel would remain free to act against threats in Lebanon during a phone call about an emerging agreement between Washington and Iran on Saturday, an Israeli source said.
Trump said Washington and Iran had “largely negotiated” a memorandum of understanding on a peace deal that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping passage that has been effectively closed since the U.S. and Israel launched their war on Iran in February.
“In last night’s conversation with President Trump, the Prime Minister emphasized that Israel will maintain freedom of action against threats in all arenas, including Lebanon, and President Trump reiterated and supported this principle,” the Israeli political source told Reuters on Sunday, asking not to be named.
Expectations rose that a breakthrough might be imminent in the three-month-old war after Trump said an emerging agreement being brokered by Pakistan would reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran’s Fars news agency said the draft stipulates that the U.S. and its allies will not attack Iran or its allies, and in return Iran pledges not to launch preemptive attacks on them.
Prominent Israeli politician Benny Gantz said it would be a strategic mistake for Israel to accept a ceasefire in Lebanon, which its troops have entered to fight the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia, as part of a deal with Iran.
According to the Israeli source, the U.S. is updating Israel on the negotiations with Iran.
“President Trump made it clear that he will stand firm in negotiations on his consistent demand for the dismantling of the Iranian nuclear program and the removal of all enriched uranium from its territory,” the source said, “and that he will not sign a final agreement without these conditions being met”.
Trump wrote on Truth Social that a call with Netanyahu had gone “very well”.
(Reporting by Emily Rose;Editing by Helen Popper)
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